Author: Gene Ambaum

The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond. Tordotcom, 2024. 9781250290311. 167pp. I love the cover of this book, and there seem to be shelf talkers praising it at every bookstore I visit (and it holds up to the hype). It’s the […]
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So Long Sad Love by Mirion Malle. Translated by Aleshia Jensen. Drawn & Quarterly, 2024. 9781770466975. 204pp. This graphic novel opens with a scene where Cléo is considering having disappeared, how everything seems easier and how right the decision was. […]
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Camp Prodigy by Caroline Palmer. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. 9781665930383. 250pp. Tate goes to a concert to see nonbinary violist Eli Violet play, but Eli’s anxiety gets the better of them and they don’t perform. Tate, inspired to […]
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Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Yang, art by Leuyen Pham. First Second, 2024. 9781250908261. 352pp. Val has a year to find true love, or Saint Valentine wants her heart. (Their friendship started off as an imaginary friend / […]
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Danger and Other Unknown Risks by Ryan North and Erica Henderson. Penguin Workshop, 2023. 9780593224823. 206pp. This book opens with a cryptic trip to a big box store, and then a young woman (Marguerite) and her talking dog (Daisy) stealing […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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