August 6, 2024 by Aladdin
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
When 11 year old Molly's leave her home alone briefly to go crusing in their classic car, she is glad to be home alone. She texts with her best friend, but eventually has a big surprise-- a bear has come in through the kitchen window and eaten all of her mother's cookies! The bear is more frightened of Molly than Molly is of the bear, so Molly talks to Bear and gets him to calm down. She's always wanted a pet, and what better pet than an 800 pound bear? She spends a delightful summer with her new friend, hiding him from her parents. Eventually, it's time to go back to school. Everyone loves the new addition to the school, and even her teacher and the principal don't mind having the bear around. Someone who does mind is Max, a good friend of Molly's, who yells at her for breaking the rules. Molly is hurt and confused, since the school year had been going so well. Eventually, she lets her parents know about Bear, and even makes peace with Max.
This book is based on the comic strip by Bob Scott, and has a lot of good information about dealing with anxiety and fears. I loved the style of the illustrations; very mid century, and the father has a sort of George Jetson vibe. It's a bit goofy, but fun. If Perma-Bound has a prebind, I will probably purchase.
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Amy lives in Hawaii in the early 1940s. Her father came to the islands from Japan, and his parents and grandmother still live there. When the grandmother, who worked as a pearl diver when she was young, becomes very ill, the family can't travel to help with her care because there is a new baby, so Amy is sent. She spends a lot of time with the woman, hearing her stories, but when Pearl Harbor is bombed, Amy is in a bad situation. She can't leave, but can't get news home. At one point, the government takes her from the family farm to the city so that she can translate news releases into Japanese. At first, she doesn't want to betray the US, but when she finds out that her parents were sent to a camp and her baby brother died, she is willing to help the Japanese cause. Her family doesn't live far from Hiroshima, and when the atomic bomb is dropped, she is badly injured. Eventually, she is able to go back to the US and reunite with her family.
This was an interesting look at an unusal event-- getting stuck in a country not one's own during a war. I've read a few others, but none about a US citizen in Japan, although Napoli's In a Flash has Italian sisters in Japan at that time. This would be interesting to read along with A Place to Belong by Kadohata, which has a family that moves from the US back to Japan after World War II, or Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies. The graphic novel is well done, and colored primarily in blues and grays, which gives a vintage, black and white feel to everything.
August 13, 2024 by HarperAlley
E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus
Coco lives in Indiana, but her best friend Blair is moving to Boston. Coco doesn't know how she will be able to survive the school year at Orchard Middle School, but the other students are nice to her, especially Tami. Even though she is worried about a lot of things, she fights through her anxiety and tries out for the basketball team. She makes the Lady Owls along with Zander, who is nonbinary. The team approaches the coach to remove the "Lady" from the team names, and this is done without too many problems. When Coco breaks her arm during practice, she is a little concerned, but continues to work with the team and even learns to shoot with her left hand. There were a couple of plays that she blew, and teammate Maddie, who calls people unflattering nicknames "as a joke", gives her a hard time. Coco has a crush on Tami, but Tami confides in Coco that she has a crush on Adam. Coco realizes that Maddie is mean because of the way her parents treat her, but after she tells Maddie to stop with the nicknames and Maddie doesn't, Coco tells her that she doesn't want to be friends with her. The Owls win the semifinal, and there could be more graphic novels with this character.
The color palette is an interesting yellow, orange, and purple, and the illustrations are different from many graphic novels I've seen. They remind me of something, but I can't quite think what. There's plenty of drama, and I can see this being popular with students.
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