by Brian Floca, illus. by Sydney Smith
In the breathtaking Island Storm, Caldecott Medalist Brian Floca (Locomotive; Hawk Rising) and Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Sydney Smith (I Talk Like a River; My Baba's Garden; Small in the City) tell the story of two siblings on an island who head to the shore to see a storm agitate the sea.
When they arrive, they take in the massive, billowing waves. A repeated refrain in the book underscores their adventurous spirit: "And then we ask, is this enough, or do we try for more? You pull on me, I pull
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by Denali Sai Nalamalapu
There's nothing quite like the power of using simple imagery to explore a complex topic. And when one hopes to spur readers to action with their art, it's even more important to strike the right balance between illustrations and text. Holler, a graphic memoir, is a well-crafted, emotional work that does just that. Combining individual stories into a collective narrative, artist and activist Denali Sai Nalamalapu uses a limited color palette to recount a yearslong fight against a destructive oil pipeline in
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by Kago [Shintaro Kago], trans. by Zack Davisson
Japanese artist Shintaro Kago (Dementia 21), who publishes as just Kago, displays his penchant for guru--as in grotesque--manga in Brain Damage, a disturbing, can't-turn-away collection of four-shorts. Zack Davisson, notable translator of classic manga fare (Shigeru Mizuki; Satoshi Kon) provides smooth English access.
"Labyrinth Quartet" captures four imprisoned, strangely look-alike women wading through savagely dismembered body parts while attempting to escape a knife-wielding, masked murderer. Experts work
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by Aatish Taseer
In A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile, a memoir-infused travelogue that muses on "the demands of belonging," acclaimed British American writer Aatish Taseer relishes in the freedoms of the untethered life. Starting in Istanbul and journeying through Uzbekistan, Spain, Morocco, Iraq, and more, the essays in this collection find Taseer recalibrating his national identity after his unceremonious eviction from India, his family's ancestral home.
Taseer (The Twice-Born) is a New York-based writer for T: The
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by Quino, trans. by Frank Wynne
The Argentinian cartoonist Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón (1932-2020), who published as Quino, introduced the brilliantly insightful, refreshingly unfiltered six-year-old Mafalda in 1964. Quino ended his internationally renowned black-and-white comic strip, available in 26 languages, in 1973. Now Elsewhere Editions, the children's imprint of Archipelago Books, is releasing Mafalda: Book One--with four additional volumes planned, all translated by lauded Frank Wynne--and the delightfully precocious
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by Paul Tremblay, illus. by Sam Wolfe Connelly
Adult author Paul Tremblay (The Beast You Are; The Cabin at the End of the World) makes his middle-grade debut with the eerie, uncanny Another.
Twelve-year-old Casey Wilson and his family are adjusting to life during the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic. When the old-fashioned rotary phone his mother found at the antiques store begins to ring, Casey's mom answers and agrees to a visitor. A man arrives with "a large, lumpy" burlap bag covered in dust, which opens to reveal a boy. Or rather something "shaped
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by Kennedy Tarrell
Evil-ish is a diverting and inventive graphic novel that explores what it means to find your place in the world while being your authentic self.
Hawthorne Vandecast, who works as a potion barista, longs to join the "bloodthirsty" Brigade of Shade, an evil organization created to "delve into the untapped potential of grand magic." When the Brigade holds open calls, Hawthorne is convinced their sheer vibe of badassery will get them accepted. Instead, Hawthorne is laughed off the stage while Maple, a flowery
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