Author: Gene Ambaum

640 results.

Graphic Novel Review: Nothing Special Volume One: Through the Elder Woods by Katie Cook

By Gene Ambaum on March 12, 2024 at 6:39 am

Nothing Special Volume One: Through the Elder Woods by Katie Cook. Ten Speed Graphic, 2024. 9781984862839. 416pp. including a look inside Radish’s notebook at the end. Callie’s dad is a daemon, and he runs an antique store. He never talks about her mother, and he seems overly protective of Callie. She goes to a high school in the human world, and it’s there she runs into Declan, who can also see sprites. (These are little spirits, mostly of plants, that follow Callie everywhere.) It’s a nice meet-cute even though they’ve been in class together since Kindergarten. She helps him learn to communicate with the large sprite outside his house that’s freaking him out. He’s there when she finds her house trashed and her father missing. Then they set out together to find him, through the door to her father’s shop which opens into a magical market. The magical forest where they go next is a bit intimidating, but in Cook’s […]

Picture Books!

By Gene Ambaum on March 7, 2024 at 7:45 am

My Very Own Special Particular Private And Personal Cat by Sandol Stoddard Warburg, designed and illustrated by Remy Charlip. Enchanted Lion, 2023. (Originally published in 1963.) 9781592703852. I love everything about this book: the poetry, the illustrations, the orange-yellow paper, and especially the layout, which helps the words and illustrations work together. A child talks about playing with his cat, and the cat is clearly not having a good time and finally runs off. The story really gets going in the second half, when it shifts into the cat’s point of view. Also: I loved the reproduction of Remy Charlip’s signature on the “This book belongs to ______” page.   Gravity Is Bringing Me Down by Wendelin Van Draanen, illustrated by Cornelia Li. Alfred A. Knopf, 2024. 9780593375921. Gravity is in a bad mood, and it’s making Leda’s school day pretty rough. (Don’t worry, she makes up with gravity later in the book.) The story is great, and a fun […]

Book Review: We Are Raccoons by Jim Munroe

By Gene Ambaum on March 5, 2024 at 8:13 am

We Are Raccoons by Jim Munroe. 9798211698024. 241pp. I loved this book. I took a chance and bought a physical copy in 2022 when I found out that each of them had a different cover generated by Midjourney AI, using a different quote from the novel. It took me a while to get around to reading it (my to-read pile is deep, my eyes slow), but I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in a while. It’s the story of six game designers who, while working on a common NPC they can each use for their games, create an AI. It starts in 2019 and stretches into 2031. It’s written in short sections organized into chapters involving one or more characters, including AIs. The non-explaininess worked for me, along with the brief views into each of the characters’ lives over time, as they find their place in what has become of the world and figure out the part they played […]

Graphic Novel Review: Buzzing by Samuel Sattin, illustrated by Rye Hickman

By Gene Ambaum on February 29, 2024 at 7:57 am

Buzzing by Samuel Sattin, illustrated by Rye Hickman. Little, Brown Ink, 2023. 9780316628419. 218pp. including an author’s not on his own OCD and a look at The Quest for Greenmoon campaign notes and the player’s character sheets. Isaac has OCD, and his worst impulses and bad thoughts about himself buzz around his head, unseen by everyone else, whispering to him and distracting him. After class one day Micah introduces herself and her friend Jaime to him. They’re both wowed by Isaac’s sketch of a dragon (and so is Jaime’s couldn’t-be-more-different twin, Carmen), and they invite him to play Swamps & Sorcery with them. Carmen tells him to prepare to venture to the Tower of Greenmoon. Isaac is excited, and clearly a little attracted to Micah; the feeling seems to be mutual. But his older sister Miriam thinks their mom might have issues with role-playing games, which she thinks lead to compulsions. And she does worry about that and everything else […]

Graphic Novel Review: Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu

By Gene Ambaum on February 27, 2024 at 7:16 am

Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu. Quill Tree Books, 2023. 9780062955760. 267pp. Clementine Change just arrived on Mars, where everyone seems to have sentient, robotic personal assistants like she does. (Hers is named SENA, and it looks like a long-eared Pokemon. In fact most robots look like small, friendly creatures, including the owls at the library). Clementine is on Mars to work for one of her heroes, Dr. Lin, to print things for her in her workshop. Dr. Lin is not a nice person, but her assistant, Kye, is; he’s an AI robot modeled after a hero from a Chinese drama. There’s a lot that’s unusual about him — his level of isolation, plus the fact that Dr. Lin uses him as a data processor and to cook her meals. After Clementine shares some images of Earth with him, Kye starts to glitch. As she tries to help, they find the secrets at the heart of Kye, and Clementine reveals things […]

