Fox Point’s Own Gemma Hopper by Brie Spangler. Alfred A. Knopf / RH Graphic, 2023. 9780593428498. 263pp. Gemma is a six-foot-tall thirteen-year-old who lives in the shadow of her brother, fourteen-year-old Teddy, a baseball star who everyone believes is destined for the major leagues. Since her mother left she’s also the one taking care of the house and her younger twin brothers while their father works two jobs. She regularly pitches to Teddy, too, so he can get in extra batting practice before leaving to play with the prestigious All-Atlantic team. But one day Gemma has had it, and instead of throwing easy pitches across home plate, she strikes Teddy out. He’s horrified because he feels like he’s never allowed to fail. But as video of the strikeout goes viral Teddy offers to help her practice pitching in hopes that if she’s amazing, they’ll have a unique appeal to baseball scouts together. Along with some friend drama at school and homework drama of her own creation, Gemma seems to have been pushed beyond caring about anything — and that’s the moment she may have a giant opportunity, baseball-wise, if she chooses to pursue it. Spangler’s art and writing are both equally great and (minor spoiler) I love the way her brother and father support Gemma in the end.

The Lonesome Hunters Volume One by Tyler Crook. Dark Horse, 2023. 9781506731018. Contains #1 – 4. 100 years ago Howard was given a magical sword to strike a blow for his church and end pagan worship. But a demon had already been summoned, and things didn’t end well. He survived, though. And now he’s really old (though he has aged better than he would have without the sword). He’s also very grumpy. Lupe stole a pocket watch from her uncle. And then finds out it wasn’t his to begin with — he stole it from the magpies. When one comes to get it back, it possesses her uncle, and Lupe turns to Howard for help. He tries a magic ward, which doesn’t work. So he takes the magical sword out of a box that’s much too small to hold it, and when he uses it he sets a bunch of dark, supernatural stuff in motion. It’s the ultimate old man/teen girl team-up, and I hope there’s a sequel soon.

Otis & Peanut by Naseem Hrab (words) and Kelly Collier (drawings). Owlkids, 2023. 9781771474962. 89pp including a recipe for a perfect baked potato at the end. Rabbits Otis and Peanut have three short adventures that involve getting a haircut, buying a hat, swinging to cheer up, missing friends, and making a house feel like a home. At the heart of everything they do is their friendship and support for each other. This is a quick read that made me smile.     We Have A Playdate by Frank W. Dormer. Amulet, 2021. 9781419752735. 96pp. Short stories featuring friends Tuna, Margo, and Noodle, plus their new friend Ralph, a bear who is afraid to go down a slide. There’s a rampaging robot, the problem of how to keep Noodle (a snake) from flying off a swing, the most bizarre page I’ve seen in a kid’s graphic novel in a while featuring a sculpture/playground toy that’s shaped like a duck. So friendly, so strange.       Search for a Giant Squid (Pick Your Path) by Amy Seto Forrester & Andy Chou Musser. Chronicle Books, 2023. 9781797213934. 93pp. including a page of scientists to whom special thanks are given, a list of animals in the book, a glossary, and a bibliography of articles, books, and websites. I’m a huge fan of great endpapers, and this book starts out by introducing 10 scientists and crew members who are part of the expedition before introducing the giant squid, cephalopods, teuthologists, and other background information. After the research vessel is packed, the adventure begins with the reader choosing a pilot and their submersible before venturing into the deep (at a location also of the reader’s choosing). It took me several tries to find the giant squid, and along the way I discovered other animals in the ocean’s depths. This book is inspiring and full of science, plus it uses a lot of elements of the comics format. Get this for your elementary school library.

Meesh the Bad Demon by Michelle Lam. Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. 9780593372869. Meesh lives with her grandmother in Mount Lava, and she loves watching the adventures of the fairy Princess Nouna on TV. At school she’s frequently picked on and unsuccessful at the demon skills she’s supposed to master, which include fire breathing, acid-puking, and lava-molding. It’s so bad she doesn’t want to be a demon at all. But when something goes wrong with the lava, and everyone turns to stone, it’s up to Meesh to find help. She heads to Plumeria City to find Princess Nouna and her magic ruby but instead finds a city full of fairies who vilify demons and react poorly to Meesh having snuck in uninvited. Meesh and Nouna end up on an adventure together, though, one that eventually involves the bully who picks on Meesh, a very charming young wolf, and a heist of sorts. Friendships are forged! Problems are solved. New magical powers are discovered. And a sequel is set up. The book is beautiful, and elementary students in particular will love it.

