Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas

 

Moving from Brooklyn to Florida means a new apartment, a new school and new friends for middle schooler Bree Hanley and she's excited about the change. While moving into their new apartment, Bree meets elderly Ms. Etta, who loves to do jigsaw puzzles, and Clara, a neighbor and fellow student at Enith Brigitha Middle School. 

Bree, who loves math, is excited to begin school and sign up for the Math Puzzles elective. But when she's told the class is full and she will have to take swimming instead, Bree is completely deflated - she doesn't know how to swim. Meanwhile, she and Clara become best friends. Clara is also a great swimmer and is on the school's competitive swim team, the Enith Brigitha Manatees. After repeatedly skipping swim class, Bree is finally caught and when the reason comes out, her dad signs her up for swimming lessons. 

Some girls from her new school's rival swim team, Holyoke Prep, see Bree learning to swim in the kiddy pool, and cruelly make fun of her. Afraid and humiliated, Bree goes from skipping swim class to skipping school altogether. When her math homework falls into the pool at her apartment, Bree jumps in to get it back, and has to be rescued by Ms. Etta. It turns out that Ms. Etta had been a champion swimmer all through school, college and even professionally for a while. Naturally, she offers to teach Bree how to swim. 

Meanwhile, the coach of the Enith Brigitha Manatees learns that the pool the team swims in may be turned into a Smoothie Palace and he desperately needs to get more good swimmers on his team to save it. Bree's swimming lessons with Ms. Etta are going well, although Bree is still filled with self-doubt in the water. Ms. Etta is a calm and patient teacher, and even gives Bree a brief but important lesson about why so many Black people don't know how to swim and it has nothing to do with fear of the water, but rather from laws that limited their access to pools.

When Bree makes the team, and then signs up for swimming instead of math her second semester, her father is clearly disappointed, but accepts her decision. He's been pretty busy with his new job and training and keeps missing her meets, which is very disappointing for Bree. Bree is still filled with self-doubt whenever she's in the water, and that isn't made easier when Keisha, one of the girls from Holyoke Prep who made fun of her, transfers to Enith Brigitha after being kicked off the team there for coming in last at a meet. And Clara, whose mother wants her to go to Holyoke Prep, gets a letter saying she has been accepted there and will be transferring at the beginning of the next school year. All this makes for a very disunited team. So, maybe now that Coach has asked Ms. Etta to help with the team, she can bring some unity and help lead the team to victory and saving their pool, and maybe, just maybe, the girls can help Ms. Etta find the missing piece in her own life. 

Bree is a wonderful character. She's smart, upbeat, and supportive, then swimming and self-doubt enter her life. Christmas has really captured the kinds of thoughts that go through a person's head in the throes of self-doubt, but he has Bree swim though them more than once, because anyone who has ever doubted themselves about something knows those pesky thoughts don't go away overnight or even necessarily with accomplishment. It was hard to see this sweet girl sink but wonderful to see how she finally met the challenges put in front of her and swam to the surface. 

Ms. Etta was also a great character, bringing the past into the present with her own accomplishments and I like that Christmas portrayed her as someone who still had so much to give to the youth of today. And Bree was certainly a catalyst for turning Ms. Etta's life around as much as Ms. Etta did that for Bree. I was a little disappointed in Bree's father's behavior once she joined the swim team, but forgave him when his own deep dark secret finally came out.

Swim Team is definitely a positive, accessible book about family, community, and sportsmanship (in and out of the pool). It does have some social commentary but much of it is subtle. For example, it's Bree's more diverse school that may lose their OK pool, while the mostly white Holyoke Prep has a state of the art pool. The art is simple, but clear and the cells are easy to follow. It reminded me of Jerry Craft's graphic novel New Kid, which I loved and I would definitely pair these two books for a class read.

MMGM: Kyle's Little Sister story and art by BonHyung Jeong

 

Kyle's Little Sister

Story and Art by BonHyung Jeong

JY, an imprint Yen Press, 2021, 240 pages

Sixth grader Grace Bailey is very excited to finally be a middle grader. Well, except for one thing - older brother Kyle is an eight grader in the same school. Grace and Kyle may be siblings, but they couldn't be more different. Kyle is outgoing, good-looking and popular, especially among the girls, and likes to game with his two best friends, Liam and Andrew. Grace is a quiet, shy girl who prefers staying home and gaming with her two best friends, Jay, who is Black and has a big crush on Kyle, and Amy, Andrew's younger sister.

When Amy finds out that Andrew is having a game night with Kyle and Liam at her house, she convinces her mother to let her have an overnight with Jay and Grace at the same time. Everything is going relatively well until Amy starts pushing Jay to let Kyle know how she feels, something Jay does not want to do. When Jay finally tells Amy to stop pushing it, that she's taking Jay's feelings too lightly, Amy explodes. Hurtful words are said, feelings are hurt, Jay goes home, and Amy tells Grace she is only her friend because of their brothers. 

The following Monday, after not receiving any text messages all weekend from Jay or Amy, Grace finds herself alone in school, with no one to hang out with or sit with at lunch. But soon a popular, outgoing girl with blond curly hair named Cam invites her to sit at her table at lunch after finding out Grace's last name is Bailey. It's fun for a while, but when Cam and her other friends start bullying Amy, Grace begins to feel badly for her old friend. Things really come to a head when Grace discovers Cam's ulterior motive for being so friendly to her. Things are so bad that even Kyle begins to notice something's wrong. 

