by Mai K. Nguyen ; illustrated by Mai K. Nguyen ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2019
A lovely graphic novel focusing on confronting our inner feelings and how we express them.
Two young strangers discover nature as they help each other express and overcome their emotions.
After getting into a fight at school and then another with her sister, Willow storms off into the woods with Chicory, her dog. Trying to keep her feelings bottled up, she wanders the woods and listens to the calming sounds. She stumbles upon the lost and crying Pilu, a girl of the woods with leaves for hair. It seems Pilu is from the same magnolia tree grove that Willow’s recently deceased mother once took her to. Pilu doesn’t want to go home because she feels her mother doesn’t love her. Willow is still upset at her sister, especially when she acts like a mom. As the girls walk toward the grove, they slowly form a friendship and help each other confront their negative feelings and fears. In a deft touch, Willow’s emotions are depicted as little waterlike monsters that greatly exacerbate her anger, sadness, and self-doubt and that she tries to literally keep in jars. Nguyen has created a beautiful full-colored graphic novel, with bold colors, intricate linework, and deft shifts between reality and memory. Different typefaces are used to create nature’s sounds and movement, bringing the graphics to life. Her visual representation of hard-to-process events and feelings can help kids navigate their own emotions. Willow and Pilu both have pale skin; Willow’s hair is black, and Pilu’s is green.
A lovely graphic novel focusing on confronting our inner feelings and how we express them. (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62010-551-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Oni Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
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by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
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More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
by Max Brallier ; illustrated by Douglas Holgate ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 13, 2015
Classic action-packed, monster-fighting fun
Awards & Accolades
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12
Our Verdict
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New York Times Bestseller
It’s been 42 days since the Monster Apocalypse began, and 13-year-old Jack Sullivan, a self-proclaimed “zombie-fighting, monster-slaying tornado of cool” is on a quest to find and rescue his not-so-secret crush, June Del Toro, whether she needs it, wants it, or not.
Jack cobbles together an unlikely but endearing crew, including his scientist best friend, Quint Baker; Dirk Savage, Parker Middle School’s biggest bully; and a pet monster named Rover, to help him save the damsel in distress and complete the “ULTIMATE Feat of Apocalyptic Success.” Middle-grade readers, particularly boys, will find Jack’s pitch-perfect mix of humor, bravado, and self-professed geekiness impossible to resist. His sidekicks are equally entertaining, and it doesn’t hurt that there are also plenty of oozing, drooling, sharp-toothed monsters and zombies and a host of gizmos and gadgets to hook readers and keep them cheering with every turn of the page. Holgate’s illustrations play an integral role in the novel’s success. They not only bring Brallier’s characters to life, but also add depth and detail to the story, making plain just exactly how big Rover is and giving the lie to Jack’s “killer driving.” The marriage of text and illustration serves as a perfect example of what an illustrated novel can and should be.
Classic action-packed, monster-fighting fun (. (Graphic/horror hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-670-01661-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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