A fitting read for Canada Day weekend, huh? Maybe not a Canadian author, but We Stand On Guard is the graphic novel of Brian K Vaughan, with art by Canadian artist Steve Skroce, and colouring by Matt Hollingsworth. Focused on a future after the bombing of the White House, Canada and America find themselves at war with one another. Canada is almost completely occupied by American forces, with most Canadian citizens working in labour camps for resources to be sent down south to the American people. […]
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 good to cry at fiction. It makes it real.
“It’s good to cry at fiction. It makes it real.” A friend once said that to me and like the dweeb I am I wrote it down and saved it. Because I have the coolest friends, #obvs, and because it is good to cry at fiction, it means it’s real. And let me tell you this book is the realest out there. It’s also maybe a kids book? Whatever. Chunky Rice is a turtle who decides to leave his best friend Dandel […]
Tugs at your heart
Ghosts is the most recently published of Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novels and also the most fantastical. Since I had read and reviewed her other three books earlier this year, it seemed only appropriate to do this one as well. While I didn’t connect to this story the way I did Smile and Drama, I did fall for the characters and the story of family, identity, and death. Cat’s younger sister, Maya, was born with cystic fibrosis, it affects her lungs and digestive system and there is no cure. The […]