Will Kyle finally help his sister out? Will Grace, Jay, and Amy ever be able to patch things up and become besties again? And who is Audrey and is she friend or just another girl with a Kyle crush?

Kyle's Little Sister is a debut graphic novel for BonHyung Jeong and she has really hit it out of the park, capturing all the big and small happenings and nuances that can only happen in middle school. Her characters are so spot on and so very today even if the story is as old as...middle school. Jeong's has managed to take a handful of characters and give them all distinct personalities. There is nothing ambiguous in the storyline, and motives are clear and uncomplicated, and there is even a nod to the very popular K-Pop phenomena.  

Jeong's art is also uncomplicated, and I love the way she indicates things like the noisy school hallways, and the mutterings and asides of the characters by using a smaller font and not encasing them in a speech bubbles. Her illustrations are done in a soft pastel palette of colors, and her characters are given a variety of facial expressions reflecting their feelings and emotions, and red mouths when they are speaking.  

I'm a big fan of graphic novels and this one about living in the shadow of an older popular sibling is totally relatable and I know this from my own experience. I got really tired of people, especially teachers, saying to me "Aren't you Ginny's little sister? You're nothing like her." I suspect there are many of us out there who can relate to Kyle's Little Sister. 

Art and storyline make this a unique graphic novel about school relationships, sibling rivalry, forgiveness, maturing, and real friendships to share with your young readers. 

Meet the Author/Illustrator

BonHyung Jeong (Bon) studied Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Kyle's Little Sister is her debut graphic novel, made possible with the help of numerous people. She hopes to make connections with others through relatable stories. Currently living in Korea, she's always busy playing console games - exactly like someone in the book. 

This book is recommended for readers 9+

This book was gratefully received from Casey Blackwell at Media Masters Publicity  

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, 

now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.

Class Act (sequel to New Kid) by Jerry Craft

Class Act is, quite simply, everything you could want in a sequel. Jordan Banks returns for his second year at the exclusive RAD (Riverdale Academy Day School) along with his friends Drew Ellis and Liam Landers. Though Jordan and Drew are two of the few African Americans at RAD, they are grappling with different issues. Jordan still would rather go to art school, but his mother insists he get an education at RAD, while his dad is a little more understanding. Jordan is also worried about his physical self. All the other boys are tall and more manly smelling, but Jordan is still much shorter, less developed and has no body odor, not even after a gym workout.  

Drew, on the other hand, returns to school taller and stronger. He also has a new hairstyle, one that some of the non-Black students can't keep themselves from touching no matter how often he asks them to stop. Drew is also having issues about being a Black scholarship student in a predominately white school. Drew, who lives with his hard working grandmother in Co-Op City, must two buses from one part of the Bronx to get to RAD in a wealthy section of the Bronx, while other students arrive by car or limo. What he sees begins to come to a head when his clueless principal tells Drew that RAD is making an effort to promote diversity, equality and inclusion and has adopted an urban sister school and would like Drew to show them around when the students visit. Their visit highlights for Drew the contrast between resources at RAD and their school, which lacks so much including a decent library and cafeteria.  

After he and Jordan visit very wealthy Liam over Thanksgiving break, Drew finds that he is having a hard time with his feelings of the unfairness of things and maintaining his friendship with Liam. As long as their friendship is on campus or at Liam's home, Drew feels uncomfortable. Can he find a way to navigate their friendship so that they are able to see, respect, and support each other mutually?

I loved New Kid so I was really anxious to read Class Act. But it is a great sequel and yet, it can stand alone. I liked the focus on Drew because it allowed Jerry Craft to center the story on him and what his life is like. Jordan is a smart, light-skinned, middle class African American who lives with loving parents; Liam is a smart, very rich, privileged, blond haired white kid who lives in a mansion with an absentee father and a socialite mother; by contrast, Drew is a smart, athletic, dark-skinned working class African American living with his loving grandmother. 

Beside these socioeconomic differences, these three kids also enable Craft to address issues of how differently people are treated based on their skin color. Jordan captures the way teachers and students treat him differently than how they treat Drew in one of his black and white two-page comic commentaries that are scattered through the story.

I was happy to see that Craft address the issue of unwanted hair touching after Drew grows his out. Jordan also illustrates this in his comic commentary. This is something that apparently white people do, but I don't quite understand why, I just know it's wrong. And yes, there are other cringe-worthy microaggressions throughout, especially thanks to Drew's nemesis Andy, who for a period has green skin and is teased about it. Would such an experience change a person? It should.

And while so much of this novel may sound heavy and serious, there is plenty of humor throughout. To begin with, at the beginning of every chapter is a parody of covers from other loved graphic novels, beginning with the Wimpy Kid, and including New Kid.  

I can't recommend this novel and its predecessor highly enough. The format is perfect, the message in spot on and resonates so well in today's world. Don't miss it and if you haven't read New Kid yet, what are you waiting for?

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

This book was an eARC received from Edelweiss+

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, 

now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.

Snapdragon written and illustrated by Kat Leyh

When Snapdragon Bloom goes looking for her missing dog, she befriends the town witch and finds more than magic within herself. 

There's a rumor that a witch lives in a house on the outskirts of town, but when Snapdragon's dog Good Boy goes missing, she dares to look for him there. Sure enough, the dog is there, but he's been injured and is missing a front paw. When the rumored witch returns, she tells Snap that the dog was hit by a car and she patched him up. 

