The Heart Never Forgets written by Ana Ot, illustrated by Hayden Goodman. Atheneum Books For Young Readers, 2024. 978-1665913058 Every page of this book is visually stunning, including the endpapers. The story is about townspeople gathering for a masquerade as the narrator remembers her beloved grandfather. My favorite thing about this book is the costumes and how Goodman’s illustrations capture their dancing. It’s a beautiful book about loss.       The Rock in My Throat by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Jiemei Lin. Carolrhoda Books, 2024. 9781728445687. This picture book is heartbreaking. Yang’s family’s first language was Hmong. They moved to the US as refugees from Thailand when she was young. This is forty-three-year-old Yang’s answer to why she became selectively mute in early grade school, and “wouldn’t speak in English voluntarily until…college.” (There’s a more detailed explanation in the author’s note at the end.) Lin’s illustrations are amazing at capturing and conveying everything from Yang’s withdrawal to the disrespect she and her parents suffered.     Creepy by Lee Sensenbrenner & Keiler Roberts. Drawn & Quarterly, 2022. 9781770466197. Roberts’ autobiographical family comics always make me laugh. In this story she draws herself as a creepy lady who only eats one thing (also creepy). It’s a fable warning kids not to pay too much attention to screens while ignoring the world around them.        

The Unlucky Kid by Bob Holt. Kids Can Press, 2024. 9781525306594 . 64pp. This graphic novel contains several short adventures featuring Quin, the titular Unlucky Kid. In the first, he goes to the beach with his favorite food and faces not only a crowd of hungry seagulls but a few less common problems. In the second, he’s eating corn on the cob when he discovers a loose tooth; his plan to have his dog help yank it out goes awry in an insane way. In the third, he goes fishing. Holt’s sense of humor is great and his art is even funnier.       The Great Puptective by Alina Tysoe. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024. 9781665938242. 124pp. One day Sasha the human brings her cat, Truffles, a new friend — an insane, overeager little dog named Poppy. He investigates mysteries that mostly aren’t mysteries at all, and he’s not just super annoying, he also gets Truffles in trouble. Hilarity ensues. I loved Tysoe’s drawings, particularly of the irritated, orange Truffles.       King of the World (Tater Tales) by Ben Clanton. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024. 9781534493216. 76pp. Rot (a mutant potato) loves spudlunking to find treasure. He finds a powerful crown that makes him feel like King of the World, and which makes everyone else believe it, too. (It also makes Rot behave kind of terribly, and it takes a while for him to realize that.) Clanton’s potato books are his silliest and my favorites. (And yeah, they have some regular old paragraphs in addition to drawings and word balloons, but they’re graphic novels.)      

Leftstar And The Strange Occurrence by Jean Fhilippe. Silver Sprocket, 2023. 9798886200317. 88pp. Leftstar has been working on marine life in their creation, but after waking up they can’t re-enter that creation to get back to work. In a forest they meet a giant bat who, having overheard Leftstar’s conversation with a friend about what’s going on, takes Leftstar to someone who may be able to help. The magical setting is unexplained, the world feels gentle, and there are a bunch of scenes that feel like asides but that totally work. Fhilippe’s art is the star, as is the atmosphere it helps create. (Its tone reminds me of Jessi Zabarsky’s comics in the best way.)    

Gary King of the Pickup Artists by Alexandre Simard and Luc Bossé. Translated from French by Alexandre Simard with Rupert Bottenberg. Pow Pow Press, 2017. 97829240433. 150pp. Gary is awkward, and it doesn’t go well when he tries to meet women he’s attracted to. His friend Mike has a lot more confidence, and it serves him well though it also makes him a dick. These are their adventures and misadventures in Montreal’s dating scene. The book is mostly people chatting, which works well because the way Bossé draws the characters makes them fun to look at. And for me the book, like all of Pow Pow’s best, provides a sense of what life in Montreal is like that supplements the vacations I’ve spent there. (My other favorite books from Pow Pow are Zivane’s For As Long As It Rains and Hellman’s Mile End.) You can see more of Pow Pow’s graphic novels at https://powpowpress.com/shop/  I bought this one at my favorite comic shop, Cosmic Monkey in Portland, Oregon, which stocks a selection of Pow Pow titles and many other hard-to-find, small press graphic novels. I highly recommend stopping by.

Continental Drifter by Kathy Macleod. First Second, 2024. 9781250813732. 218pp including an afterward, photos of Kathy and her family, and comics that she drew when she was a kid. Kathy and her older sister Jennie grew up in Thailand where they were raised by older parents (their dad is a retired US soldier, their mother a Thai businesswoman). They attended international schools where they were educated in English. Their family also spent some summers in Maine with their father’s family. A lot of the book is about Kathy not feeling like she fit in, no matter where she is. It also explores the way her family didn’t talk about the past and so often kept their feelings from each other. Some people thought Kathy’s dad was her grandfather. In Thailand after friend’s brother told her she wasn’t American, Kathy started to look forward to going to Maine, where she would be attending summer camp for the first time. (She also started keeping a diary as she began her countdown to the Maine trip.) In Maine, though, she and her family were clearly different from those around them. Despite a group of loving relatives there, it wasn’t always a great experience. But camp wasn’t a complete and utter disaster, either. There’s a lot to love about this book. It feels like the kind of story that might open up some kids’ eyes about how they treat others, especially how questioning and excluding kids can make them feel like they don’t belong. I’m a huge fan of Kathy’s warm and welcoming camp counselor. And I loved the fart jokes, her relationship with her dad, the bits about Thai culture, and the cringy moment when her mom gave her a special something to take with her to camp.

