Laddertop, volume 1 by Orson Scott Card and Emily Janice Card, illustrated by Honoel A. Ibardolaza

Years ago, aliens came to Earth and provided humans with advanced technology that could power the entire planet. There are four giant towers, called Ladders, that stretch high into space that must be maintained in order to keep the power on. And because of the small tubes and tight spaces, the job requires children. Only the best kids get accepted to Laddertop Academy, and from them only a few get selected to actually participate in going up to the Laddertop stations.

Azure and Robbi are eleven-year-old girls who are best friends, and both are selected into the Academy, where there are weird tests and training to determine who will be selected for the journey to the stations. Who are the aliens, why did they disappear, and why specifically do they need children for their work?

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Bad Island by Doug TenNapel

The absolute last thing that Reese wants to do is go on this family boating trip that his father is super enthusiastic about. Reese insists that he's responsible enough to stay home alone, and his father insists that this is a FAMILY activity.

So, they embark on the boat trip only to be shipwrecked on an abandoned island. When creepy things start to happen, Reese, his parents, and his little sister must figure out where they are and how to survive long enough in order to get back home. In a Lost-esque atmosphere, there is certainly a lot to learn about the island itself, as well as it's dangerous creatures who seem to be out to get them. But Reese and his family figure out a way to defeat the bad that seems to be part of the island's very groundwork?

Recommended to middle grade boys, with maybe a few exceptions

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

a + e 4ever by I. Merey

This graphic novel overflows emotion, anxiety, passion, and curiosity from pages that contain a Japanese/manga personality (if not format). Many of the characters are drawn with feminine features, despite the gender, with slim bodies, girlish facial features, and longer hair . . . unfortunately for Ash.

Asher is a boy who has always been sensitive and quiet, and sort of looks like a girl. Eulalie is a tough girl with a thick skin and a rough attitude. They become fast friends, the sort of friends who have mutual experiences with bullying and being outcasts. Unfortunately for Eu, it only takes a few months of their friendship for her to admit that she likes Ash. And Ash response that he has a crush on the cutest boy in their high school. But it turns out that Ash doesn't only like boys; he just doesn't want a relationship with Eu.

From first sexual experiences (bad) to first kisses (good) and late nights (bad) to early afternoons (good), this stunning literary experience takes readers through some of the darkest times of teenage angst, confusion, anger, and love. And leaves us breathless. (The characters are as stunning as the pictures portray them to be.) Definitely for older teen readers, though.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Mangaman by Barry Lyga, illustrated by Colleen Doran

Traditional comics meets nontraditional manga in this graphic novel-format masterpiece. Marissa Montaigne is popular, and she surely prides herself on being herself, and never any version of who someone might want her to be, and that's probably the reason she broke things off with her popular, jock boyfriend. But when she lays eyes on Ryoko Kiyama, she's smitten for sure. He's the boy, or the non-boy, that everyone's been talking about. When there was a rip in his world, he finds himself the odd-man-out in the "real world." Everyone makes fun of the sound track word bubbles that follow him around, and they can sometimes see the images that he's thinking, but he's only really concerned with two things: getting home, and Marissa. But what if he can't get home? And what if Marissa gets sucked into his world without him?

There's a lot going on here, and I kind of hope that there is more to come with the storyline. Recommended for any and all readers -- the non-"sex scene" is hilarious. And for the record, Barry Lyga is AWESOME.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Level Up by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by Thien Pham

Dennis has been bred to be a doctor (specifically a gastroenterologist). Throughout his elementary and teen years, his dad pushes him to work harder and be better, to put down his video games and to pick up a textbook and study as much as possible. But when Dennis' father dies of liver cancer just before high school graduation, Dennis buries himself in the same video games his parents were so against having in the house. Dennis is awesome at gaming, but the guilt from turning his back on his "destiny" as a doctor eats at him and eats at him - until he catches a couple of lucky breaks and studies and works his way into medical school. This is a story of a young man who can't quite seem to figure out what he wants out of life, or how to get it. It's the story with a lot of ups and downs, about a young man who manages to figure out the important stuff in the end . . . at least so far.

Gene Luen Yang has some wonderful graphic novels published for teens and adults, including the Printz Award-winning American Born Chinese. Level Up is recommended for all readers, especially those just breaking into comics territory!