Snap is a fierce, fearless, precocious black middle schooler not afraid to take on bullies, often standing up for her neighbor and best friend Lu, who is also black and transgender. Living in a trailer park, Snap is the only child of a mother who must work lots of hours to support them, and who is also getting her degree at night. Good Boy belonged to an old boyfriend who was abusive but is now gone, though he does appear twice in this novel. 

When Snap finds a litter of possum joeys beside their dead mother, she brings them to the "witches" house, hoping they can be saved. The witch turns out to be an older white lady named Jacks, who is more connected to the world than first impressions would give. Jacks collects roadkill, which she buries, then after they decompose, she cleans the bones and reassembles them, selling the skeletons online. 

Creeped out, but also fascinated by Jacks' work, Snap talks her into letting her help take care of the joeys. As a friendship develops between Snap and Jacks, Snap becomes interested in learning more about the skeletons articulated. Snap is also convinced that Jacks really is a witch who uses magic to release the souls of the dead animals back to nature. And as they get to know each other even better, it turns out they have a history of family connections that go back a few generations. So maybe if Jacks can do magic, so can Snap, or at least, that's what Snapdragon hopes.

In the world of graphic novels, Snapdragon is in a class of its own, what you might call a mixed bag. There are magical elements, a mix of humor and sadness, social and social justice issues, marginalized characters, LGTBQ and gender-bending elements, domestic abuse, the roadkill creepiness factor which spikes and just as quickly falls, all wrapped up in a really unusual story.

What I really loved was the way these generally serious topics unfolded so organically throughout the novel, but without lessening any of their importance. Leyh also gives Snap a support system, family and friends who have her back, that gives her the confidence to be unique herself. I also liked the fact that with the last name Bloom family tradition is to name all the girls after flowers, a seemingly unimportant detail that ends up playing an important part in the story.

The author also did all the art work for Snapdragon. Each vivid full color cell is clear and bright, even the darker cells, and color works to add more and more layers to the story. And Leyh has also really captured her character's many moods and feelings through their facial expressions, especially Snap's.

Snapdragon is a wonderfully engaging graphic novel for middle graders who are looking for something good but different.   

This book is recommended for readers age 10+

This book was an E-ARC received from NetGalley

Roller Girl written and illustrated by Victoria Jamieson

I've been using my time sheltering-in-place because of the Coronavirus to catch up on some books I've been meaning to read. One of those is Roller Girl and, boy, was it good.

Astrid and Nicole have been best friends since fifth grade, but now they're 12 and cracks are beginning to show in their friendship. After a night at the roller derby to see Portland's Rose City Rollers, Astrid is obsessed with it, including a star skater named Rainbow Bite. Now, she wants to go to derby camp. There's just one problem - Astrid doesn't know how to skate. Nicole, on the other hand, is a great skater, but couldn't care less about roller derby. Her interest is in ballet...and boys.

But because they are best friends, Astrid automatically assumes that Nicole will want to go to derby camp, too. So you can imagine Astrid's disappointment when Nicole tells her she doesn't want to do that for the summer, but is going to ballet camp instead. Not only that, but Nicole has a new close friend, Rachel, who used to be their enemy. Meanwhile, Astrid's mom, Mrs Vasquez, has signed Astrid up for the Junior Derby Camp, believing Nicole is also going and that her mother will be picking the girls up after camp.

Derby camp is rough, tough and stressful, particularly since Astrid doesn't know how to skate and is the only real beginner there. Yet, despite the bumps and bruises, and the very long, hot walk home to keep up the charade that her friendship with Nicole is fine and that her mother is driving them home, Astrid sticks with it. It's really hard, tiring work, but when her coach sees Astrid walking home, she tells her to take her skates home to get more practice and build up her confidence, she hesitates. The next day, her coach suggest that they practice skating outdoors. It's Astrid's first good day, and she even works up the courage to leave a fangirl note on Rainbow Bite's locker.

Thought things begin to look up for her, there are still some difficult lesson for Astrid to learn before school begins, including trying to reconcile with Nicole, some mother-daughter problems when she is caught in her lie, and accepting just who she is and that it's OK to be different. But the most important lesson is learning to be a good sport and a team player, whether it's roller derby or personal relationships.

Roller Girl is such a wonderful coming of age story, and the graphic format is the perfect medium for it. The colorful panels done by author Victoria Jamieson are all clearly and distinctly illustrated and really capture Astrid's broad range of moods and feelings (and they are broad, she is 12, after all). And roller derby is the perfect metaphor for the ups and downs of Astrid's life the summer before she begins junior high school.

The bumps and bruises Astrid gets while learning to skate and then learning to skate competitively mirror the themes Jamieson explores in the novel, like identity and experimentation (Astrid's blue hair and fake nose ring), perseverance and failure, old and new relationships, change and acceptance. The angst of being that age really rings true to tween life, and isn't so different than when I, or for that matter, my Kiddo, was Astrid's age. And Astrid is such a multi-layered, fully dimensional character that she is someone readers won't easily forget, even if they have not interest in roller derby.

