by Soph Myers-Kelley    Wilson is known for her Introvert Doodles online, and her five book publications having either to do with anxiety, introversion, or both! This book, Kind of Coping, is the third of her five works, published in 2019. Wilson uses analogies, metaphors, imagery, humor, and relatable experiences to make those who are introverted and/or anxious right at home. For those who don’t experience introversion or anxiety, the examples Wilson shares paints them a comprehensive & detailed picture of what anxiety feels like. Wilson draws simply and succinctly. Her style cl ..read more

By Karol Kovalovich Weaver Washington’s Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben, by author Josh Trujillo and illustrator Levi Hastings, traces the life and legacy of Baron von Steuben. Trujillo and Hastings use text, imagery, and color to highlight von Steuben’s identity as a true American revolutionary, who transformed not only warfare but also family. Trujillo and Hastings teach their readers and viewers about the history of LGBTQIA+ people in the colonial, American revolutionary, and early Republic periods. They also make sure to weave their own personal experiences into the ..read more

By Katie Kidwell   When Matthew, his sister Judy, and his mother return from vacation, they learn that their nanny Ruby unexpectedly died. Understandably, Matt struggles with the change, isolating himself from his friends and Judy. When he thinks he hears Ruby’s voice, Matt follows it right into the haunted woods behind his house. Worried about him, his three friends host a sleepover to cheer him up, but the night takes a turn, given that there’s something not quite right about Miss Swan, the new nanny. Michael Regina’s The Sleepover follows Matt, Judy, and their friends as they work toge ..read more

By Rebecca Schwarz   “In 2018, Ana Penyas became the first woman to win the National Comic Award in Spain for Estamos Todas Bien (We’re All Just Fine), a beautifully crafted work that brings to light her two grandmothers’ memories of struggle during General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975). Amplifying the voices of the survivors of Francoism has been central to Spain’s transitional justice, but these perspectives remain limited when works by, for and about women are the exception. [page 104]” from Esther Claudio’s Afterword to We’re All just Fine. Yes, the story of Penyas’s two ..read more

By Lilith Todd Horrible Histories’ Titles included here: Terrible Tudors (Terry Deary & Neil Tonge, Current ISBN: 978-1407178677, 144 pages, 1993; Awesome Egyptians (Terry Deary & Peter Hepplewhite, 978-0590738927, 1996, 128 pages, Scholastic; Slimy Stuarts (Terry Deary, writer, and Martin Brown, illustrator, 978-0590134828, 128 pages, 1996; Gorgeous Georgians (Terry Deary, writer, and Martin Brown, illustrator, 978-1407104195, 139 pages, 1998); Format: paperback; Publisher: Scholastic. As I’ve been finishing up my Ph.D. in eighteenth-century literature, staring down the barrel of the ..read more

By Caitlin Plovnick Content warning: violence, suicidal thoughts, discrimination Shubeik Lubeik (“your wish is my command”) is a clever and moving three-part fantasy set in a world where genie-granted wishes are a regulated resource. Mainly taking place in modern day Cairo, Shubeik Lubeik is rich with background details that show evidence of cheap wishes gone wrong, often in the form of mutations, or tacky materialistic wishes for the wealthy, such as flying cars and dinosaurs. The story follows three individuals who have the opportunity to make a 1st-class wish: the rarest, most expensive and ..read more

By Karol Kovalovich Weaver     In Middle Distance: A Graphic Memoir, author Mylo Choy shares the physical and emotional lessons that running taught them. The narrative follows Choy’s running journey from middle school to adulthood. As the book progresses, the reader learns the physical, emotional, and spiritual connections that Choy has to running. Using text, imagery, and section breaks, Choy shares that the middle path was key to navigating physical and emotional challenges and finding comfort in oneself and with one’s identity. The title of Choy’s graphic memoir, Middle ..read more

By Andrew Field   There is something unique about the way change is represented in comics, which differs from other art forms and media, like painting, photography, novels, music, or film.  In comics, we experience a stasis-in-motion, or motion-in-stasis, that seems to lend itself to different iterations of fluidity, pause, and passage, where what is seen is constantly being replaced, through the gutter and the panel approaching, by the unseen, the new, the different, the same-ish.  This unique experience of temporality is juxtaposed in comics with a spatiality dependent upon th ..read more

By Kevin Wolf   The Pandemic Cookbook: Some Voices and Dishes in the Years of a Novel Coronavirus provides a lesson of how one country, Singapore, tried to minimize the occurrences of and deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. According to the authors The PANDEMIC COOKBOOK was “Compiled and Jumbled Up by” Sonny Liew (award-winning[i] cartoonist) & physician Hsu Li Yang[ii]. About a dozen representative people interviewed and additional research by the authors along with the public health expertise of Dr. Yang informs this work. We also learn some Singapore history and customs thr ..read more

By Saily Marrero Living With Viola by Rosena Fung is a middle grade graphic novel about Olivia (AKA Livy), a young Canadian Chinese girl, coping with anxiety and panic disorder. Within the first few pages, we’re introduced to Viola, Livy’s anxiety personified as a black and blue version of herself. And whose name is an anagram of Olivia. When Livy feels anxious, Viola arrives, black and blue colors consume the pages, and a large number of speech bubbles appear. The latter shows us the amount of overwhelming and oftentimes negative thoughts Livy has caused by her anxiety. The opposite happens w ..read more