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Y is for THE MANY MISFORTUNES OF EUGENIA WANG, by Stan Yan (MG Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr29
A column of flames roars upward against a black background with gray images of her family, friends, and dog. In front of the flames, a tween Chinese-American girl wearing glasses clings to a PE climbing rope, looking anxiously upward at book title The Many Misfortunes of Eugenia Wang, graphic novel by Stan Yan.

Only turn 13 once!
Can’t her party be on her birthday?
Bad luck, bad luck!!

Eugenia loves drawing and wants comics camp as her 13th birthday present, but her stereotypical Chinese-American mother says no art, only study hard, play violin, become a doctor or lawyer.

And she can’t even have her party on her actual birthdate because the Cantonese words for ‘four’ sound like death, so April 4th is doubly cursed, according to Mom.

Eugenia and bestie Keisha decide to have a party on 4/4 at her friend’s house (with K’s dads’ permission) for their classmates, including cute Enrique (swoon).

After a concussion in PE class, Eugenia keeps having a terrible nightmare of fire and disaster. Each time it hits her – day and night – the terrible vision’s scope shows her more and more people dying, even her annoying little brother and her dog, then she draws comics of it in her sleep! Is a spirit trying to warn her? A demon?

Yes, she will get to summer art camp, even if she has to use her own money and the nightmare comic as portfolio piece!

As the days before her birthday march on, Eugenia tries to figure out what the nightmare is telling her and how she can save her family and friends and pet from the disaster it foretells!

Don’t miss the debut author/artist’s notes in the back of this red-hot graphic novel!

What was your most memorable birthday party?
**kmm

Book info: The Many Misfortunes of Eugenia Wang / words and art by Stan Yan. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025.[author/artist site https://www.stanyan.me/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Many-Misfortunes-of-Eugenia-Wang/Stan-Yan/9781665943321] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

X is for LEON THE EXTRAORDINARY, by Jamar Nicholas (MG Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr28
A sneaker-clad Black boy wearing green gloves, goggles, cape & utility belt is in mid-air in front of city skyscrapers with 2 different superheroes far behind him in the partly cloudy blue sky, below book title Leon the Extraordinary, by Jamar Nicholas

Superheroes – yay!
Supervillains – boo!
Ordinary people… yawn.

In a town filled with superheroes and supervillains, Leon is just…not-super. Best friend Carlos draws amazing comics, and Carlos’ mom is a super baker, but ordinary Leon can’t even convince his mom to get him a cellphone.

Wearing superhero garb to school can’t give the fifth grader superpowers, but he can feel his common sense tingling when there’s a problem situation.

Uh, oh. Clementine and her hall monitors are charging kids money to get to class safely? And she invites Leon to her superhero birthday party just to make fun of him! Grrr…she’s a problem that Leon can’t solve (yet).

Yikes! This new game Bholder has kids glued to their cellphones, making them act like zombies – real zombies who are ordered to get Leon!

Somehow Leon and Carlos must team up with Clementine to solve this problem before everyone in town with a cellphone is part of the mob.

Which of Leon’s inventions can help them free their classmates?
Who is behind this terrible game app?
Why are some people superheroes and others supervillains?

First in the series, followed by Leon: Worst Friends Forever (book 2) and Leon and the Big, Big Problem (book 3, releasing January 2027).

Who’s your favorite less-known superhero?
**kmm

Book info: Leon the Extraordinary / Jamar Nicholas; color by Bonaia Rosada. Graphix/Scholastic, 2022 [author/artist site https://jamarnicholas.weebly.com/jamar-nicholas.html] [publisher site https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-ecommerce/books/leon-the-extraordinary-1-9781338744156.html] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

W is for WINGING IT as new kid, far from friends, by Megan Wagner Lloyd & Michelle Mee Nutter (MG Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr27
A moving van is behind a Black tween girl laden with satchel, duffel bag, and rolling suitcase. Above her is book title Winging It and a luna moth flying away.

Moving to Virginia?
Leaving all her friends in California?
Oh, Dad….

Luna’s mom died long ago, so the 12 year old only has photos to remember her by and definitely didn’t inherit her love of nature and the outdoors.

Staying with so-strict Grandmother until they find their own place near DC is going to be rough – so many rules! No shoes indoors, don’t touch this, always do this.