If you haven't read Roller Girl yet, I highly recommend it.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an eBook borrowed from Libby by Overdrive

Yvain: the Knight of the Lion by M. T. Anderson, illustrated by Andrea Offermann

I am a medievalist at heart, and I especially love the stories about King Arthur and the knights of the round table. So, I was pretty excited to see this retelling based on Chrétien de Troyes Yvain story by M. T. Anderson and in graphic form to boot. Essentially, it is a story about vengeance, love, and redemption, with a lot of action in between.

The tale begins when a young knight, Sir Calogrenant, returns to King Arthur's court beaten and defeated. He tells the court how he can upon a fountain with a magical stone which, when water is poured on it, promises plenty of adventure. He is immediately confronted by another knight claiming Calogrenant has attacked his domain by drenching the stone. The two men joust and Calogrenant loses, limping home weak and wounded.

It is his cousin Yvain who vows to avenge him, traveling to the fountain, pouring water on the stone, and jousting with the same knight, Sir Esclados, who attacked Calogrenant. When Sir Esclados dies from his wounds, his widow, Laudine, wants Yvain found and killed. But Yvain is already in her castle, and seeks the help of Lunette, handmaid to Laudine. However, as soon as he sees Laudine, he falls in love with her, and now wants Lunette to help him with her over. Which she does, and Yvain and Laudine are soon married.

But it doesn't take long for Yvain to want to go off with King Arthur and Gawain to prove his valor to Laudine through jousting and feats of arms. Laudine agrees, but tells Yvain he must be back in one year or her love will turn to hate. True to her word, when the allotted year ends and Yvain isn't back yet, Laudine's love becomes bitter hate and she refuses to forgive Yvain. 

Dejected, out of his mind with rage and self-hate, Yvain leaves, becoming a hermit. When he saves a lion from a violent attack, the lion becomes his faithful companion. When Yvain discovers that Lunette is about to he put to death for advising Laudine to marry him, and who now feels betrayed by Lunette. Yvain promises to be her champion and defeat three of Laudine's courtiers to save Lunette from death. But can Yvain redeem himself and become the knight he once was, even winning back Laudine's love?

More sophisticated than most graphic novels, both Anderson and Offermann have captured the real essence of the medieval courtly romance. Originally, these were adventure stories told for entertainment in aristocratic court circles about knights going out on quests in search of adventure, often for the love of a lady. And that is just what happens in this interpretation of the Yvain story. But it is so much more than that. The original knight errant story focuses on the knight - everyone else is there only as extensions to his questing. Anderson has highlighted both Laudine and Lunette as strong women in their own right, they are more than just there to put a spotlight on Yvain. Even Yvain's lion has a personality and part of his own.

This is such a beautiful interpretation of the Yvain story. Anderson does stick to the basic Chrétien story - avenging his cousin's defeat, falling in love with and marrying Laudine, even unknowingly jousting Gawain, then being persuaded to go off on a year of adventuring after much goading on Gawain's part, going mad when she rejects Yvain, rescuing a lion and deciding to win back Laudine. It's all there but with a new sensibility.

Originally, knights didn't much care about anyone but themselves. Even the ladies they adventured and fought for were only there as beautiful objects, not because of any real love or loyalty. Anderson's Yvain begins the same way - a knight seeking glory for himself. Yvain gets a real wakeup call when he is rejected by Laudine, never really expecting that ignoring her request to return at the end of a year would have such serious consequences. Laudine is a woman with political power, feelings and emotions, and apparently capable of real anger, all on display here.

As much as I always loved Medieval literature, my favorite was always Parsifal because you can see his growth from a flawed boy who doesn't understand what it means to be a knight to an man who does. In a way, that is the Yvain that Anderson gives us. Already a knight of the Round Table, he too is a flawed character, still having much to learn about love and loyalty. And unlike the original Arthurian tales, in this version, Yvain doesn't always win his jousting adventures.

Anderson does, indeed, give us a wonderful, energetic retelling of Yvain, and Andrea Offermann's graphic art is quite simply spectacular. She apparently spent a lot of time studying medieval tapestries and each panel felt to me like an illuminated manuscript from that time. Many of the spreads are wordless, and though they are sometimes a bit violent and grisly, they easily move the story forward. You might want to listen to her talk about her process:

Yvain: the Knight of the Lion is an excellent book for anyone interested in Medieval literature, Arthurian tales, adventure stories, or graphic novels. 

This book is recommended for readers age 12+

This book was an EARC received from NetGalley, but it was so wonderful, I bought my own copy of it for my personal library.

New Kid by Jerry Craft

Here is an honest school story based on author Jerry Craft's own experiences as a new kid of color in a predominately white school.

Jordan Banks, an African American 12-year-old has always gone to school in his Washington Heights neighborhood with his friends. Jordan is a smart kid and a gifted artist and really wanted to go to art school. Instead, as he enters 7th grade, Jordan finds himself in a new school, Riverdale Academy Day School or RAD, a black student in a nearly all-white school in the Bronx.

Mrs. Banks works in publishing and is dismayed at the underrepresentation of people of color in it. She's very excited about her son attending RAD, convinced it will open doors for him, and a chance at opportunities she and Jordan's dad didn't have, and couldn't give him themselves. But Jordan's dad isn't quite on board with it, having left the corporate world to work in the neighborhood community center, and promises Jordan, if he's still  want to go to art school by 9th grade, he will be allowed to.

