Graphic Novel Spotlight - Danger on Mount Choco

 

Blue,Barry, & Pancakes: Danger on Mount Choco by Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson

If you're a fan of quirky cartoons then this is a series for you. A trio of friends go on a madcap adventure to make the world's best ice cream sundae, encountering a variety of challenges and odd creatures along the way. If the reader can accept that this world follows it's own rules than it follows it's own internal logic.  Visually, it's quite dynamic. There is a lot of variety in the panels. The main characters themselves are different enough to create enough interest on the page. While this book is part of a series, the characters and plot are simple enough to follow without any introductory information. And it's not just silliness. There is some simple messaging about being a good friend and the places where we find fulfillment.

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Book review - Seeking Freedom

 

Seeking Freedom by Selene Castrovilla

 While the narrative of this book is fairly simple, the events being linear and easy to follow. What makes it complicated is the historical, political, and sociological context. Trying to explain motivations makes the book fairly text dense. This is an important and entirely overlooked point in the Civil War that set the tone for the country and it's treatment of formerly enslaved people going forward. It's an excellent way to discuss the Civil War in more depth with upper elementary aged kids.

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Book review - Riley's Ghost

 

Title: Riley's Ghost

Author: John David Anderson

Genre: horror

Similar books: What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie

                      Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

Rating:

 

not exactly scary or atmospheric

Summary (provided by publisher): Riley Flynn is alone.
It feels like she’s been on her own since sixth grade, when her best friend, Emily, ditched her for the cool girls. Girls who don’t like Riley. Girls who decide one day to lock Riley in the science closet after hours, after everyone else has gone home.
When she is finally able to escape, however, she finds that her horror story is only just beginning. All the school doors are locked, the windows won’t budge, the phones are dead, and the lights aren't working. Through halls lit only by the narrow beam of her flashlight, Riley roams the building, seeking a way out, an answer, an explanation. And as she does, she starts to suspect she isn’t alone after all.
While she’s always liked a good scary story, Riley knows there is no such thing as ghosts. But what else could explain the things happening in the school, the haunting force that seems to lurk in every shadow, around every corner? As she tries to find answers, she starts reliving moments that brought her to this night. Moments from her own life...and a life that is not her own.

My opinion: The set up here is a solid one. The haunting of the school is clearly intended as a parallel for Riley's own sense of isolation. The thing is, it doesn't really feel very scary. Riley never feels properly threatened. She's not really at risk or targeted. She's just trapped. The atmosphere is more strange than frightening. It has more of a literal nightmare vibe than an actual scary story. While the whole scenario is fully explained, the ghost's motivation in picking Riley doesn't feel like enough. And since Riley is the only character with any depth, there isn't a lot of drive or motivation here. If you're looking for a scare or a psychological exploration you're probably better off looking elsewhere.

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Drop spindle

 I decided this winter that I wanted to learn how to spin my own yarn. Since I'm just learning and may not stick with it, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on tools. I made my own drop spindle out of an orphaned knitting needle and some cardboard. I bent the tip of the needle with some pliers. It formed a decent hook shape but left the needle surface kind of rough so I wrapped it in thread and coated it with hot glue. My spindle needed a little more weight so I also added lines of glue around the cardboard as well.

Book review - Dog Star

 

Title: Dog Star

Author: Megan Shepherd

Genre: historical fiction

Similar books: Red Menace by Lois Ruby

                      Laika by Nick Abadzis

Rating:

 

the right level of complicated

Summary (provided by publisher): Laika is a Cold Dog, a stray pup fighting for her life on the streets of Moscow. Then, one winter night, she is plucked from her alley to become a starflyer, a dog trained to travel into space. Distrustful of people, Laika tries to do everything she can to escape. That is, until she meets Nina.
Nina is a Cold Girl, lonely and full of questions. Her best friend has moved to America in a rush, leaving Nina to face the school bullies all by herself. Plus, her father’s work as a scientist in the Soviet Space Program grows more secretive by the day.
When the two meet in her father’s laboratory, their growing bond slowly warms the chill that has settled in each other’s hearts. As the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union grows fierce, Laika and Nina uncover shocking secrets and hard truths that will test their friendship. How will they find the courage to chase their dreams all the way to the stars?

My opinion: Personally, I was already fairly familiar with the story of Laika from Nick Abadzis's graphic novel. That book was almost exclusively the story of the dog, giving us primarily her perspective with some context from the human realm. Shepherd's story is far more human. Laika's chapters provide a simplified version of Nina's emotional conflict making the ideas easier for a young reader to grasp. But this book is Nina's story, using her age and the natural inclination to question the world and authority, to encourage the reader to consider political machinations and propaganda and the harm they cause to citizens. Some of the later scenes go too far and stretch our suspension of disbelief, but its a fairly solid and compelling read.

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Picture books for everyone

 

The Queen on Our Corner by Lucy Christopher

We see, sometimes, books about the unhoused. Mostly these books show us how such people are "just like us". We see people down on their luck, for whom this is a temporary situation. What Christopher has done here is presented us with a more stereotypical homeless person, someone who seems to struggle with some mental health issues and who doesn't fit into a "normal" lifestyle. Seeing the "queen" through the narrator's eyes we see a person worthy of dignity and respect as well as empathy. We are encouraged simply to see and care about people rather than making value judgement. While this messaging may not land with very young kids, it is an important one to share with older kids. 

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Non-fiction book review - Incubators

 

Incubators by Paige V. Polinsky

There are things that we never put a lot of thought into their development and I would certainly put incubators in that class. I imagine most of us don't think about them at all unless we know a child who is born premature. A graphic novel is a great way to share the history of an invention's development. We can visual each step along the way. While this particular book is perhaps overly narrated, the illustrations support the text well. 

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.