At least the neighbors have kids – same-age Oliver who wear hearing aids and younger Sophie who wants to be a detective. One of their moms is Black and one isn’t, like Luna’s dad and mom were.

Grandmother lets her look through Mom’s collection of nature journals, and Luna decides to start her own. Big goal – see a Luna moth in the wild next spring!

Month by month, Luna gets used to having seasons, meeting with the Environmental Club at her new school, gardening with Grandmother.

Seventh grade is a hard time to start over, but Luna makes the best of things in this big-hearted graphic novel.

What’s your favorite part of nature?
**kmm

Book info: Winging It / Megan Wagner Lloyd; illustrated by Michelle Mee Nutter. Graphix / Scholastic, 2025. [author site https://meganwagnerlloyd.com/winging-it/] [illustrator site https://michellemee.com/] [publisher site https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-ecommerce/books/winging-it-9781338818529.html] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

V is for VERN: CUSTODIAN OF THE UNIVERSE, by Tyrell Waiters (YA Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr25
A young Tshirt-clad Black man holding a mop in bucket strides out of a billowing planet-studded cloud into a dark starry sky, toward book title Vern Custodian of the Universe, by Tyrell Waiters.

Mop and bucket,
always on call,
gotta save the multiverse?!

Burned out from fruitless job hunt in California, Vern heads to Florida where his grandmother has a position lined up for him… as janitor at a tech company seeking a new home for humanity before climate change destroys the planet.

The young Black man knows that Granny and his late Grandpa met at Quasar, but he’s not sure that cleaning up space goo filled with eyes or upside down rooms is for him.

Oops! Vern might have unplugged that old clunky computer, so he plugs it back in and is instantly transported to the furthest edge of the multiverse where The Void asks “What is the point?” and sends him back to Quasar to get the answer.

Except it’s not his Quasar and not his universe! He learns that whenever Quasar scientists on any of the Earths think they’ve found a suitable planet, The Void is there to stop them.

Now Vern has to jump through several universes and unplug each identical machine there like the one he accidentally activated on his Earth before the universes collide!

When will The Void summon Vern to answer the question?
How is Quasar really using their space technologies?
Why does Granny keep saying that Grandpa is always watching over Vern?

Every universe that Vern encounters has its own unique art style in this astronomically good graphic novel. Check out the first pages on the publisher’s website, for free: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714042/vern-custodian-of-the-universe-by-tyrell-waiters/

Where would you like to instantaneously travel to in space?
**kmm

Book info: Vern: Custodian of the Universe / Tyrell Waiters. Flying Eye Books, 2025. [author site https://www.tartwurk.com/] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714042/vern-custodian-of-the-universe-by-tyrell-waiters/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Q is for questions THINKING ABOUT THINKING: Impossible Thoughts and Complicated Feelings, by Grant Snider (Poetry book review) #A2Z

Apr20
A person looks out a window at flowering branch and flying bird. On surrounding walls and ceiling are other windows with branch and bird where the same person lies on their stomach reading a book, sits with a cup of coffee while writing, and makes paper airplanes from book pages at night. On the floor is book title Thinking About Thinking: Impossible Thoughts and Complicated Feelings, by Grant Snider.

April is Poetry Month https://poets.org/national-poetry-month-30th-anniversary, and art plus poetry gives us even more to contemplate.

In his latest collection, poet-artist Grant Snider walks around in his own head, as he overthinks, feels, seeks, thinks the impossible, thinks circularly, can’t sleep, dreams, and exists.

Each section includes several poems, each arrayed in comics-style panels on one to two pages.

Within “I think, therefore I feel” section, you’ll find “How To Be a Circle,” then “How To Be a Triangle,” and “How To Be a Square,” followed by “Emotional Tetris” (pg. 35), with illustrations in the style that fits the poem’s title:

“I try to keep my feelings in order
so when a new one comes…
I know how to handle it.
But when so many happen at once…
they stop making sense.”

A thoughtful collection for teens and adults by the author of Poetry Comics for middle grade readers, recommended here: https://booksyalove.com/?p=14435.

