Guts

Bought at the Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Guts
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2019
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: Jesse Post
Editor: Cassandra Pelham Fulton

This is the third of Raina Telgemeier autobiographical series. Raina starts a difficult year in the fifth grade with what at first seems like a bad stomach flu. But a series of recurring stomach problems and anxiety attacks make an already stressful school year terrifying. As the year goes on, Raina learns some ways to face her fears and discovers that she isn't as alone as she thought she was.

Raina Telgemeier's brilliance is her ability to surprise the reader without going to extremes. Her stories are grounded in real interactions but still loaded with plot twists and turns.

This story covers issues around mental health and chronic illness in ways that will resonate with readers, and it manages that with humor and heart.

Rating: 9/10

Amulet Book Eight: Supernova

I bought this for the Kiddo at Boocup in the Kerry Place Mall in the Jingan Temple neighborhood of Shanghai, China.

Title: Amulet Book Eight: Supernova
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2018
Writer: Kazu Kibuishi
Artist: Kazu Kibuishi
Editor: Cassandra Pelham Fulton

Something of a transitional chapter in the story, this volume focuses on Emily's struggle to regain control over her powers and her identity. It also serves to wrap up several plot details, and expands on the worldbuilding, extending the story into outer space and to other planets.

Emily's internal struggle is central to the ongoing plot, and there are a couple of surprising revelations. But what really stands out in this volume are the interactions between Aly and Navin, who are on a mission to a planet where they make some new friends, but end up having to make a harrowing escape down a narrow mountain path on bikes. Aly and Navin are great in this story, and it's good to see them get some of the spotlight even as Emily is coming into her own as a stonekeeper.

Rating: 8.5/10

Ghosts

The last graphic novel from the four-book boxed set we bought at the Eslite main store in Taipei, Taiwan.

Title: Ghosts
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2016
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: Jenny Staley
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Of the four Raina Telgemeier graphic novels in the boxed set we got, this was the only one that involved supernatural elements. Catrina's family has moved from southern California to the foggy northern coastal town of Bahia de la Luna, where they hope the air quality will be better for Catrina's sister Maya, who has cystic fibrosis.

They soon meet a boy who runs the local ghost tour, followed by an encounter with real ghosts. Fearing for her sister's safety, Catrina tries to shut the supernatural nature of the town out of her life any way she can, but as Dia de los Muertos approaches, Catrina must find understanding with both the visiting spirits and her sister.

There are some moments of atmospheric creepiness to this story, but the ghosts are portrayed primarily as joyful beings, and their joy permeates the story, bringing light to the worries that Catrina has about her sister's future and her own place in their new home.

This had the strongest  plot of the four Telgemeier books, and her interpretation of the ghosts themselves was clever and fun. There were great touches of humor, beautiful landscapes, and some powerful emotional scenes.

Rating: 9/10

Sisters

The third book in a four-book boxed set we bought at the Eslite main store in Taipei, Taiwan.

Title: Sisters
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2014
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: John Green
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Raina Telgemeier returns to autobiographical material with this story of her relationship with her younger sister. She embarks on a road trip with her mom and her younger brother and sister: a week of driving and camping from San Francisco to Colorado, then a week of family reunion with cousins, followed by another week of driving and camping on the way home.

All of this takes place during the timeframe around the end of the companion book, Smile (my review is here), but the two books stand alone nicely, and there is not much overlap aside from the characters themselves.

Interspersed with the road trip adventures and family drama are flashbacks that reveal the sometimes contentious relationship between the Raina and her sister Amara over the years. There is also a fair amount of other family drama, lots of terrible luck with pets, some 80s and 90s nostalgia, and plenty of humor.

The story encapsulates a lot of Raina's frustrations as a teenager, and does a nice job of showing how the road trip brings conflicts to a boil, but also brings a bit of understanding. I thought that Smile had a tighter narrative, but this book provided a lot of good backstory.

Rating: 7/10

Drama

The second book in a boxed set we bought at the Eslite main store in Taipei, Taiwan.

Title: Drama
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2012
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Gurihiru
Letterer: John Green
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

The story follows the planning and staging of a middle school's musical production through the eyes of Callie, who is in charge of set design on the stage crew. Callie finds herself in the midst of a bunch of romantic issues and relationship dramas even as she works to overcome the obstacles that the production is encountering along the way.

She also makes new friends, learns a lot about the friends she has, and shares her love for musical theater with everyone.

And this book shares the author's love for musical theater with the audience beautifully. There is also plenty of detail on how things work backstage at a school theater production. Much as I learned a lot about dentistry reading Smile (see the previous review), I felt like I learned quite a bit about the workings of the stage crew reading this.

The characters were entertaining, and the representation of gay characters in the story was great. The romantic elements felt realistic, and there was plenty of humor.

Rating: 8/10

Smile

We bought a boxed set of Raina Telgemeier's graphic novels at the Eslite main store, Taipei's famous 24-hour bookstore. This book was required summer reading for the Kiddo, and I read it with him.

Title: Smile
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2010
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Stephanie Yue
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Sixth grader Raina is worried about getting braces, but the situation gets a lot worse when she breaks two teeth in an accident. The story, a memoir of the author's childhood in late 80s/early 90s San Francisco, takes place over the following four years of dental procedures interspersed with middle and high school social drama.

This was a charming story with a very sympathetic main character, tons of insightful details, and a sprinkling of history and nostalgia. Raina is easy to cheer for, and her experiences felt very real.

I also learned quite a bit about dentistry through this, and it resonated with my own orthodontic adventures as a teenager, which like Raina's were of above-average complexity (hers were certainly more extreme than mine, though!).