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot

We first meet Helen in an Underground Station near Trafalgar Square. We follow her through the streets of London, where she meets a collection of individuals, including Ben, who sets her up with a roof and a few meals. When her beloved pet rat is killed by one of the cats in the makeshift shelter, she decides it's time for her to keep on moving. She hitchhikes north to England's Lake District - famous for its calm and its beauty - and by accident winds up being quite literally rescued by a couple who own a pub. (It turns out that Beatrix Potter once stayed at the same pub.) It is in this place that Helen is finally able to begin to come to terms with her past, a story that the reader uncovers through flashbacks along her hard journey. 

This is a story of sexual abuse, the battle toward self-acceptance and relinquishment of undeserved guilt. This is the story of "one bad rat," who overcomes unrelenting struggle and uncovers her self-worth through the support of strong, loving adults. Recommended to all readers -- and lovers of Beatrix Potter will find something a little extra-special here as well.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Psychiatric Tales : eleven graphic stories about mental illness by Darryl Cunningham

Darryl Cunningham is himself a sufferer of mental illness as he has had to combat depression and anxiety through many of his childhood and adult years. His time working as a health care provider and on psychiatric wards - and his own life's experiences - serve as the basis for these stories. Stories of dementia (young and old), self-mutilation, depression, and personal disorders are connected not by sadness and struggle, but by hope, and Cunningham clearly is putting a call out for support and understanding from the general public for mental health sufferers.

In the chapter about famous people with mental illnesses, I even learned about a musical artist named Nick Drake who sounds like his sound might be pretty interesting, but who didn't become known until well after he committed suicide at aged 26. Even the slightest stories in this collection can serve as reminders that one never knows what the future holds, for better or for worse. It might be worth it to struggle through the bad to get a chance to experience the good.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Foiled by Jane Yolen

Aliera Carstairs is not really all that cool, at least not according to her super-girly high school classmates.  But to her fencing opponents, Aliera is magic (though perhaps still not liked for it).  When a new boy at school, Avery Castle, seems to be paying attention to Aliera, she's flustered and confused, but since he's the nicest looking boy she's ever seen, she pushes aside his quirky weirdness and tries not to second-guess his intentions towards her.  She's thrilled -- and terrified! -- when he asks her out on a Saturday night.  Most of Aliera's Saturday nights consist of role-playing with her younger cousin Caroline AKA Queen Furby.  

Typically, Avery is late for their date and Aliera spends quite a while people-watching in Grand Central Station.  Here, she meets a beautiful winged woman.  And then a troll.  And something evil existing within a dark cloud.  And she discovers that she's supposed to be the Defender . . . of someone or something else's world.  

Aliera learns that not everything is as it appears, and that sometimes you can only see clearly with a focus, or a purpose.  She also discovers that the world often doesn't care whether or not you're ready to exert your power when it asks you to do so.  Aliera must always defend her heart, but be willing to talk risks to propel herself further along.  Recommended to all middle grade fantasy readers.  The illustrations in this graphic novel are wonderful!

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Habibi by Craig Thompson

Take one look at Habibi and you know you are in for a masterpiece from the author/illustrator of Blankets.  This thick tomb of story and artwork is completely captivating, thought-provoking, and inspirational.

The story is told in pieces, skipping delicately through time.  Dodola first met Zam when she was a teenager and he was only three years old, both of them orphans with no money, no food, and no home.  Dodola saves Zam and they find an abandoned ship in the dried-up dessert to make their home, and she cares for Zam as though he is her own child.  She finds them food each day, and Zam finds their water supplies.  Of course as Zam grows older, he becomes more and more curious -- both of their living situation and survival, as well as of Dodola as a woman.  When he follows her one day and finds that she trades her body to men for their food, he ventures to the village hoping to be able to provide for her, and for them.  This growth and this journey separate them.

This is the story of how they come back together again.

Told beautifully in words and images, the Arabic language revealed as art in and of itself, the reader is immersed in the hardships of poverty, the abuse of power and strength, and the joy found in shared experience, passion, and hope.  Recommended to all adults.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Britten and Bruightly : a Graphic Novel by Hannah Berry

Fernandez Britten is a private investigator, a self-proclaimed "researcher," commonly known in the field as "The Heartbreaker" because of the heartache he has brought to many of his clients by surfacing the truth.  When he gets a call from Charlotte Maughton, daughter of a wealthy owner of a large publishing house, about her husband's murder, Britten is intrigued enough to take the case.  Throughout the mystery, Britten proves his intelligence and his supreme observatory skills, though he comes across as desperate and depressing . . . the insanely hilarious bright spot is Britten's only friend, his partner Stewart Brulightly, a teabag.  Literally. 