Robin & Batman by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen. DC, 2022. 9781779516596. Contains #1-3. If you haven’t read Lemire and Nguyen’s multi-volume graphic novel collaboration Descender and its sequel Ascender, go read them now. Lemire’s writing is exceptional and Nguyen’s illustrations are inspiring. And the pair bring the full force of their talents and experience working together to this short graphic novel which you should absolutely check out. It takes place just after Bruce Wayne adopted Dick Grayson, and he’s training Grayson to become his crime-fighting sidekick. In the opening pages, Grayson doesn’t have a superhero name or a costume yet, or the skills to go on missions with Batman. He’s reckless. He’s not listening to his mentor. And then he goes off to fight crime on his own in his crazy, bright costume. The story makes it clear how impossible it would be for a teenager raised by Batman, from whom it’s impossible to keep secrets, and how brutal (both emotionally and physically) the lessons he tries to impart are. There’s a plot throughout involving Killer Croc and Robin’s family, and the whole book has a great emotional arc. This is one of the best mainstream superhero graphic novels of the last few years.

Festival of Shadows: A Japanese Ghost Story by Atelier Sento. Tuttle, 2023. 9784805317242. 160pp. Naoko and her friend Katsu are the youngest people (by a lot) at the gatherings of those living with shadows. Each person shares information they’ve learned about the spirit they’re taking responsibility for, and they try to help one another identify who the spirits were when they were alive. (They can talk to their spirit and see them clearly, but no one else can.) Naoko failed her shadow at the village’s festival recently, and she’s already got another spirit she’s trying to help — a sad, quiet young man who’s not revealing much about himself. She has a year, until the next festival, to figure out who he was in life and help him. It’s a story set in a small town that develops very slowly. Having the shadow follow her around finally gives way to him revealing bits about his life and who he was. As he becomes more and more a part of Naoko’s life, she starts to have feelings for him. This story is a bit more adult than Atelier Sento’s amazing Onibi, which Tuttle also published in English a few years ago. Note: Naoko is a bit older than she looks at first glance, so I recommend reading this first if you buy it for your library, to decide where to shelve it.

It’s Lonely At The Center Of The Earth: An auto-bio-graphic-novel by Zoe Thorogood. Image, 2023. 9781534323865. Publisher’s Rating: M / Mature. First I want to say this book is absolutely beautiful to look at. It moves between illustration styles in a way that feels totally organic, and Thorogood’s storytelling talents and the range of illustration styles she employs wowed me in the same way Mike Huddelston’s did when I read Decorum. I started a review copy of this book on my iPad and absolutely had to see what it looked like on paper so I rushed out and bought a copy, and I’m not sorry I did that at all. I’m going to loan this book out to a lot of folks I know but I’m keeping it for me. But here’s the thing, this book isn’t for everyone, though I hope each of you picks it up. Thorogood starts it by letting us know she’s been considering stabbing herself in the neck with a knife. And wondering if the book she’s writing, the book we’re reading, is just a performance that she can’t stop. But she commits to recording six months of her life in an effort to try to make sense of herself (and her depression). It includes bits of her in the past, both as a weird kid being bullied and a young artist getting praise from comics pros and then a book deal. It does not turn into a romantic comedy even when it feels like it might. It’s painful and funnier than I can explain and super sad in lots of moments. Thorogood’s depiction of the No-Face-ish creature that is always behind her, which no one else can see, is particularly freaky.

The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country Volume 1 by James Tynion IV with artists Lisandro Estherren, Maria Llovet, Yanick Paquette, Andrea Sorrentino, Francesco Francavilla, Dani, and Aaron Campbell. DC Black Label, 2023. 9781779518415. Collects #1 – 6. There’s a note at the bottom of the title page to remind readers that The Sandman was created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg, and to note that The Sandman Universe is curated by Gaiman. I’m not sure what that means but Tynion and all of the artists involved knocked this one out of the park. (Estherren draws most of it, with pages by the other artists used to great effect). It’s spooky, horrific stuff focused on the Corinthian (the newer incarnation of the nightmare), whom you’ve probably read about in previous Sandman graphic novels or seen in the first season of the show on Netflix. (He’s the murderous character with mouths for eyes, which he usually hides behind sunglasses. If you don’t know who I mean stop now and go read the original Sandman series in its entirety. I recommend the older collections that haven’t been recolored. But I digress.) The Corinthian was created (and then uncreated and recreated) by Dream of the Endless to torment humanity. And now he’s collecting memories that he has for some reason, which he knows aren’t his own. He seeks out Madison Flynn, an artist and college student, who paints a figure she sees, another creature that also has mouths for eyes. The Corinthian even does a bit of research in the Dreaming, in a library there which has all the books everyone has never written. (There’s even a room of unwritten books about the Corinthian himself that he enjoys.) I mean, if you’re a library person, I hope that’s enough right there, the promise of a visit to that particular library and a living nightmare doing research there. At least one of the Endless makes an appearance by the end of the book, and two creepy murderers on a mission, Mr. Agony and Mr. Ecstasy, are present throughout. There’s quite a bit of violence, an insane, insanely rich dude, and one unfortunate reanimated corpse, too. And at the end, in the final bit of the book, there’s a fantastic promise about what’s to come in the next volume.