August 2016 sucks.
Archives for August 2016
FROM PANEL TO PANEL • August 2016 Graphic Novel Releases I’m Excited About!
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.
What a wonderful month of awesome comics. In August, you get graphic novels about a troll, Lucifer Morningstar, coding, vengeful Victorian vixens, Black Panther, and much more!
Get your shopping carts loaded with all these comics!
| BERA THE ONE-HEADED TROLL |
|---|
Bera doesn’t ask for much in life. She’s a solitary, humble troll, tending her island pumpkin patch in cheerful isolation. She isn’t looking for any trouble.
But when trouble comes to find her, it comes in spades. A human baby has arrived in the realm of the trolls, and nobody knows where it came from, but Bera seems to be the only person who doesn’t want it dead. There’s nothing to it but to return the adorable little thing to its parents.
Like it or not, Bera’s gone and found herself a quest.
From noted picture book illustrator and graphic novelist (Maddy Kettle) Eric Orchard comes Bera the One-Headed Troll, a delightful new fantasy adventure with all the sweetness, spookiness, and satisfaction of your favorite childhood bedtime story. — First Second
Publication date: August 2, 2016 by First Second
Buy: LCBS · Amazon · Barnes & Noble · The Book Depository · Indigo
Why I’m excited: A troll and a human baby? What kind of cuteness will happen with these two creatures? I love that Bera decides to bring the baby home. I’m so excited to see what and who she encounters on the way. It seems really heartwarming.
(ARC) REVIEW • Not What We Need (It Looks Like This by Rafi Mittlefehldt)
[note note_color=”#1a2c5b” text_color=”#ffffff”]It Looks Like This by Rafi Mittlefehldt • September 6, 2016 • Candlewick Press
Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Indigo | Library
A new state, a new city, a new high school. Mike’s father has already found a new evangelical church for the family to attend, even if Mike and his plainspoken little sister, Toby, don’t want to go. Dad wants Mike to ditch art for sports, to toughen up, but there’s something uneasy behind his demands.
Then Mike meets Sean, the new kid, and “hey” becomes games of basketball, partnering on a French project, hanging out after school. A night at the beach. The fierce colors of sunrise. But Mike’s father is always watching. And so is Victor from school, cell phone in hand.[/note]
[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Candlewick Press for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]
First sentence: “It looks like this:”
Oh, It Looks Like This, I wanted you to be an awesome LGBTQ+ book, but you were just too—*yawns*.
FROM PANEL TO PANEL • As White As Snow (Snow White by Matt Phelan)
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall – who is the fairest of them all?” If you’re the Queen of the Follies, you sure aren’t the apple of the King of Wall Street’s eyes. You know who is? The titular character, Samantha White, or Snow as she’s known to most. The girl who has everything the Queen of Follies want. The girl who’s story follows the Snow White fairytale, but set in Depression-era Manhattan.
REVIEW • The Moon Is Full of Tricks (The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill)
[note note_color=”#60255b” text_color=”#ffffff”]The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill • August 9, 2016 • Algonquin Young Readers
Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Indigo | Library
Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.
One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. As Luna’s thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic begins to emerge–with dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Deadly birds with uncertain intentions flock nearby. A volcano, quiet for centuries, rumbles just beneath the earth’s surface. And the woman with the Tiger’s heart is on the prowl . . .[/note]
[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Algonquin Young Readers for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]
First sentence: “Yes. There is a witch in the woods. There has always been a witch.”
My heart is filled with so much love for The Girl Who Drank the Moon!
SO. MUCH. LOVE.
In the Protectorate, there’s a yearly tradition where the people leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. Nobody questions why; they do it out of fear of this evil witch who is said to do horrible things to them if they don’t. However, this witch in the forest named Xan is nobody to be feared; she is a sweet old woman who actually does a lot of good, delivering the babies to a loving home when she finds them. Xan’s life changes when she accidentally feeds an abandoned baby moonlight and decides to raise the enmagicked child, Luna, with a Swamp Monster and a tiny dragon. Not only do Xan’s life changes with this baby, but also the lives of the people who live in the Protectorate, where a young man there can no longer stand the threat of the witch and heads into the forest to kill the Witch.
REVIEW • It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s Supergirl! (Supergirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee)
[note note_color=”#924d57″ text_color=”#ffffff”]Supergirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee • July 5, 2016 • Random House Books for Young Readers
Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Indigo | Library
Get your cape on with the DC Super Hero Girls™—the unprecedented new Super Hero universe especially for girls! Readers of all ages can fly high with the all-new adventures of Wonder Woman™, Supergirl™, Batgirl™, and some of the world’s most iconic female super heroes as high schoolers!
Supergirl is the new girl in school—and she just also happens to be the most powerful teenager in the galaxy!
After losing her home planet of Krypton and everyone she knows, Supergirl has made a new home on Earth, but she’s isn’t so sure that Super Hero High School is the right place for her. Wonder Woman, other new friends, and a kindly librarian make her feel welcome, but breached inter-dimensional portals, invading alien armies, and bad dreams shake her confidence. It’s not easy being a super hero and a high school student all at once![/note]
The wonderful folks at Random House asked me if I wanted to take part in a blog tour for Supergirl at Super Hero High, and I was absolutely thrilled because it’s Supergirl! Another awesome female superhero that everybody should get to know.
[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Random House for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]
First sentence: “Wonder Woman!” Principal Waller bellowed.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s Supergirl first time at school!
In this sequel to the Super Hero High series, the Kents have decided that it’s time that Supergirl enroll into Super Hero High to take control of her powers and hone them. However, Supergirl is really unsure that going to Super Hero High is a good idea. The school is hard (another rival school doesn’t do exams), and she keeps making tons of mistakes that could be unavoidable if she isn’t Supergirl (aka clumsy). In Supergirl at Super Hero High, Supergirl has to deal with the mounting pressure of being a superhero, her insecurities of not being worthy enough, trying to fit in, her grief over the death of her parents and Krypton, various threatening incidents involving the Boom Tubes, and much more.