Recommended to all.  Especially recommended to those with an attraction to irony and sarcasm.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Yummy : The last days of a southside shorty by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke

Yummy is thirteen and already drawn into the gang lifestyle of Chicago.  He was raised by a no-nonsense grandmother, but he was always getting kicked out or running off, and he found solace and a sense of something bigger and better with the Black Disciples.  In an attempt to make a name for himself, he busted in on a group of rivals with a gun in his hand, but his inexperience led to an innocent classmate's death.  And it put Yummy on the run.  The Black Disciples protected him until it became too much -- to much attention, pressure, and simple annoyance.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.
 

"Sometimes stories get to you; this one left my stomach in knots.  After three days of reporting, I still couldn't decide which was more appalling: the child's life or the child's death." --John D. Hull, TIME magazine, September 1994.

This story is based on the real Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, born in 1983, raised and killed in the Roseland area of Chicago.

Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty from Greg Neri on Vimeo.

CHEW: Volume 1: Taster's Choice by John Layman, illustrated by Rob Guillory

This graphic novel is certainly out of the ordinary.  Tony Chu is one of the few cibopaths of the world -- he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats -- and his work as a detective often gets him into sticky, not-so-tasty situations.  When he's employed by the Special Crimes Division of the FDA, his world only gets more and more complicated, and dangerous.  If you can't trust your brother, but want to save his life, or your partner, who ends up saving yours, what's a guy to do?  If you're Tony, you take a bite out of a vacuum-packed dead dog and try to solve the case!

There's much more to follow this first volume of CHEW, and likely each situation is going to be more disgusting than the next.  Recommended to comic book readers with a taste (-ahem-) for the unusual.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann, illustrated by Janet Lee

Wowza.  If the first couple of scenes of Return of the Dapper Men alone don't blow your mind, then you need to return immediately to your childhood and dig around to see if you can find where you lost your imagination, your thrill-seeking sense of adventure, and your appreciation for all things fun and glorious and entertaining . . . for this artistic masterpiece surely incorporates all of those things.  Anorev is a land full of children and machines, until one day 314 dapper men come floating down from the sky and they bring with them something mysterious and a little bit terrifying: Time.  And with time comes growth and discover, and it also brings choice and desire, none of which the children of Anorev have remembered in the timeless years gone by.  The story is thought-provoking and the artwork is simply breathtaking.

Recommended to all ages (physically and otherwise).  "To anyone who ever fell down a rabbit hole, walked to the sidewalk's end, danced a wild rumpus, or followed the second star to the right, may you find adventure, wonder, and a little something from which dreams are made in these pages."

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

A.D. : New Orleans after the Deluge by Josh Neufeld

Author and cartoonist, Josh Neufeld, follows the experience of seven individuals whose lives were completely altered in the destruction and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  In 2006, it was predicted that Katrina's path would run straight through New Orleans, Louisiana.  Based on past experiences with hurricanes, or driven by loyalty to their homes, or frightened and heedful of the warnings to evacuate the nearby cities, some residents chose to ride out the storm at home, and some choose to seek solace elsewhere.  Some individuals were rich, many others were poor; some were flanked by family or materials, and others had next to nothing to lose.  All were greatly traumatized by the resulting storm.  By the government's response.  By the conditions of support, or lack there of.  And by the efforts to rebuild.

Denise, The Doctor, Abbas and Darnell, Kwame, Leo and Michelle tell Josh Neufeld of their real life experiences living through Hurricane Katrina and the resulting flooding and destruction of a famous city.  Through words and pictures, the impact of these stories is heavy without being overwhelming.  The author is able to present these lives in a way that invokes understanding and a true emotional connection.  I found myself crying over comic books, but rallying in support of those who are still struggling to regain their sense of home.  Recommended for absolutely everyone.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Will Supervillains Be on the Final? by Naomi Novik

Leah is a superhero prodigy and there is a lot of pressure on her as she begins classes at Liberty Vocational.  Liberty is a special college for superheroes to master their powers, and Leah's acceptance into the school at sixteen is pretty exceptional.  Leah just wants to be accepted (and maybe noticed by the cute guy in her dorm!), but her lack of control over the use of her powers keeps causing trouble for her.  The reader learns that there is a supervillain in their midst -- isn't there always? -- who happens to be an arch-rival of the school's adviser.  Armed with her roommate and one friend, will Leah be able to figure out who the bad guys are, and control her powers so that she can become a force for good?

