Staff Picks

Tender, nostalgic, hilarious.

 

This graphic novel explores the complex questions persistently posed to many masculine-presenting folks which are: What does it mean to be a "man"? What feelings, experiences, and circumstances contribute to the development of toxic masculinity? Is there such a thing as positive masculinity, or is masculinity in itself inherently toxic?

 

Neatly packaged in a hilarious narrative about an imaginary shark, this text encourages deep engagement from youth and adults alike, and will especially resonate with middle schoolers.

 

Publisher's description:

A hilarious middle-grade graphic memoir about boyhood, toxic masculinity and a shark named Jaws. For fans of Guts and New Kid.

 

This is such a lovely story! Amazing art telling an all-ages fairytale about community, friendship, acceptance, and tea. I've personally been recommended this a few times, but it definitely exceeded my expectations! It's set across 4 seasons and can be read in about 20 minutes over some tea, but reread and appreciated year-round. One of my favorite reads this year, both cozy and exciting! 

 

Publisher's description:

 

From the award-winning author of Princess Princess Ever After comes The Tea Dragon Society, a charming all-ages book that follows the story of Greta, a blacksmith apprentice, and the people she meets as she becomes entwined in the enchanting world of tea dragons. After discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, Greta learns about the dying art form of tea dragon care-taking from the kind tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik. As she befriends them and their shy ward, Minette, Greta sees how the craft enriches their lives-and eventually her own.

 

The fast-paced, imaginative adventures of Zita the Spacegirl remind me of Calvin's alter-ego Spaceman Spiff in Calvin & Hobbes. Zita fearlessly travels through a galaxy of unusual aliens in order to save her friend Joseph.

 

Publisher's description

When young Zita discovers a device that opens a portal to another place, and her best friend is abducted, she is compelled to set out on a strange journey from star to star in order to get back home.

 

A sweet story about love, traditions, and responsibility. Greta rescues a tea dragon and is introduced to a whole new world of history and connection. She meets Hesekiel, Erik, and Minette, and their care of each other and the tea dragons revives the Tea Dragon Society.

 

Publisher's description:

After discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, Greta learns about the dying art form of tea dragon care-taking from the kind tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik. As she befriends them and their shy ward, Minette, Greta sees how the craft enriches their lives--and eventually her own.

 

Find The Tea Dragon Society in our catalog. And if you want to read more, there's The Tea Dragon Society series!

Sometimes fitting in means finding the one person you are the most comfortable with. Which is exactly what happens when Moon and Christine meet. When the two girls first meet, they couldn't be more different. Christine is a very "play by the rules" kind of girl, but Moon doesn't care about the rules or what people think about her! Navigating the expectations of her family and peers, Christine's friendship with Moon helps her to discover and become more comfortable with being herself. A touching coming of age story that reflects on what it means to be yourself and how to support the people in your life who may be struggling with an invisible illness.

 

Publisher's description:
Moon is everything Christine isn't. She's confident, impulsive, artistic... and though they both grew up in the same Chinese-American suburb, Moon is somehow unlike anyone Christine has ever known. But after Moon moves in next door, these unlikely friends are soon best friends, sharing their favorite music videos and painting their toenails when Christine's strict parents aren't around. Moon even tells Christine her deepest secret: that she has visions, sometimes, of celestial beings who speak to her from the stars. Who reassure her that earth isn't where she really belongs. Moon's visions have an all-too-earthly root, however, and soon Christine's best friend is in the hospital, fighting for her life. Can Christine be the friend Moon needs, now, when the sky is falling? Jen Wang draws on her childhood to paint a deeply personal yet wholly relatable friendship story that's at turns joyful, heart-wrenching, and full of hope.

Cassandra Cain knows how to kill. But she doesn't know anything else. She doesn't speak, doesn't read, doesn't even know what her latest victim's dying cries of "daughter" mean. But those cries awaken Cassandra, and she is done being an assassin. Now the question is: what (who?) will she be?

 

Publisher's description:

Cassandra Cain, teenage assassin, isn't exactly Batgirl material...not yet, at least. But with Batgirl missing from Gotham City, can Cassandra defy her destiny and take on a heroic mantle of her very own? She'll have to go through an identity crisis of epic proportions to find out.

 

After a soul-shattering moment that sends Cass reeling, she'll attempt to answer this question the only way she knows how: learning everything she possibly can about her favorite hero-Batgirl. But Batgirl hasn't been seen in Gotham for years, and when Cass's father threatens the world she has grown to love, she'll have to step out of the shadows and overcome her greatest obstacle-that voice inside her head telling her she can never be a hero.

 

Originally a web comic, Cucumber Quest follows a young bunny named Cucumber whose dream is to attend a magic school. Unfortunately, his father and little sister, Almond, have forced him to become the hero that will defeat the Nightmare Knight. Now, Cucumber must travel across Dreamside to collect the signatures of six princesses to defeat the Nightmare Knight once and for all. Cute, colorful, and downright silly, Cucumber Quest is a great book for anyone who likes Adventure Time.

 

Publisher description:

The seven kingdoms of Dreamside need a legendary hero. Instead, they'll have to settle for Cucumber, a nerdy magician who just wants to go to school. As destiny would have it, he and his way more heroic sister, Almond, must now seek the Dream Sword, the only weapon powerful enough to defeat Queen Cordelia's Nightmare Knight. Can these bunny siblings really save the world in its darkest hour...?