Do you write poetry about your feelings?
**kmm

Book info: Thinking About Thinking: Impossible Thoughts and Complicated Feelings / words and art by Grant Snider. Abrams Comic Arts, 2025. [author site https://www.grantsnider.com/] [publisher site https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/thinking-about-thinking_9781419776588/] Personal copy; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

N is NEFARIOUS NIGHTS OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR! by Shaenon K. Garrity & Christopher Baldwin (YA Graphic Novel book review) #A2Z

Apr16
Magnifying glass in hand, a determined young Black woman in gothic dress approaches the body lying in foreground. She's followed by a startled young man juggling a stack of books, a frantically flying chicken, and a big dog with its tongue flapping. Behind them a grim mansion rises into the dark sky, emblazoned with book title - The Nefarious Nights of Willowweep Manor, by Shaenon K. Garrity & Christopher Baldwin.

Thunder! Lightning!
Romance!
Murder?

As protector of a tiny gasket universe, Haley expects her school break away at Willowweep Manor to be broodingly romantic with Montague, as always.

But the Black teen arrives as refugees from another gasket universe in peril pop through a portal – not characters from a gothic romance at all!

New rooms suddenly appear in the Manor, the new dog is goofy, Miss Meadowsweet keeps talking about odd things that happened in her village, and the Colonel is stabbed – they’re from the murder mystery genre!!

No police in the Manor so the Willowweepers must learn the rules of murder mysteries and investigate, not quite trusting any of the newcomers.

Someone goes missing, while others barely escape “accidents” with their lives!

Who is the killer – the capable young lady? The village spinster? The eccentric young man? The butler? Surely not the dog?

Can our plucky heroine reinvent herself in time to save Willowweep Manor once again?

You can enjoy Nefarious Nights without having read The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor (I recommend! https://booksyalove.com/?p=12249), but knowing the origin story makes this madcap adventure even more fun.

Find both Willowweep Manor volumes at your local library https://search.worldcat.org/libraries or independent bookstore https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder.

What book genre would you like to live in?
**kmm

Book info: The Nefarious Nights of Willowweep Manor / Shaenon K. Garrity; illustrated by Christopher Baldwin. Margaret McElderry Books, 2025. [author site https://www.shaenon.com/] [artist site www.BaldwinPage.com ][publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Nefarious-Nights-of-Willowweep-Manor/Shaenon-K-Garrity/Willowweep-Manor/9781665930161] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

M is MAKER GIRL AND PROFESSOR SMARTS must save the city’s ice cream! by Jasmine Florentine (kids graphic novel) #A2Z

Apr15
A tween girl wearing goggles, superhero cape & satchel with logo raises a gadget skyward, next to a tween boy in ballcap and shades consulting a book, with science & math motifs in background, on book cover of Maker Girl and Professor Smarts, book 1, by Jasmine Florentine.

Summertime,
ice cream time!
Ewww… now it’s slime?!

Chuy and Yaya have been besties since preschool – he wants to know everything, and she can build anything.

Too bad the 12 year olds didn’t get superpowers when the recent comet struck Earth, like some people did…

When new supervillain Mr. Anti-Freeze starts turning everyone’s ice cream into slime, it’s time for them to act anyway!

Super-cape for Yaya, super-cool shades for Chuy – now Maker Girl and Professor Smarts!

Can their brainy/inventive powers outwit Mr. Anti-Freeze’s icky superpower?
Can they stop him from unleashing his slime bomb on the city?
Why does he hate ice cream so much?

This first graphic novel in new series includes instructions on making a grappling hook and yummy sorbet, a preview of book 2 (mayhem with younger siblings), and a resource list so you can make and learn stuff, too.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
**kmm

Book info: Maker Girl and Professor Smarts (Book 1) / Jasmine Florentine. MIT Kids Press, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://www.jasmineflorentine.com/books] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786774/maker-girl-and-professor-smarts-by-jasmine-florentine-illustrated-by-jasmine-florentine/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K is for Korobá: THE CASE OF THE MISSING KOLO in her fishing village, by Àlàbá Ònájìn (kids graphic novel) #A2Z

Apr13
Three kids and a puppy race down the wooden dock-walkways of a Nigerian fishing village, following a trail of wet footprints, on the book cover of Korobá: the Case of the Missing Kolo, kids' graphic novel by Àlàbá Ònájìn.

A visitor,
a theft,
a mystery to solve!

Korobá enjoys exploring the waterways and walkways of her Nigerian fishing village with best friends Saldat and Joba – and her dog Popi, of course!