Predictable and safe, filled with the character types of traditional manga, this book is sure to please manga readers, but might not be quite as popular with comic book and superhero aficionados.  And yet, though I didn't expect it, this book became my superFUN read of the summer!  I loved it way more than I was anticipating, and I can't wait for more!  Recommended to all ages and readers of all types, especially as an introduction to a format with which "traditional" readers might be uncomfortable.  I'm serious; go ahead, give it a try!

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

DC relaunching series . . .

For all my comic book fans . . . Is this interesting to you?  Check out Robin Brenner's write-up on EarlyWord:

http://www.earlyword.com/2011/07/18/dc-reboot-what-to-do-with-52-new-series/

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

Paige Turner (yup, her parents are writers; no pressure) is missing the natural beauty of her Virginia home and isn't immediately digging the craziness of her new New York City lifestyle.  Her parents are concerned that she's having trouble adjusting to the new environment, but Paige really just wants to be left alone. Armed with her sketchbook, she begins to follow her own rules for survival, starting with an actual social life.  And luckily there is a small group of independent-thinking friends willing to take her under its wing.

The story and illustrations found within the pages of this graphic novel are absolutely gorgeous.  Getting to know Paige is a pleasure, and the inspiration to find your own way within your unique circumstances is unmistakably endearing.  Recommended to all readers, young and old, artist, writer, and observer.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Lost & Found by Shaun Tan

Three beautifully illustrated tales tell simple stories of life as it truly is, was, or could be. "The Red Tree" offers hope to a little girl who feels all alone in a big, confusing world. "The Lost Thing," without a home, finally finds a place to belong, and is happier for it. And pain, loss, change, and desire all comes forth though "The Rabbits" (as written by John Marsden). There isn't much joy in this collection of stories, but there are fascinating bits of true feelings and deep-seated emotion, as well as a glimpse of a complicated world cut down into bare-bones letters and paint strokes. No doubt that there is something for everyone between the cover of this collection. Teens will imagine the future, children will find joy in the colors and the details as they exist on the page in the here and now, and adults will see a pure reflection of the past.
Call number: YA GRAPHIC TAN (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian

Shadoweyes by Ross Campbell

Have you ever wished that you could be a superhero?  That you could wipe out all the bad in the world?  That you could make other people happy and be happy?  That you could be the answer to pain and loneliness?  Unfortunately, we've learned from many of our traditional superheros that in order to relieve pain in others, pain often needs to be absorbed elsewhere.  Taking on the burdens of others can sacrifice the superhero himself.  Or herself.

Scout is NORMAL.  She's seventeen, she's part of the Neighborhood Crimewatch, she likes kittens (at least she wants to save battered ones), she loves her mom, and she's not always as tough as she thinks she is.  When she finds that she has the ability to transform into Shadoweyes, she takes on her mission to eliminate suffering diligently and seriously.  But when this ability actually traps her inside her new form, she must learn to figure out how to balance being a community superhero (with a shady reputation) with keeping her mother and her friends safe and coming to terms with never being a "normal" girl ever again.  (The sequel, Shadoweyes in Love, is available July 2011.)

Bold black-and-white images serve to enhance the dramatic adventure as well as to intensify the learning and growing that take place inside Scout as she battles with herself and her world.  Recommended to most comic book readers, especially those who secretly wish for a bit of a superhero inside of themselves . . .

Call number: YA GRAPHIC CAMPBELL (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Queen Bee by Chynna Clugston

This classic teen girl theme shown often in movies and books is given a fresh feel in graphic novel format. Clugston depicts a wonderful imitation of middle school, full of cliques, boys, insecurities, and coming of age. The stark black and white images seem to show that individuals are actually more alike than they realize, but that their subtle unique characteristics make them special. As the new girl at a new school, Haley’s main goal is to make everyone like her, and she very quickly becomes the Queen Bee of the Hives, the most popular group of girls in school. However, when Alexa shows up as the next new girl, Haley discovers that they both share the same psychokinetic ability, and both girls realize that they can use their ability to hurt other people. With the help of true friends, like Trini and Jasper, Haley soon realizes that being popular is not as wonderful as it seems.

With detailed graphics and a lot of explanatory dialogue, this initial volume of the series is highly recommended for middle grade graphic novel readers.

Call number: YA GRAPHIC CLUGSTON (Teen Room)