Graphic Novel Review: Offshore Lightning by Saito Nazuna

By Gene Ambaum on February 22, 2024 at 7:41 am

Offshore Lightning by Saito Nazuna. Translated by Alexa Frank. Essay by Mitsuhiro Asakawa. Drawn & Quarterly, 2023. 9781770465053. Drawn & Quarterly’s English publications of Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s work introduced me to gegika. This book is right up there with Tatsumi’s Abandon the Old in Tokyo for me. I love Saito’s illustration and storytelling style, and particularly the way she writes and draws older folks in her work. Manga artists and people at the end of their lives appear in several of the stories in a way that seems to build to the last story, “House of Solitary Death”, which, according to the essay at the end of the book, Nazuna is still creating new episodes of. This is a compelling, realistic collection of short manga that will defy most people’s expectations of manga. I believe it belongs in all adult public library collections.

Graphic Novel Review: Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Faith Erin Hicks

By Gene Ambaum on February 20, 2024 at 6:42 am

Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Faith Erin Hicks. First Second, 2023. 9781250838728. 287pp plus some extras in the back. Alix is an awesome hockey player, but she’s in trouble for punching out her team captain (who, frankly, deserved it). One day at high school she sees Ezra, a theater dude, calmly dealing with a bully hassling him for being gay. Alix asks him to teach her, and she becomes his apprentice. They hang out. After a while she finds out what we readers have known for a while — that Ezra is actually bi — and they start dating. This is a big deal for Alix, who has never even kissed anyone, and their getting together is wonderfully awkward. Both have a hard time with their mothers, but for different reasons (their fathers are both out of the picture), and Ezra’s best friend isn’t really in favor of his new relationship (for a good reason). It’s a wonderfully written […]

Coffee Table Review: House Cat: Inspirational Interiors & The Elegant Felines Who Call Them Home

By Gene Ambaum on February 15, 2024 at 7:02 am

House Cat: Inspirational Interiors & The Elegant Felines Who Call Them Home by Paul Barbera with Rafael Waack. Thames & Hudson, 2024. 9781760764036. 240pp. This is a follow-up to Barbera’s Where They Purr features US cats (and interiors). In his introduction he calls out Lady Penelope as one of his favorite subjects — there’s a reproduction of Sputnik in the living room of her place, a penthouse in New York City’s financial district that also includes an adult-sized slide, a lamp that looks like a small horse, and the coolest place for a cat to take a nap I’ve ever seen. My favorite space is the one in Chelsea, New York, that’s filled with more books and cats (three) than my wife would ever allow. The shelves are amazing, but so are the stacks of books that seem to function as furniture. Amen. Includes a visual table of contents featuring cats, plus a number of photos of each interior/cat habitat, […]

Graphic Novel Review: The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza by Mac Barnet and Shawn Harris

By Gene Ambaum on February 13, 2024 at 6:40 am

The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza by Mac Barnet and Shawn Harris. Katerine Tegen Books, 2022. 9780063084094. 316pp. There’s trouble with the moon — rats from another galaxy are eating it. It’s time to activate Project 47, a very special cat who is humanity’s last hope. This is a beautifully drawn adventure full of unexpected encounters. It seems like it’s going to be mad science, but then it becomes a total fantasy complete with moon royalty, monsters, and a charming, toe-clipping robot encountered as our hero travels from the Land of Cheerfulness to the dark side of the moon, where the rats have built their fortress. Buy it for a kid you really like, but read it before you give it to them.  

Picture Books!

By Gene Ambaum on February 8, 2024 at 6:54 am

One Giant Leap by Thao Lam. Owlkids, 2024. 9781771475990. A space adventure inspired by that feeling you might remember from when you were a kid when you were so dressed up for winter you felt like an astronaut. Lam’s paper illustrations always astound me, and this book reminded me of long-forgotten snowstorms.   Slug in Love by Rachel Bright, illustrated by Nadia Shireen. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021. 9781665900461. Doug is a friendly slug who needs a hug, but no one is interested. Then he meets a snail named Gail. (Spoiler: things don’t work out, then they do.) I’ve had a bad week, and this was exactly what I needed to read this morning.   You Broke It! by Liana Finck. Rise x Penguin Workshop, 2024. 9780593660409. This is a fun collection of what are essentially one-panel comics featuring problematic parents yelling at their kids. From her bio at the back of the dust jacket: “[Finck] is […]