Picking up the pieces, that’s what September is.
Archives for September 2016
READING WITHOUT WALLS • Crack These STEM Graphic Novels
Welcome to the Reading Without Walls blog tour!
I have the honor of taking part in this awesome blog tour, where participants celebrate the publication of Gene Luen Yang’s Paths and Portals and encouraging readers—especially young ones—to read outside of their comfort zone by reading STEM books—a book dealing with Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math. It’ll educate and nurture them on a topic or issues they aren’t familiar with, thus expanding their minds.
I’ll be talking about the Secret Coders series by Gene Luen Yang and Human Body Theater by Maris Wicks.
REVIEW • I Am Not A Superhero (Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn)
[note note_color=”#9f65a4″ text_color=”#ffffff”]Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn • July 5, 2016 • DAW Books
Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Indigo | Library
Evie Tanaka is the put-upon personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, her childhood best friend and San Francisco’s most beloved superheroine. She’s great at her job—blending into the background, handling her boss’s epic diva tantrums, and getting demon blood out of leather pants.
Unfortunately, she’s not nearly as together when it comes to running her own life, standing up for herself, or raising her tempestuous teenage sister, Bea.
But everything changes when Evie’s forced to pose as her glamorous boss for one night, and her darkest secret comes out: she has powers, too. Now it’s up to her to contend with murderous cupcakes, nosy gossip bloggers, and supernatural karaoke battles—all while juggling unexpected romance and Aveda’s increasingly outrageous demands. And when a larger threat emerges, Evie must finally take charge and become a superheroine in her own right…or see her city fall to a full-on demonic invasion.[/note]
[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from DAW Books for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]
First sentence: “I am not a superhero.”
When your best friend is a superhero, you have to put up with things like being in constant danger and worrying about her safety, the best friend’s diva tantrums, the constant attention from the world, and demon blood stains. Evie Tanaka is the best personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, her childhood best friend and San Francisco Asian American superheroine ever. She juggles Aveda’s outrageous demands and problems, her teenage sister’s rebellious stage, a new love that came out of nowhere, and a possibly new type of demons slowing invading San Francisco.
FROM PANEL TO PANEL • September 2016 Graphic Novel Releases To Look Out For
I love comics and graphic novels, so what do I do with that love? Well, I turn it into a new feature!
From Panel to Panel is a new feature where I talk about the awesome (and perhaps not-so awesome) comic books and graphic novels I’ve read. Basically, this will be me pushing them onto your laps. You’re welcome.
September has a few comics I’m very excited for. You get graphic novels about strange creatures like guardian spirits and man-animal hybrids on an asteroid, a cop on the moon, a sarcastic teenager in plaid with cupid powers, and much more!
Get your shopping carts loaded with all these comics!
| MIRROR: THE MOUNTAIN TP |
|---|
A mysterious asteroid hosts a collection of strange creatures – man-animal hybrids, mythological creatures made flesh, guardian spirits, cursed shadows – and the humans who brought them to life. But this strange society exists in an uneasy truce, in the aftermath of uprisings seeking freedom and acceptance, that have only ended in tragedy. As the ambitious, the desperate and the hopeful inhabitants of the asteroid struggle to decide their shared fate, a force greater than either animal or human seems to be silently watching the conflict, waiting for either side to finally answer the question: what is worthy of being human?
EMMA RíOS (PRETTY DEADLY, ISLAND) and HWEI LIM (LALAGE, HERO) present MIRROR: THE MOUNTAIN, the first arc of a story about the mage-scientists of The Synchronia and the sentient animals of Irzah colony. — Image Comics
Publication date: September 14, 2016 by Image Comics
Buy: LCBS · Amazon · Barnes & Noble · The Book Depository · Indigo · Comixology
Why I’m excited: Lots of “strange creatures—man-animal hybrids, mythological creatures made flesh, guardian spirits, cursed shadows—“ will inhabit this society, struggling with humans for freedom and acceptance. Oh my god, can you just imagine it? Emma Rios, the artist of Pretty Deadly, is also writing this comic, so I’m excited to see how she tells this awesome sounding story, and how Hwei Lim illustrates it.
(ARC) REVIEW • No Thanks, Babs Yagg (Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter)
[note note_color=”#000000″ text_color=”#ffffff”]Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter • September 20, 2016 • Tor Teen
Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Indigo | Library
In the enchanted kingdom of Brooklyn, the fashionable people put on cute shoes, go to parties in warehouses, drink on rooftops at sunset, and tell themselves they’ve arrived. A whole lot of Brooklyn is like that now―but not Vassa’s working-class neighborhood.
In Vassa’s neighborhood, where she lives with her stepmother and bickering stepsisters, one might stumble onto magic, but stumbling out again could become an issue. Babs Yagg, the owner of the local convenience store, has a policy of beheading shoplifters―and sometimes innocent shoppers as well. So when Vassa’s stepsister sends her out for light bulbs in the middle of night, she knows it could easily become a suicide mission.
But Vassa has a bit of luck hidden in her pocket, a gift from her dead mother. Erg is a tough-talking wooden doll with sticky fingers, a bottomless stomach, and a ferocious cunning. With Erg’s help, Vassa just might be able to break the witch’s curse and free her Brooklyn neighborhood. But Babs won’t be playing fair….
Inspired by the Russian folktale “Vassilissa the Beautiful” and her years of experience teaching creative writing to students in New York City public schools, acclaimed author Sarah Porter weaves a dark yet hopeful tale about a young girl’s search for home, love, and belonging.[/note]
[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Tor Books for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]
First sentence: “When Night looked own, it saw its own eyes staring back at it. “
DNF-ed at page 143 (47%)
Ugh, I never like it when I have to DNF a book. Vassa in the Night had the stuff that had the makings of an awesome book—Russian fairytale retelling, enchanted kingdom of Brooklyn, talking wooden dolls, mysterious motorcycler, and witch’s curse—but something about this book never captivated me. I wanted to be enchanted, but I wasn’t.
(ARC) REVIEW • Blue Spirit Possession (The Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart by Lauren DeStefano)
[note note_color=”#42453f” text_color=”#ffffff”]The Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart by Lauren DeStefano • September 13, 2016 • Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Indigo | Library
Lionel is a wild boy, who doesn’t much like to be around other people. He’d rather be a purring cat or a wolf stalking the woods.
Marybeth is a nice girl. She doesn’t need to be told to comb her hair or brush her teeth, and she’s kind to everyone at the orphanage . . . Lionel most of all.
Different though they are, Lionel and Marybeth are best friends in a world that has forgotten about them. So when a mysterious blue spirit possesses Marybeth—and starts to take control—they know they must stop it before the real Marybeth fades away forever.[/note]
[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Bloomsbury for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]
First sentence: “Lionel was a wild boy.”
Meet Lionel, a boy who acts more like an animal than a human, and Marybeth, a girl who is amiable and follows every direction given to her. You wouldn’t expect these complete opposites to get along, but they do. At this orphanage, they have nothing but each other.
In The Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart, Marybeth becomes possessed by a mysterious blue spirit who is wary of everybody and keeps acting out. Lionel and Marybeth set out to figure out what has gotten ahold of Marybeth and how they can keep Marybeth from fading away.