Siiri and Aina are best friends, having grown up together in pre-Christian Finland. Despite the looming prospects of marriage and motherhood, the recent disappearances of other girls, and Swedish invaders from the south, they are able to cling to each other for happiness and companionship. But one day, while they’re at the lake catching fish …
Sonoka Shimauchi’s family life has always been troubled and enigmatic. Her mother, Chizuko Shimauchi, was raised in the Morning Shadows orphanage without any knowledge of her parents. After Sonoka’s biological father refused to leave his wife for Chizuko, she brought up their daughter herself, giving her a totemic stuffed animal that had helped her survive …
Sir Horley Comewithers and Arabella Tarleton were good friends once upon a time, but life has taken them in opposite directions. Sir Horley, who is extravagantly gay but miserably in love with Belle’s (now taken) twin brother, spends his days thoroughly soused. Belle, who once dreamed of being a dashing heroine and now has no …
Poetic text describes a child’s active grandmother as she “moves to tai chi beats” (“Slow. Firm. Focused”) and walks home in the autumn leaves (“ka-runch, ka-runch, ka-runch”). At home, the two prepare dumplings, dancing in the swirls of steam. As they eat them afterward, Grandma’s love “fills up my tummy.” Delicate illustrations full of movement …
Looking back, Corey wonders how much of his childhood was real. His family, who present white, lived in a remote, rural part of California, so his mom was his “teacher…entertainer…and partner in crime.” His dad, though loving, was more distant. Shortly after Corey’s younger sister, Sarah, was born, his maternal grandfather was arrested for child …
Veteran film writer McBride clearly esteems Cukor’s “rich, multifaceted, deeply personal” worldview as expressed in his oeuvre. He ascribes Cukor’s masterful conveyance of nuance in human behavior, of subtext, to the director’s own “double life”—Cukor’s outsider status as a “partially closeted” gay man, a son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. McBride appraises Cukor’s craft throughout his …
This graphic novel opens on a snowy evening at Hillock College, where the semester is off to a bumpy start for Molly Song and her friend Lou Kingston. Molly is reeling from a recent breakup with her girlfriend, Olene Reed, who dumped Molly via email from the plane to Europe, where she’s spending the semester …
Twelve-year-old Mendel’s incapable of doing anything right. When he hugs his mother, he knocks her into the washtub. While setting the table, he lights the table on fire. And when he chops wood, he almost decapitates his sister. Mendel’s mother tells him it isn’t his fault: Years ago, Starface Matja cursed Mendel when his pregnant …
Timid Bigfoot usually holes up inside his cave, afraid to venture out. Everyone makes loud, terrifying noises whenever they see him. But at least he has other misunderstood monster pals who appreciate his plight, among them Nessie, who lives in Scotland; Mothman, who’s from the Appalachian Mountains; and the Chupacabra, who resides in Puerto Rico. …
Dubbed “quirky” by her mother (an assessment readers will likely agree with), Millie narrates her own well-paced story in a flow of verbiage she often has trouble stemming. She is “the boss” but defers to her mom, who happens to be the mayor of Washington, D.C. Mayor Maude’s a single parent (Millie’s father is dead), …
