Rodeo Hawkins and the Daughters of Mayhem: A Graphic Novel
Published September 9th 2025 by Holiday House
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central
Sidney Poblocki has finally found a foster care placements where he has a friend, Walt, but things go bad quickly when a group identifying themselves as Paladins appear out of thin air and tell him that they have to take him away to train with them! He ends up in their world, but is relegated to a dungeon, which doesn't seem quite right. Sure enough, Rodeo Hawkins, who identifies herself as a Daughter of Mayhem, shows up and claims that the Paladins have killed a number of other Sidney Poblocki's, and he is the last one standing in their way. She whisks him off to the treehouse fortress of her "femininjas", who are a bit put out that this Sidney is a boy. They try to explain the multiverse to him, and that fact that they are currently in the WoBeWo; the World Between Worlds, where things go when they vanish from other worlds. The Paladins release 400 dragonfly spies to try to locate Sidney, and Sidney meets up with Chainsaw Charlie as well as Madame Zoltana, who is working with the Paladins and won't tell him the prophecy in which he is mentioned. The Paladins eventually locate the treehouse, which leads to an altercation in the forest, where the Paladins tell Rodeo that if she hands over Sidney, everyone else can go free. Sidney manages to muster powers to bring everyone into his plane of existence on Earth, where they manage to regroup. Rodeo discovers that there are demon lords still around, even though the Paladins claim to have dispatched them, and Sidney comes up with a plan to steal the necklace that binds them and send them into a black hole. Will the Daughters of Mayhem keep the multiverse from imploding, and if they do, how will they feel about Sidney becoming one of their ranks?
Multiverse stories are often frenetic and goofy, and this graphic novel is no exception. There is a being from another planet who manifests herself as a 1950s style robot named Go, Bugbear, who seems to speak a language everyone but Sidney can understand, and two girls named Tori, one of whom has green, leafy hair that lets her synthesize food! Rodeo seems to have a lot of unrelated side missions that occasionally pop up, like when she sends Sidney to demand a vanilla soda from Chainsaw Charlie as a distraction so she can threaten him because he owes her money, or when we find out that she was raised by the cave lion Mama Onca. With so much going on, it makes perfect sense to have demon lords suddenly appear and need to be sealed in the shadow dimension!
Miles' illustrations (which also show up in McAnulty's Save the People and Where are the Aliens?, Rubin's The Ice Cream Machine, Jewell's The Anti Racist Kid, and Ross' Alley and Rex) have a great teen look to them, and show the various levels of the multiverse to good effect. I'll be interested to see a final edition with full color, since Tori's green hair is no doubt spectacular!
While there are several middle grade novels that deal with multiverses, like Wilson's Me vs. The Multiverse, Caprara's Mission Multiverse, Lubar's Emperor of the Universe series, and Cypess and Molebash's Future Me Saves the Universe, this is the first graphic novel treatment of that theme I have seen. Fans of goofy, fantastical romps like Barnett and Harris' The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza or Angelberger's The Two Headed Chicken will love following Sidney's adventures with Rodeo as he tries to avoid being killed by the Paladins!
Kurtz, Scott. Sneak Attack (Table Titans #2)
March 10, 2026 by Holiday House
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central
Interpersonal relationships were difficult in Table Titans Club, and while Val is getting along better with Alan, Andrew, and Darius, Kate is especially prickly as the group heads off to Camp Owlcare, a LARPing camp. Val is very excited about every aspect of the camp, and is fully embracing the experience by being in costume at all times, but is devastated when she is not put in a cabin with the rest of her friends. Since quests are undertaken with these groups, it's important to get along with the others. Some campers, like Maria, are nice, while others, like Lilith, aren't happy with anyone or anything. There are different competitions for archery, swimming, relay racing, and going through a labyrinth, and Val is not always happy with her cabin's progress. When she sees a troll near the dumpsters, she is sure it is real, and gathers the Table Titans to investigate, especially after the obstacle course is vandalized. Val wants to make Kate less angry, and finally convinces Alan to bring her character back by using his wish school, but also encourages him to apologize for the remarks that hurt Kate's feelings. The secret of the troll comes out, and camp is generally a success.
The illustrations add a nice level of goofiness to this engaging camp story, and there is a little touch of fantasy with the possibility of the ogre being real. The counselors are all a bit goofy, which works well to balance the darker themes of friendship problems.
