Whoa! The year-and-a-half wait for this, the latest volume in Kazu Kibuishi’s bestselling Amulet adventures, is finally over!! And was it worth the 18 months of excruciating patience? You betcha! So listen up: first and foremost, if this is the first Amulet cover you're seeing, stop here and...
Volume 1 promised "This is the beginning of a new age" on its intriguing cover page. And yep, did it ever deliver – for oldster-fans delirious with gleeful nostalgia and a brand new generation of young 'uns lucky to discover this hero-version-2.0! Yes, indeedy, Ultraman is...
*STARRED REVIEW If a picture is worth a thousand words, what does it mean when paintings start morphing, shifting, and even weeping actual tears? For Sierra Santiago, who thought she would spend her summer making the mural of her dreams, these newly moving pictures are clear warnings...
Avatar Aang takes a temporary narrative back seat to his Fire Lord buddy Zuko in Part One of the newest Last Airbender three-part installment. Now that Zuko has been reunited with his long-lost mother Ursa [you'll need to read The Search for the full backstory], he's bringing...
Given all the anti-immigrant hubbub in the news, Hilo is an absolutely surprising standout, least of all because the blonde, sometimes blue-eyed (not on the cover, but check pages 8 and 33, for example) hero here turns out to be the alien. Yup, Hilo (as in 'high-low')...
The single-page "author's note" which introduces this stupendous, otherwise-wordless wonder is a full story unto itself: Guojing reveals her lonely childhood growing up in 1980s China under the one-child policy. Her parents worked, and she was often cared for by her grandmother. But sometimes when...
When’s the last time you encountered a bored superhero – bored because he hasn’t encountered a single worthy opponent? Meet Saitama – albeit you'll need old-people glasses to see the tiny type in the small box in the Table of Contents which seems to be the one and...
This week, the National Book Foundation is releasing the longlists category by category, day by day, for the coveted National Book Award (winners will be announced November 18). Included among the 10 titles cited for "Young People's Literature" is Laura Ruby’s Bone Gap. [I confess I have fingers,...
In case you initially peruse this manga the Western way (flip pages from the right side to left), here's what you'll see a few pages in: "We used to fanatically watch reruns of Ultraman as kids," the creators Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi confess. "We never dreamed...
Really, it's not just because of the dragon that I'm telling you to read this. Although, yes, the dragon is indeed an intriguing draw, especially since it doesn't appear until the very last pages, deus ex machina-style, albeit not without bringing violent retribution with it,...
After yesterday's SuperMutant Magic Academy, here's a Jillian Tamaki bonus for non-kiddie readers. It's lucky #7 in rebel San Francisco-based publisher Youth in Decline’s Frontier, "a quarterly art and comics monograph series," as described on the company's website. "Inspired in part by South Korea's SSE Project...
"I WISH YOU WOULD BOTH JUST DISAPPEAR!!!" What child hasn't at least thought that about their parents at some point?! If you're half-witch, and half-human, and you actually voice such words really loudly on your 10th birthday – cake candles and all – you just...
February marks African American Heritage Month. Do you know where your books are? I've been picking up older, missed titles the last couple of weeks, and discovering some unique treasures, especially those that highlight unusual or lesser-known historical experiences. Stay tuned for more ...
Here's an intriguing blend of vampiric dystopia: "One day ...
See how long this post title is above? Well, apparently, I seem to be discovering this spectacular story (and it really, truly is!) in its umpteenth iteration. Better late than never, I must say, because I'm convinced that this manga rendition is the very best...
John Corey Whaley, who was a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, shares the same first name with the ever-popular, mega-bestselling author John Green. Perhaps I might be delusional here, but Noggin feels like it could be some alternate-universe sequel to Green's The Fault...
*STARRED REVIEW Debuting mere months after his latest instant bestseller, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, this fable is a surprise addition to Murakami’s addictive oeuvre. After returning his library books, a boy is sent to Room 107 in search of other titles. There...
Before reading another word, click here to catch up. You need to know how we got here before you can go on! As Part Three opens, Toph Beifong is "literally carrying the weight of our world." She's trapped underground, with Katara, Satoru, her father, and many...
If this is the first time you're hearing about this worldwide phenomenon that is Attack on Titan, please pause and take the time to catch up. Trust me when I warn you that this is not a series that you can pick up midway; you’ll need and want to follow...