This is a story that leaves a good feeling but has enough depth to get you thinking a bit.

Rating: 8.5/10

Amulet Book Seven: Firelight

The latest in this series that the Kiddo has been borrowing from a friend at school.

Title: Amulet Book Seven: Firelight
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2016
Writer: Kazu Kibuishi
Artist: Kazu Kibuishi
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Emily and Trellis receive some unexpected help as they attempt to recover Trellis' lost memories at the mysterious Algos Island.

But when their journey into memory takes an unexpected turn, it is Emily's darkest moments that must be confronted.

This installment featured some real nastiness on the part of the villain and some serious peril for the heroes. It packed a lot of emotional punch, while still managing to reveal quite a bit of worldbuilding and backstory. The story moves more solidly into science fiction territory in this volume, but the transition is handled smoothly and the world retains the sense of wonder that makes it so appealing.

The ending was pretty jarring and enough to leave the reader seriously wondering about how the heroes are going to come back from this, while still leaving on just a little bit of hope.

Rating: 9/10

Amulet Book Six: Escape From Lucien

Kiddo continues to make his way through this series. He borrowed this installment from a friend at school.

Title: Amulet Book Six: Escape From Lucien
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2014
Writer: Kazu Kibuishi
Artist: Kazu Kibuishi
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Navin leads a mission to activate a signal beacon in the abandoned city of Lucien, while Max forces Emily into a confrontation with the Voice of the amulets.

I loved the focus on Navin in this volume as he must lead his team to try to survive the deadly landscape the Lucien has become.

This volume also brings back some old friends and introduces a great new character. There are a lot of bleak moments, and a couple of truly heroic ones, but there are well-timed bits of humor as well. I love the running joke about how Navin and his friends keep ending up with worse and worse mecha to pilot.

Rating: 8/10

Amulet Book Five: Prince of the Elves

Another volume of Amulet that the Kiddo borrowed from a friend at school. We're making fast progress on this series!

Title: Amulet Book Five: Prince of the Elves
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2012
Writer: Kazu Kibuishi
Artist: Kazu Kibuishi
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

This is the fifth book in Kazu Kibuishi's epic fastasy series. My previous reviews: Book One: The Stonekeeper, Book Two: The Stonekeeper's Curse, Book Three: The Cloud Searchers. Book Four: The Last Council.

I've mentioned before that Amulet gets a lot of influence from classic sources like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Well, this issue goes all Pacific Rim (well, the influence is probably more from earlier mecha anime really), as Navin becomes the equivalent of a Jaeger pilot.

Meanwhile, we get an excellent origin flashback for Max, who gets a lot more depth. He also gets to show off his new power, including his alliance with a massive demonic beast that he uses to attack the weakened forces of the Guardian Council.

The character referenced in the title, elven prince Trellis, also has a lot of growth in this book, as his role in the story starts to become more clear.

This was an intense installment in the series, filled with key revelations and some major confrontations. Emily continues to grow and mature, and the villains just keep looking scarier and more powerful.

There's some great action here, most of which sets the stage for even bigger battles to come.

Rating: 8.5/10

Amulet Book Four: The Last Council

Kiddo borrowed this one from a friend because he couldn't wait for the library to get it back in stock.

Title: Amulet Book Four: The Last Council
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2011
Writer: Kazu Kibuishi
Artist: Kazu Kibuishi
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

If you're interested, here are my reviews of the previous books in this series: Book One: The Stonekeeper, Book Two: The Stonekeeper's Curse, Book Three: The Cloud Searchers.

The fourth installment of Kazu Kibuishi's fantasy epic has Emily and her crew arriving at the hidden city of Cielis, where Emily is to participate in a series of tests which will determine whether she is worthy of a place on the Guardian Council.

But there is much that is strange and unsettling about Cielis, and Emily soon begins to suspect that all is not as it appears.

This book has some of the most spectacular artwork so far in the series. There is also some nice development of supporting characters, plus a ton of worldbuilding as Emily begins to learn more about the stones and the Guardian Council.

The pacing of the plot felt very rushed in this book, which had a plot that really could have been expanded to be several times the length it was allowed here. New characters are introduced and then barely have time for the reader to get to know them. Major conflicts and a big shift in the balance of power of the world are hurriedly thrown into place. The overall plot of Amulet is fast-moving enough in the previous books. This one felt like it was pushing things a bit too hard.

That being said, the sense of urgency brought about by the pacing did serve to ratchet up the tension, and by the end, Emily has an important new friend, a major new enemy, and plenty of potential for new directions for the story to take.

Rating: 7/10

Amulet Book Three: The Cloud Searchers

From the school library.

Title: Amulet Book Three: The Cloud Searchers
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2010
Writer: Kazu Kibuishi
Artist: Kazu Kibuishi
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

My review of Book One is here, and my review of Book Two is here.

The ancient city of Cielis was incinerated by the elf army, leaving only a smoldering crater. Or was it? Stories persist that the city, home of the Council of Stonekeepers that formerly ruled the world of Alledia, now floats in the air, hidden withing a vast unending storm.

That's where Emily and Navin and the rest of their crew are headed, along with some surprising new allies to accompany them, and a deadly assassin in pursuit.

The elf prince Trellis and his soldier Luger are the surprising stars of this volume as they get a ton of interesting character development along with new roles in the story. The supporting cast expands quite a bit, with a new villain, some new companions for the group, and a bunch of additional new characters introduced in the final scenes.

This issue had some of the most interesting character development of the series, and it also featured some spectacular visuals as Emily and Navin travel by airship searching for Cielis.

Rating: 8.5/10