Book Awards, Editorial Reviews & More!
Book Awards, Editorial Reviews & More!
Kenny Loui is back for more plushy liberation in Life Lessons from a UFO Catcher: An Autobiographical Manga – Vol. 2. With advice that hints at cosmic plotline destiny, Gerry’s rebrands Gerry’s Game Zone as Games R Us. Dr. Gerry is quick to accept change, but not everyone moves forward with such ease. He offers […]
A delight to read and a sumptuous gala for the heart. Dad vs. The World (Life Lessons from a UFO Catcher: An Autobiographical Manga) is a witty and intriguing autobiographical manga and the latest offering by award-winning author, Kenny Loui. This graphic novel sheds light on the person who shaped much of Kenny’s formative years,
America in the late 1940s is a nation characterized by significant transformation and unwavering resilience. Nobody feels this more keenly than Laura Schmitt, a sensible young woman working as an au pair for a powerful Russian family. Both an immigrant and an orphan, Laura has become adept at overcoming challenges in her twenty years. Though
Local lore is expanded and rosy glasses are shattered. No longer a naive rural girl who dreams of an action-packed life, Blue Haven is now living a frenetic adventure of her own. Though leaving the protection of New Haven for the first time in her life should be an amazing experience, an earlier attack left
A balanced tale that remains refreshingly optimistic. Seattle wasn’t always home to grunge bands, the Space Needle, and soy lattes. In the 1940s, northwestern Washington was known for gasoline shortages, scrap drives, blackouts, and relocation assembly centers. Amid this turbulent landscape is young Scotty Johannsen, the quintessential teenage American boy finding his place in the
In a world where magic is limited to a select few and foreign languages are tightly controlled, centrally-located Entia is unique among the kingdoms. This tropical land is home to a powerful group of sorcerers who act as the last line of defense against dangers from outside kingdoms, challenges from within Entia, and the threat
“Zeb Barton knew many ways to die and had seen most of them.” No, fourteen-year-old Zeb isn’t a serial killer, nor has he spent time on the battlefield. Rather, this careworn young man is the son of a busy physician in a North Georgia town. Doc Barton is a man dedicated to his career, a
A celebration of creativity and life. Over the course of several months, vivacious Adrienne Wilson succumbed to a cancer invading her body. I’d Rather Be Dead Than Deaf: A Young Woman’s Journey With Liver Cancer is a colorful snapshot in time as revealed through enthusiastic journal entries, artwork, poems, and observations. Just a teenager at
Cuts to the heart in so many ways that are personal and profound. Every sport has its storied rivalries. The Celtics and the Lakers. The Red Sox and the Yankees. The Buckeyes and the Wolverines. High school football has Stonewall and Briggs, a matchup the whole city turns out for. But this year’s most highly
Bursting with imagination and rich in character growth. From water diviner in her small farming village to queen consort, married to the man who once kidnapped her, Solace hasn’t had a moment to take a breath between the life-altering changes she’s experienced. As consuming as these transitions have been, Solace has come to love Rhees,
Sometimes sweet, sometimes heartbreaking, but always engaging and impossible to set aside. The decision to leave Southern California is almost a no-brainer for Emma Mason. An exclusive scholarship to a boarding school meant to hone her painting skills is all the motivation Emma needs to trade the comforts of her sheltered high school, her magnetic
A staggering story whose creativity is unsurpassed. Dagny and her younger sister, Grete, are hardly children anymore. Catastrophe tore their family apart years ago and Dagny only recently recovered that crucial family connection. But things happened to both girls while they were separated and, in a bid to protect her sister, Grete has disappeared again.
A story worth its weight in dragon scales. How does one recognize the instant when the spontaneity of youth is replaced with the weight of adulthood? For 12-year-old Azoria Dash, a single moment changes everything, igniting an inextinguishable flame in her elven heart. A merciless orc attack on her village cuts short any remaining ember
A book that is so authentic and incisive it will feel like going back and reading your own diary. Constance Marie Baltimore knows exactly who she is and precisely what she isn’t. She isn’t a Constance, so Connie will have to suffice. She is smart and determined, ready to start her college career on a
Wonderfully unique and wildly satisfying. Kole’s fifteen years have not been easy. An orphaned refugee with no memory of his childhood, he lives in fear of the Warden’s tyranny while hunkering in the shadow of an insatiable and all-consuming fire, the Black Wall. Still, his life in the magical forest of Solpate is filled with
Captivating, compelling, and completely compulsive. The mythical city of Atlantis is no longer lost. For Natalie, this fabled city is now the refuge she calls home. With only five dollars and seventy-six cents to her name, she has almost nothing left from the life she once knew in Virginia, and Atlantis is the perfect sanctuary
Intelligent young adult fiction that is seamless, satisfying, and oh-so-good! Less than two months have passed since Natalie’s life was permanently flipped upside down. She and her friends are no closer to finding their missing families, while Leo, once a pillar of strength supporting this rattled group, hasn’t shown up and might not have survived
A perfect blend of drama, humor, and warmth. A master of managing unfair assumptions, scrappy high-school senior Claire Jackson has an unusually heavy load to bear. After her parents’ divorce, Claire becomes responsible for an unexpected baby brother and an increasingly despondent mother. Always the overachiever, Claire wholeheartedly steps into the role of caregiver, but
A sweeping tale that entangles the tender bonds of family within an elaborate web of magic. Adulthood has not been kind to Dylan Dubois of late. A house fire left her without a father and in the unenviable position of being the custodian of her comatose sister. Unable to imagine a life without her, Dylan
An exquisite tale with a gravity all its own. In a world where love is a weakness and the oceans are made of sand, Norah is plagued with insecurities within her tight-knit community of To’Rahn. Besides enduring the tragic loss of her father and worrying over the famine that has ravaged the land, Norah doesn’t
An enticing rabbit hole you’ll be glad to dive into. Fresh off her successes against the dark fays, Mara should be celebrating the victory over malicious King Bazra and taking some well-deserved time to connect with her betrothed. Instead, Mara is riddled with frustration over the loss of her magical powers and the chasm growing
Her mother is an alcoholic with a taste for expensive things. Her father has a gambling problem and spends too much time at work. And Laura Johnson is the vulnerable teenager struggling to hold things together within this dysfunctional family. More acrimony than matrimony, the relationship between Laura’s parents is a constant source of frustration
A gripping and exciting read that will make you feel like you are part of the action. It is his seventeenth birthday, and everything in the life of James Coffey seems to be in order. An evening of celebratory drinking with friends lands him in the usual trouble with his parents, but it’s nothing he
Humor, drama, and fantasy in an expressive manga world. Children are born with an innate curiosity. Why is the sky blue? What is a cloud made of? Parents can usually cobble together an answer with a reasonable level of accuracy and sensibility. But sometimes the questions get trickier to answer when parents are put on