The friend drama between Kate and Alan spills over in a natural way to the rest of the group. Val is understandably upset when she is not with any of her friends, but she does manage to connect with other campers.
There are quite a number of graphic novels similar to Table Titans, including Durfey-Lavoie's Just Roll with It, Stevenson and Agarwal's Alexis vs. Summer Vacation, Ostertag and Bouma's Dungeon Club: Roll Call as well as the great graphic history, Sattin and Steenz's Side Quest: A Visual History of Roleplaying Games. A few other novels have plots involving Dungeons and Dragons, including Boyce's Dating and Dragons and Formato's Roll for Initiative, so fans of the game should have plenty to read.
March 3, 2026 by Scholastic Press
** Spoiler alert! **
One of my students wanted to read this SO MUCH that he asked for a copy for his birthday. He got it, read it, and immediately brought it to school so he could loan it to me. I promised to read it and return it tomorrow.
I have read this entire series, but have no memory of any of the books. Fantasy amnesia is a real thing, at least for me. My student did point out that the location of this book appears on the map in other books, but the Court of Refuge is very far away (over three days flying time?) from Pantala.
Sora has murdered two dragons who were involved with the death of a sibling? (See? Already forgotten even though I took notes.) Umber doesn't want to turn her in, but feels he should watch over her, so the two run away. They end up on islands that are dangerous; there are even notes on them that say so. On one, Umber is dragged into the sea by a kraken, but he is saved by Mulberry, a Leafwing/Skywing hybrid. Umber feels very attracted to Mulberry, and the feeling seems to be returned. He wants the two to be safe, so leads them to the Court of Refuge.
Things are pretty weird when they arrive. Beryl, Mulberry's mother, is kind of creepy, and Snakeroot, his father is completely unhinged. I thought maybe he had some cognitive decline. They are unpredictable and evil, and there's also a "ghost" warning Umber to this effect, but this turns out to be a disgraced dragon, Platypus, who has been hiding and popping out long enough to protest. There are a bunch of other dragons who support Platypus' agenda, and Umber might have to fight them, because Beryl wants Umber to train her guard, known as the King's Teeth. No real indication that Umber is qualified; Beryl's just not happy with the group.
But wait! It turns out that the Court of Refuge is actually a Dungeon Isle and no one but Mulberry can leave. He routinely goes on scouting missions to bring back other dragons to "keep them safe" even though he knows they CAN NEVER LEAVE. He doesn't seem to feel too bad about that.
Sora, in the meantime, is captivated by the musician Aurora, and feels "sane" when she listens to Aurora's music; it's the only time she doesn't replay the various murders in her head. Sora is working with the library, but the guards are starting to take scrolls and burn them. Sora tries to save them, and she and Umber happen upon the lair of the tiny metal SharpWings who are like small drone like creatures that do security details. Umber fixes one of them, so they get along okay.
Mulberry doesn't agree with what his parents have done, but doesn't want to make them angry because that wouldn't help him. There's a lot of history that is revealed in the Memory Room, and lots of different characters and scenarios are revealed. I really had trouble keeping those all straight. Aurora has another concert, and Snaketroot gets up and says a prophecy poem (the book didn't start with one this time because there were spoilers). There's a lot to do with only descendants of two of the original evil queens being the only ones to be able to leave. Mulberry runs away, and Aurora finds eggs (can't read my notes), and whoever raises the eggs will be able to leave, and then the dragonets will come back in three years and save everyone else.
Eventually Snakeroot, Beryl, and Taipan, who shows up and has tried to kill Mulberry, are sent to the dungeon, and Umber, Mulberry and the others are hatching dragonets.
So that's the gist of it. I didn't enjoy it because just about every setting was unpleasant, and there were so many dragons (both past and present) to keep straight. There's a little romance between Mulberry and Umber, but it felt... kind of creepy? I didn't know how old Mulberry was, and knew that Umber was a school aged dragon, and the talon stroking and fact that Mulberry could sort of mind control others felt weirdly out of place. Also, it didn't really go anywhere-- the two didn't hang out or talk very much because everything around them was a dragon dumpster fire.
I thought the series had ended, but apparently not. I need to make better notes so that I remember a little bit about where the books are going. I'll buy a copy for my middle school library, but I am NOT the target demographic for this one!
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