graphic novels – Peaceful Reader

More Best Book 2024 edition

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano: I loved the complex sister relationships as they came together and support each other as well as fell apart. This brought up a lot of emotions as the sisters deal with William as he struggles with his mental health, wonderfully displaying the effects of trauma.

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield: This book was pure joy and focuses on the a SNL-type late night comedy show. Sally’s given up on love, happy in her career as a writer on the show until a handsome musician guests on the show. Sparks fly but it takes awhile for it all to come together. I laughed so much.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang: This is a thriller set in the publishing world with an emphasis on diverse writers and stolen stories. It reminded me a little of The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz and was a very unique story.

Small Mercies by Denise Lehane: I loved the 1970s Boston setting, strong characters, and the twists and turns of the mystery during a volatile time in history. Denise Lehane is masterful in his writing.

Huda F Are You; A Graphic Novel by Huda Fahmy: This graphic novel was hilarious and poignant. This should be required reading to raise awareness much like the New Kid series by Jerry Craft.

A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat: This memoir graphic novel shares Santat’s middle school years and a trip to Europe with classmates as he navigates first love and coming into his own as a young person. Hilarious and took me back to my own middle school years.

Honorable Mention and new Canadian author:

Carley Fortune! I read all three of these on my Kindle phone app often in the middle of the night with my illusive sleep patterns. This Summer Will Be Different was my favorite but all three are light, funny, and sexy with positive relationships and great yet not perfect men. I notice on her website she has a new book out as well. My sleep has been better which means I’ll be forced to read this new one during the day.

Write now I’m reading The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

I’m going to ignore all news stations tomorrow and pray that the next few days are low key. I’m concerned about deportations as the first order of business. There is much that makes me nervous and I hope my checklist does not become reality. Peace be with us all as we navigate this next term.

We are all warriors

There is so much in the air, I fear we are all unwell and yet oddly looking at this time through new eyes many of us have a newfound gratitude for our health. My 83-yr-old mother has counted herself lucky to have avoided Covid for the last two years but tested positive last week after she coughed her way through the Super Bowl. I got a cold around the same time and really hoped it was just a cold but tested positive on Friday. This is my second go round and the vaccination and booster made a big difference in how I feel. My symptoms are more manageable this time. Last time I felt like I would never recover. I didn’t have to be hospitalized although I did end up in the emergency room with pneumonia months after recovering. This pandemic is complicated, confusing, and frustrating and we may never have all the answers. People around me have never had it, never even had reason to take a test and others fall deathly ill.

My children are warriors for making it through their various situations. Kaylee braved the streets of Brooklyn every day, working from home luckily but still trekking out to breathe and live in the city. Tristan worked through the entire pandemic as many have because his job is not something you can do from home. And Japhy braved her first year of school, both virtually and in-person, and and it has made her rethink everything about why she is going to school. We are all warriors, whether we’ve experienced symptoms or not, as we wind our way through this new reality.

In the midst of this pandemic we have people who feel the need to question books being read by children. As if we don’t already have enough to worry about right now. Russia’s possible invasion of Ukraine seems like something of great importance. But instead some are setting their sights on schools; how we are educating students to be world citizens, and libraries and books that might be too honest about world history or show a naked body. Art Spiegelman’s 1986 comic book biography, Maus, was recently banned by a Tennessee school district. After I read the article I checked our district online catalog, found a copy, and read it. It was a very-thought provoking read and a good way for older students to understand a Holocaust survivors story. And check out David Corn’s article in Mother Jones. Please go out an buy a copy or two.

Why does real history scare people? Why does reading about human relationships scare people? We didn’t conjure up the pandemic by reading a book but somehow reading a book about a gay character might make a teen choose that life style? This logic makes me question everything as well. How will we move past this puritanical state we are in? It could take a flood.

Summer Reading List 2018

I managed to do quite a bit of reading this summer and as we just turned the calendar page from August to September I’d love to share what I read.

June:

1. A spool of blue thread by Anne Tyler – okay
2. Tangerine by Christine Mangan -interesting locale, predictable story
3. Real Friends by Shannon Hale – beautiful and brilliant graphic novel
4. The self-driven child: the science and sense of giving your kids more control by William Stixrud – excellent advice, easy to read
5. Secrets of Bearhaven by K.E. Rocha – odd, kids may like it
6. Heart Talk by Cleo Wade – loved it and I’m going to her workshop
7. The adventures of a girl called Bicycle by Christina Uss – cool adventure
8. Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova – loved it!

July:

9. The honest truth by Dan Gemeinhart – loved it as much as I loved Some kind of courage by Gemeinhart
10. The tea girl of hummingbird lane by Lisa See – really interesting story
11. The Formative Five by Thomas Hoerr -school work yet interesting
12. The mysterious moonstone by Eric Luper -surprisingly good for a beginning chapter book, plus a shout out to libraries!
13. Everything, everything by Nicola Yoon – Interesting story, a major surprise, and a strong female character
14. Creative Schools by Ken Robinson -school work and I learned a lot
15. Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm – great, emotional story

August:

16. All Rise for the honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Conner -loved it
17. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng – excellent story
18. Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai – wonderful story to help anyone understand the conflict in Syria
19. The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson – quirky mystery with a look at the past
20. Horizon by Scott Westerfield – twisted sci-fi and I’m now reading it to 6th-grade students

20 books in one summer is great even with all the homework I did. Hopefully, you might find something here that will appeal to your own reading tastes.