While being shown around on the first day of school by Liam, a rich white boy, the first thing Jordan notices is that everyone is wearing pink or rather 'salmon' colored shirts. The second thing is that there are very few kids who look like him in his grade. There's Maury, who has been at the school since kindergarten and whose father is a CEO, and there's sophomore Deandre and his sidekicks, who likes to bully the younger kids. And there is Andrew - actually there are two of them, one is a braggy white boy who likes to use black slang thinking it makes him sound cool; the other Andrew, called Drew, is a black student on financial aid and who is, like Jordan, constantly being called by the wrong name by teachers and fellow students. Most of the teachers are white, but there is one African American math teacher, Mr. Garner, who is sometimes mistaken for the football coach by the school's white administrators, even after 14 years of teaching.

Resigned to the fact that he's in RAD at least for 7th grade, Jordan slowly begins to make a few friends and I use this term loosely, settle in. Jordan does worry about drifting away from his old friends from the Heights, but eventually reconnects with his oldest and best friend, Kirk. Slowly, as he is pulled into this school and its activities, Jordan begins to realize he can bridge the two different parts of his life. Throughout it all, he chronicles everything in his sketchbook.

My Kiddo and I were both educated in New York City public schools, in my case right up to my PhD, and I've always taught in public school, so I can't speak to the authenticity of what I read in New Kid, though I do believe that Craft has created a very authentic experience at RAD for Jordan Banks. Jordan is part of a strong, loving family that provides him with lots of support. He has a wonderful relationship with his father and his grandfather, and while the family isn't as wealthy as the other kids in RAD, they aren't living in poverty either. And most importantly, Jordan does not come across as a stereotype.

The story covers the whole 7th grade year of school, a year in which there is not one big conflict that Jordan has to deal with and where he comes out a changed person at the end. But that's the point - it is a year of almost daily insults, of often feeling lost and alone, and of micro-aggressions at every turn. Jordan is a great kid, creative and imaginative, observing everything around him and capturing it all in his sketchbook, much of it done with humor. For example, there's the two page black and white spread of his mother trying to take pictures with a camera using film, or his father's instructions for shaking hands, and how about the one called "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones But at Least Get My Name Right."

In addition to Jordan, Craft has created a grade full of characters that at first might be seen as stereotypical (and in some ways they are) but, as you get to know them, they also have their own individuality. The teachers, well...hmm, they were painfully awful.

New Kid is a funny accessible book but one that takes its social commentary very seriously. It is a book that will be appreciated by middle grade readers regardless of their circumstances, either because they will relate to Jordan or because it will enlighten them about what it is like to feel like a fish out of water.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

The Golden Compass: The Graphic Novel (Volume #!) adapated by Stéphane Melchior, art by Clément Oubrerie

**Contains Spoilers**

By now, most of us know the story of Lyra Belacqua, the young girl raised by the scholars of Jordan College, Oxford, and her daemon Pan, full name Pantalaimon. living in an alternate world very much like this one.  But Lyra's world is ruled by the Magisterium, a theocratic organization that wants to control its subjects by taking away their free.

When she learns that her uncle, Lord Asriel, is coming to give a lecture to the scholars, Lyra hides in a cupboard to spy on them, but instead she witnesses one of the scholars poisoning his drink.  Luckily, she is able to warn Lord Asriel about it just in the nick of time.

During Lord Asriel's lecture, Lyra learns about Dust, cosmic particles that form when matter becomes consciousness, thereby making it the physical form of consciousness.  Dust accumulates on adults, but not children, who are thought to be innocent and who don't have the kind of developed consciousness that an adult has.  Dust also binds daemons to humans.  Daemons are not little devils, as the name might imply, but are the physical manifestations of the human soul.  Because a child's consciousness isn't formed yet, their daemons can change form at will, eventually taking on a permanent form that will be reflection of their human's soul.

Lord Asriel also shows the scholars pictures of a parallel universe that can only be seen through the Northern Lights, and he finally convinces the scholars to fund his research on Dust up near the Arctic.  Lyra is curious about the information Lord Asriel shares, and wants to go North with him, but he refuses to let her and leaves.

Later, while out with her friend Roger, he suddenly disappears.  Back at college, Lyra next meets Mrs. Coulter, a charismatic women and a friend of the scholars.  Mrs. Coulter volunteers to care for Lyra, but before she leaves Jordan College, Lyra is given an Alethiometer, a device that tells the truth to the questioner, and told to never let Mrs. Coulter know she has it.  At first, Lyra enjoys her new circumstance, but when a servant tries to steal the Alethiometer, she runs away and ends up in the hands of the Gyptians, canal-boat dwellers, and learns that they also have children who have disappeared suddenly, just like Roger.

The head Gyptian, John Faa, tells Lyra the truth about her parents - that they didn't die in an accident, but are Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter, and one of the elder Gyptians helps her understand how the Alethiometer works.  When they learn that Lord Asriel is being held prisoner in an ice fortress by enemies, they decide they must help him,   Meanwhile, Lyra is hiding from Mrs. Coulter, but when she discovers where Lyra is, they  the Gyptians decide to head North fast.

Yes, I know that there is more to The Golden Compass, but this is where volume 1 of the graphic novel ends (does this mean that the possibility of 9 graphic novels will be required to cover Philip Pullman's excellent His Dark Materials trilogy?  It would appear to be so.)

