#CBR10Bingo: Snubbed- it won the Eisner Award in 2015, but was also nominated for a whole host of other things that it lost out on. Every summer Rose and her parents go to Arwago Beach. They have their set rituals and it’s Rose’s favourite time of the year. Her friend Windy is also there, and she and Rose are inseparable all summer. Something is different this year, though. There’s a tension between Rose’s parents and they keep fighting when they think Rose can’t hear them. For […]
Skillfully tackling serious issues in a YA graphic novel
This short (about 140 pages) graphic novel was created by the same Canadian cousin team that gave us This One Summer. In fact this graphic novel was their first. Nominated for an Eisner (among other awards), Skim is the story of Kim (aka Skim), a Japanese Canadian teen who is struggling with a variety of issues, including matters related to sexuality, depression and suicide. The story is told in three parts. Part I: Fall, takes place in fall but is also about falling. Kim serves […]
It’s not enough to be a teenager, but an alien, too?
Kara is in the thick of adolescent growing pangs, unsure of her place in the world, like any first world teenager. She’s surrounded by people she loves and who love her in return, but she struggles to connect in a meaningful way. You know… because she can lift tractors with a single hand and fly and stuff. So when her powers start going a little haywire, there’s nowhere to turn for support. Is it some sort of super-puberty? Or is something else going on? Tamaki’s […]
Banned Book Week Selection: Are you kidding me this was the most challenged book of 2016? Has everyone lost their minds?
Each year, I try to read a frequently challenged or banned book during Banned Books Week (September 24-30). I have very particular feelings about the concept of banning or suppressing works of fiction because they do not fit into a particular worldview (I’m staunchly against it). Do I think every book should have an audience and be read? Probably not. However, I do believe in our ability to choose for ourselves what we should read, and that banning or challenging books which only serve to […]
The girls of summer
I want to read more young adult graphic novels, so that I can reference them in future courses and to my students who want something new or different. The Chancellor had recommended This One Summer as a book that came across several “best-of” lists. My library had it, so I thought I would give it a try. Mariko Tamaki, with her illustrator cousin Jillian Tamaki, creates a simple but unforgettable story that shows the power of rumor and suggestion, the uncertainty of family turmoil, and […]
Girls, Girls, Girls!
This graphic novel, published this year, is a short story about two girls (early teens) whose families meet every summer in Ontario at Awago Beach. Rose is an only child whose parents seem fairly ordinary. Windy is an adopted only child who goes to the beach with her mother and grandmother. It is a “coming of age” story that has been getting favorable reviews within comic book circles and even from the New York Times. For a short story (you could easily read it in […]