The Naked Tree by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim. Translated by Janet Wong. Drawn & Quarterly, 2023. 9781770466678. 320pp. The Naked Tree is based on a Korean novel by Park Wan-Suh that was originally published in 1971. According to the introduction by Park’s son Ho Won-Sook, his mother always said she was going to write about the artist Park Su-geun, who drew portraits for American soldiers at the PX in Seoul. Gendry-Kim’s graphic novel version veers from Park’s a bit but, according to Ho’s introduction and my wife’s readings, it seems to be quite loyal to it while extending beyond the original. (If you’re going to read the graphic novel, make sure you read the forward and Gendry-Kim’s afterward, which has photos of Park Wan-Suh and Park Su-geun.) The story itself gives the sense of being a memoir, with the characters conveying at least in part the experiences of Park Wan-Suh and Park Su-Geun. It begins in 1951, after UN forces reclaimed Seoul from Communist forces. Miss Lee works in the PX, behind a counter where foreign soldiers come to have portraits painted on “silk” scarves. The artists who do the work are paid by the piece, and are called “signies.” No one makes much money. Miss Lee is very much alone; she lives with her mother, but she doesn’t like her. And she longs for someone to love. The shop’s owner hires a real artist, Ok Huido, and it’s Miss Lee’s job to bring in enough work for him and the others. Even as another man who works at the PX starts to show an interest in her, she falls herself falling for the married Mr. Ok. I love the sense of history and tragedy that permeates this story, and particularly Miss Lee’s attitude toward her mother, which made it feel real and shocking. Gendry-Kim’s adaptation has sent my wife seeking more of Park Wan-Suh’s novels (and luckily the University of Washington’s libraries have several in Korean and English), and I’m planning on reading an English translation of the original just as soon as some of the details of this adaptation have left my brain. We both admire and highly recommend all of Gendry-Kim’s graphic novels.

12 by Manix Abrera. Ablaze, 2022. 9781684970001. 152pp. Abrera’s graphic novel features twelve wordless stories, each about one of the individuals on the cover. They’re for adults, but I don’t want to describe them to you more; I didn’t know what to expect when I opened this book, which made it a better read. Abrera’s simple style makes most feel ponderous. My favorites involve 1) a fantastic partner who is brought to life in an inventive way only possible via the language of comics and 2) a little girl who uses a balloon to look around after she loses her parent. If that sounds good to you at all, check it out from your library. It’s available on Hoopla at mine. (Ablaze has also published 14 by Abrera; it looks like it’s available through Hoopla as well.)

Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day by Dan Nott. RH Graphic, 2023. 9780593125366. 266pp. I frequently listen to the 99% Invisible podcast, but that’s generally the extent of the information I get on infrastructure. Nott’s amazing graphic novel pulled me in in a way few nonfiction comics have; I don’t think I’ve ever read this complete an explanation of the water cycle including the problems humans create, solve, and need to address. The chapters on the internet had me noting buildings in Seattle that I walk past without seeing, anonymous places full of servers and other tech that I don’t really understand (but should). Nott explores history to show how we’ve arrived at where we are now, shows us the way things work (there’s a quote on the cover from David Macaulay), and makes us aware of current and potential crises. In other hands this would be overwhelming, but Nott’s work invites further exploration of the topics he covers. There’s a lot to love in this nonfiction graphic novel, but my favorite parts are the pages from Nott’s sketchbooks at the end; looking at them after reading the book gave me a glimpse of how his mind works. He also includes notes and a selected bibliography.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Ecco, 2022. 9780063204157. Tova works nights cleaning the Sowell Bay Aquarium. It’s there that she notices that the giant Pacific octopus, Marcellus, occasionally leaves his tank in search of snacks. He’s much smarter than anyone (except Tova) believes, and the two become friends. Marcellus knows what happened to Tova’s son, and he can perceive things Tova can’t, particularly about Cameron, the young man who takes over cleaning when Tova is injured. But Marcellus isn’t sure how to tell her what he knows. This book is lovely, and I’m loaning my copy to lots of friends. My favorite parts were the chapters from Marcellus’s point of view, but I also enjoyed Cameron’s quest to contact the man he believes to be his father and how Tova changes throughout the book. (Thanks again for the present, Karen!)

Sins of the Salton Sea written by Ed Brisson and illustrated by C.P. Smith. AWA, 2024. 9781953165541. 128pp. Contains #1 – #5. I loved Brisson’s previous crime graphic novel Catch & Release: A Murder Book Story. CP Smith’s art makes this one feel a bit more cinematic, and it’s got a fun, somewhat sudden (if you weren’t paying attention to the tenacles on the cover) genre shift at the end. Jasper finds his brother Wyatt living in a motor home; Wyatt disappeared a while back after some horrible personal stuff. Jasper wants to pull one last heist before retirement, and he needs someone who knows explosives. Wyatt takes some convincing, but the next day he’s rolling with Jasper’s heavily armed crew to take down a truck full of cash. Everything goes wrong. There’s no cash. The rest of the story involves a cult, an attempt to avoid the end of the world, and a hunt for those who survived the attempted heist (and what they found in the truck). The story is relentless, and it took me right back to visiting the creepy, desolate Salton Sea with my great aunt and uncle when I was a kid. It was super spooky; if you’d told me monsters lived there, I’d have believed you.