I loved comic books as a kid, and now, I love a good graphic novel, but this isn't one of them.  I found the story lackluster, and was annoyed that it left out a lot of important information for understanding what Pullman was trying to say in his original novel (which is why I went into so much detail above).  Lyra often comes across rather like a brat, and I found I didn't much like her.  Textwise, this just didn't work for me.

Nor can I say I liked the art very much.  The cover held so much promise, but most of the illustrations were not great.  Everyone looks mean a lot of the time, not just the "bad guys." Sometimes, as I was reading one section of the story, I found that there was a sudden jump into a different part of the story without warning or explanation why and that felt very disjointed.  One of the good things about comic books was that a text explanation always accompanied a change scene, so that what was going on in the following frames was comprehensible.  The same would have been nice here.

I loved reading The Golden Compass with my Kiddo when she was in middle school, and we had the pleasure of meeting Philip Pullman at the time, who was here getting an award at Queens College, Queens, NY.  So I was really looking forward to reading this graphic novel - but alas, it wasn't even good enough to entice me into any kind of excited anticipation of the next two installments, but it has made me want to re-read the novel.

This book is recommended for kids age 12+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

We're celebrating Graphic books every Thursday thanks to Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn of A Year of Reading, Alyson Beecher of KidLit Frenzy and Tammy Mulligan and Clare Landrigan of Assessment in Perspective

Baba Yaga's Assistant by Marika McCoola, illustrated by Emily Carroll

After her mother passed away, tween Masha was basically raised by her beloved grandmother, who used to tell her stories about her experiences as a young girl with Baba Yaga, the fearsome old crone from Slavic folklore who flies around in a mortar and pestle.  But when Masha's grandmother also passes away, she is left alone with only a absentee father.

Now, her father has proposed to the woman he's been spending all his time with, and who has a very bratty young daughter, Dani.  After being attacked and bitten by Dani, Masha decides to go for a walk and visit the cemetery where her mother and grandmother are buried.  While there, she recalls her grandmother's stories, then discovers a Help Wanted ad from Baba Yaga, who is looking for an assistant.  The ad finishes with "Enter Baba Yaga's House to apply" so you know this isn't going to be easy for Masha.

That night, after leaving a note for her dad, Masha sets off to find Baba Yaga's house located somewhere in a dark, creepy forest.  Finding the house, Baba Yaga tells Masha that in order to become her assistant she must pass a series of tests, but first she must find a way to get into a house which stands high up on long chicken legs without any steps.

Using flattery and cunning, not to mention a cherry lollipop for the keyhole, Masha finally makes it into the house.  There, she faces a series of very tricky tests - cleaning the house, caring for the pets and finally preparing dinner.  Did I say tricky tests?  Oh yes, and passing them won't be easy with Baba Yaga thwarting everything Masha accomplishes.

It is the third test that really taxes Masha creativity and ingenuity when dinner consists of three children, one of them her soon-to-be stepsister Dani.  Will Masha be able to trick Baba Yaga or spare the children and still get the job of assistant?

Baba Yaga Assistant is such a fun graphic novel to read and Marika McCoola has done a wonderful job of re-imagining Baba Yaga and adding to the tales people tell about this old witch and her tricky magic while retaining her nature as a fickle witch who may or may not help those who ask for help, but who will reward those who trick her.

Young readers who like their fairy tales witty and somewhat dark or who enjoy stories like Neil Gaiman's Coraline and The Graveyard Book, will find themselves attracted to and enjoy reading this book that mixes modern reality with old fashioned fantasy.  I personally don't think it is creepy, or scary, and kids will like seeing that even without magic,  Masha is a strong opponent to Baba Yaga's witchery.

Artist Emily Carroll has added to the story with her wonderful digital illustrations.  Largely using earthy tones of bright, light oranges and yellows for the reality of Masha's life, and dark ethereal  shades of greens and blues for the fairytale part of Baba Yaga's story, Carroll manages to perfectly compliment and highlight their differences, giving depth and width to the tale.

And as with all fairy tales, there's a lesson to be learned in the end.

Oh, you want to know if Masha get hired as Baba Yaga's assistant?  Umm...

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Candlewick Press

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

It's August 1976 and 10 year old Sunny is looking forward to going to the shore for two weeks with her family mom, dad, older brother Dale and baby brother Teddy - and her best friend. Instead, she finds herself winging her way to Florida to stay with her grandfather for two weeks.

At first, Sunny thought it might be fun, maybe even a trip to Disney World was a possibility, but she soon realizes that life in a retirement community is, well, not what she had hoped for.  Instead, she finds herself going to the post office, the supermarket, the golf course with her grandfather.  Luckily, she meets a boy her age named Buzz, who's totally into comic books and superheroes.

The two become friends and are soon earning comic book money by retrieving golf balls from gold course water hazards and getting a nickel for each one from the guy in the pro shop.  Later, they begin earning a dollar for finding the lost cats of some of the elderly residents.  Suny's visit is more interesting with a friend, but she is also aware that her grandfather is smoking on the sly.  Instead of just owning up to the fact that he is addicted to cigarettes, Grandpa claims he has finally quit, but Sunny finds packs of cigarettes hidden all over the house, including in the cereal box.

Interspersed in Sunny's present are flashbacks that begin in September 1975.  As the new school year begins, she begins to realize that her older brother may have had some problems there - he was disliked by the teacher she now has.  Each flashback adds more information about her older brother Dale, as he changes from a fun older brother that Sunny looked up to to a scary, violent drug addicted stranger who is in with a bad crowd.

It's while reading a Hulk comic that Sunny suddenly makes the connection between the changes in her brother brought on by drugs and alcohol and Bruce Banner's exposure to gamma radiation that poisoned him and causes him to become the destructive Hulk when he's angry.

Realizing that she has been sent to Florida while her parents deal with Dale and his drug problem, and afraid she might become like him and/or the Hulk, Sunny makes a big decision that will change her life and really improve her visit to Florida.

I have to admit that when I received this book, I thought it was going to be a fun book about a young girl's summer vacation, with best friends and maybe a crush or two.  Boy, was I taken aback.  Though not without many humorous elements, this is a serious book and although it takes place in the 1970s, it easily resonates in today's world.

Despite the flashbacks, the majority of the story takes place in the present.  There is the reminder that 1976 was a bicentennial year, with lots of different celebrations, and the people were really into the space program then.  One particularly poignant chapter involved Sunny and Grandpa going to dinner at Buzz's house and meeting his father, a Cuban immigrant without papers, a chemist who must work as a gardener.

Grandpa's cigarette addiction and Dale's drug problems are nice paraelles to each other, reminding us the addiction is addiction, even if your drug of choice is legal.  But, it also reminds us that dealing with an addiction is difficult in real life.  Like Sunny, kids tend to love their siblings but so often don't understand what's happening and often no one really talks to them about it.  It took a comic book to make Sunny admit to what was going on around her.  Holm and Holm have managed to portray the changes in Dale, and Sunny's confusion about what she was seeing, and her sense of betrayal by some of Dale's actions so evocatively that a middle grade reader will certainly feel empathy for Sunny, and perhaps even be able relate to her predicament within their own family.

The graphics for Sunny Side Up, drawn by Matthew Holm, were colored in by Lark Pien.  She chose a palette of bright, sunny summertime hues, contrasted with the Dale-involved flashbacks which become darker and darker as he sinks into his troubling lifestyle.

The storytelling in Sunny Side Up is simple without moralizing, clear and to the point.  Sunny Side Up is one of those graphic novels that makes my appreciation for what they can do so succinctly grow with each one I read.  It tackles a difficult problem but never loses that all important note of hope.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was provided to me by the publisher, Scholastic Press

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is a weekly event hosted by Shannon Messenger at Book Ramblings, and Plenty of Shenanigans

Lost in NYC, A Subway Adventure by Nadia Spiegelman & Sergio García Sánchez

I guess because I am a born and raised New Yorker, I love to read books that take place in NYC, so I was pretty excited to see a book called Lost in NYC, A Subway Adventure.  The premise is simple enough - new kid to the city Pablo isn't very happy about his family's latest move to NYC's Upper West Side and has a real unfriendly, resentful attitude.  His first day of school also happens to be the day his new class is traveling by subway to the Empire State Building and, as with all class trips, he is assigned a partner named Alicia.

Her helpfulness and his indifference help get the two separated from the class and a subway adventure begins as Alicia and Pablo try to reconnect with the rest of the class.  But then Pablo gets separated from Alicia and he finds himself lost and alone in NYC, in fact the loneliest he has ever felt.  Will he ever find the rest of his class and will they still be as friendly as when he first met them, especially Alicia?

Along with Pablo's subway adventure to the Empire State Building, there is a lot of information including a brief history of the former world's tallest building and how the subway was build.  NYC is in the midst of building a Second Avenue subway, which is an underground train and, since Manhattan is all hard shale rock, there was blasting and drilling for way too long.  But it was interesting to find out about all it is all done.

Lost in NYC is a great book newcomers to the city like Pablo and his family, and for anyone who wants to visit but feels intimated by the subway system.  The text does a wonderful job of showing how crowded and busy the trains are and Spiegelman and Sánchez been true to the different trains lines, explaining the difference between local and express, platforms where you can change from one train to the other.

And I love that they used the actual subway map as their background, not just for the inside front and back cover, but they incorporated it into the story.  This image is my favorite because I think it gives a great overview of one part of the subway as it relates to the story.

This colorful graphic novel gives a wonderful perspective of the story that should appeal to young readers whether they live in NYC or not.  Sánchez drew the graphics in orange pencil and ballpoint pen, and they were digitally colored by Lola Moral.  The muted colors used are a perfect counterpoint to the bright colored lines that indicate the subway routes Pablo encounters on his subway odyssey.

Be sure to look at the back matter, that includes information about the authors, the beginnings of it all, including subway construction, and a bit more history about the Empire State Building Lost in NYC is a delightful graphic story about adjusting to new surroundings, a new school and making new friends, not always an easy task for young kids.

New York City kids learn how to ride the subway at a young age .  I was pretty young when I went on my first solo ride, going from Brooklyn to Manhattan to visit my dad at work in the Museum of Natural History, and my Kiddo rode the subway every day to school when she was at Bard High School Early College.   But I can understand how people could be intimated by the NYC subway, after all there are   488 stations servicing two lines that have a total of 22 subway routes - 7 numbered and 15 lettered routes.  But if you come to NYC, get yourself a metro card, a subway map and if you really get lost, any New Yorker will be more than happy to help you find your way:

There is also a very handy, detailed Lesson Plan and Teacher's Guide available HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

I loved reading Raina Telgemeier's two earlier graphic novels, Smile and Drama, so I was really looking forward to reading Sisters.  And I wasn't disappointed.

Sisters is about a family vacation, a week long road trip from San Francisco to Colorado for a family reunion, with stops in between for sightseeing.  As the girls get ready for the trip, and younger sister Amara begins to really annoy older sister Raina, she reflects on how badly she had wanted this now irritating sister.  So for spite, when Amara asks her if she has any colored pencils to take on the trip, she says no, but then packs a box of them in her suitcase.  Typical sister behaviour!

As they set off, the plan is that Mom will drive, and Dad will be joining the family in Colorado at the end of the week.  Raina occupies the middle seat of their van with her younger sister Amara directly behind her and her little brother Willy in front with Mom.  Oh, and there's no air-conditioning.

To keep her sister out of her life, Raina listens to music using headphones, but Amara being Amara knows exactly how to annoy her anyway (ah-hem, I know this to be so because I am also a middle sister).  But as the trip goes on, and the family runs into problems like torrential rain, a pet snake thought to be dead turning up in the van, older cousins that have changed and outgrown her, and a broken down van in the middle of nowhere,  Raina begins to pull up

more memories of her annoying sister and brother and sibling flashbacks turn into real family memories, like the difficulties when Dad was unemployed.  Meanwhile, Amara, living more in the present reality than Raina, sees the signs that things aren't so wonderful between their parents.

Telgemeier explores a lot of issues surrounding sibling rivalry, parents who don't get along, anticipated events that turn into disappointment, feeling of not fitting in and all the anxiety and tension of being a teen, and she is spot on in capturing the reality of it using spare but humorous text and great illustrations.

What is really nice, is that in all fairness to annoying younger sister, Telgemeier also portrays her Raina character as pretty annoying herself, certainly not the perfect person fictional Raina might have thought she was.  And Telgemeier's honesty in her portrayals of her family are exactly what makes this such a wonderfully relatable book.

Interestingly, none of the incidents in the story are over the top or off the wall, and that is the beauty of Sisters.  Everything that happens, is so ordinary and so true to life.  When Raina is hoping for a little sister,  so sure the baby her mom is carrying will be a girl, it made me remember how my sister and I prayed every night for a little brother, and how often afterwards, when he was super-annoying, we couldn't believe we had asked for him.  Of course, later we couldn't imagine not having him as a brother or for that matter, each other as a sister.  And that is pretty much how you know Sisters will also ultimately turn out.

I loved the cartoon-like illustrations that Telgemeier uses because they can be so expressive even without any text and carry the storyline along so well.  My book was an ARC so not all of the panels were colored in.  I have to admit the story was easier to follow in the colored panels, but what I did see I liked very much.  Color is done by Brayden Lamb, using soft pastel shade for the most part.

Sisters is a book for anyone with siblings, and will definitely make the reader take another look at their family and siblings and rethink their feelings towards them.  No siblings?  You may find you wish you had some.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

From the Publisher:
Callie loves theater.  And while she would totally try out for her middle school's production of Moon Over Mississippi, she can't really sing.  Instead she's the set designer for the drama department stage crew, and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget.  But how can she, when she doesn't know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together?  Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs once the actors are chosen.  And when two cute brothers enter the picture, things get even crazier.

My Thoughts:
OK, I didn't read Telgemeier's first graphic novel Smile.  This dental story brings back too many painful memories.  So I wasn't familiar with her work when I picked up Drama and started to read it.  Well, at first, I didn't like it very much, I thought it was going to be another tween-girl -lovesick-for-taken-boy story.  But as I read, I began to see something emerging and I really changed my mind.  It was middle school just as I remembered it - more or less.

The main character is Callie, a  7th grader who loves theater so when her school, Eucalyptus Middle, decides to put on a production of Moon Over Mississippi, she there.  What is refreshing is that Callie does not want to be the star, she is perfectly happy being part of the stage crew,  Set design is her passion and what she wants when she grows up.  Callie's life isn't bad for a 7th grader, that is, until it comes to boys.

Right from the start, Callie falls for the wrong guy, who has just had a fight with his girlfriend, popular Bonnie, and leads Callie on with a kiss.  Disappointed, Callie never notices who does like her.  And worst still, Bonnie gets the lead part in the play and is a total diva.  Then new students, twins Justin and Jesse, arrive and prove themselves able performers, but only Justin tries out for the play, Jesse is too shy and prefers to work behind the scenes.  Justin and Jesse add a very interesting dimension to the story, but I think it would be too much of a spoiler to say why.

Rehearsals, set building and costuming all progress with all usual problems that come with school plays, but, to her credit as a writer, Telgemeier lets the kids work things through, just as she lets them work through their romance dramas.

Drama turns out to be a really great graphic novel.  One thing I noticed right off is that you really get the sense of time passing, of things advancing and I loved that sense of movement towards their goal.  The characters are all have individual personalities and are drawn so they are easy to differentiate (which can sometimes be a problem with graphic novels).

But the thing that clinched this novel for me was how diverse it is.  There is a very nice cross-section of kids, they weren't all white, straight and perfect.  These kids made mistakes, worked them out and carried on, just like I watched my own daughter and her friends do in middle school.

Drama is such a charming, middle grade graphic, with lots of not -over-the-top drama and a great positive book to give to those kids on their way to middle school (I know I did this past Christmas).

This book is recommended for readers 9-12
This book was obtained from the publisher