During school holidays, the ten-year-old helps her mother at the fish market (but can’t stand eating fish). Someday her little brother and baby sister will, too.

The harvest festival is soon, and the kids of Makoko will break open their wooden Kolo banks and use their saved coins to buy clothes for the Festival…and treats! Joba will unveil his newest invention then, so don’t even try to sneak a peek now.

Saldat has been too busy noting how much money she’s put in her Kolo to decorate it with paint and beads like her friends do. Her snobbish cousin visiting from city thinks everything here is terrible – such a bad attitude!

Oh, no! Saldat’s Kolo has been stolen! The three friends must think like detectives from their favorite books to find it – fast!

Was it the carpenter working at Saldat’s house?
Could it be snooty cousin Risi?
Can they find the Kolo before Breaking Day?

Run the wooden walkways of Makoko village with Korobá and her friends as they try to solve the mystery, first in a new graphic novel series!

What’s your favorite festival tradition?
**kmm

Book info: Korobá: the Case of the Missing Kolo / Àlàbá Ònájìn. Holiday House, 2026. [author/illustrator site https://www.alabaonajin.com/about] [publisher site https://holidayhouse.com/book/the-case-of-the-missing-kolo/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

F is for FREE PIANO (NOT HAUNTED), by Whitney Gardner (YA Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr7
Book cover shows a teen girl carrying a ukulele case walking from a stormy dark seashore toward a glowing red synthesizer keyboard which has handwritten sign attached "Free Piano (not haunted)" = title of graphic novel by Whitney Gardner

Summertime!
Songwriting time!
Nope, just not clicking…

Throwing weird stuff off a high platform has earned her pals “SonsOfSmash” a good following online, but lonely teen Margot’s original tunes on ukulele? Hardly any.

So she claims the old electronic keyboard left on the curb with sign “Free piano (not haunted)” – to learn to play, not to smash.

But her musician dad leaves for LA instead of teaching her, the guys are busy filming more smashes, and mom is working even more hours in their small coastal town…sigh.

What weird sounds this synthesizer makes! And it totally IS haunted, by 1980s bubble-gum pop star Vision!

Vision says making music is important because of how it makes you feel; Margot claims that only the number of fans and followers counts – who’s right?

Whoa! If Vision isn’t sitting at the unplugged keyboard, who’s playing it now!?

Flashbacks to Vision’s meteoric rise to stardom help her talk to aspiring songwriter Margot about staying true to your own soul’s melodies in this graphic novel, available in hardcover or paperback from your local library https://search.worldcat.org/libraries or independent bookstore https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder.

Would a resident ghost help or hinder your creativity?
**kmm

Book info: Free Piano (Not Haunted) / Whitney Gardner. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://www.heywhitney.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Free-Piano-(Not-Haunted)/Whitney-Gardner/9781665938129] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

D is detective daring to venture into ODDITY WOODS, by Kay Davault (YA Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr4
Teen girl holding a glowing magnifying glass points to her right, followed by a teen boy in glasses grasping an electronic device, with a ghostly dog floating behind them as they run away from a spooky building and red-eyed creature - book cover of Oddity Woods, graphic novel by Kay Davault.

Dad suddenly missing,
town police won’t help…
teen detective has her first case!

“Deep in the woods, a ghost train appears, then steals your soul if you ride it.” (pg. 38) – made-up story to keep kids away from the deep forest or how The Conductor kidnapped her dad?

Three weeks since receiving a strange transmission sent Dad from their remote cabin to the woods, and Marietta knows it’s time to go find him, armed with his magical magnifying glass.

Rebuffed by local police, the 13 year old heads into the woods alone, encountering a ghost dog, a terrified (alive) young man, and a derelict train station – where the ghost train stops!

Can they ride the ghost train and stay alive?
Which beings at the Labyrinth Inn are the real monsters?
Will the creatures of Oddity Woods let Marietta and Wyatt live?

Trying to locate Marietta’s dad and find their way back to the real world, Marietta and Wyatt must solve puzzles, outrun evil, and decide who they can trust in this vibrant graphic novel, first in a planned trilogy.

What’s your favorite paranormal beastie?
**kmm

Book info: Oddity Woods / Kay Davault. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://www.kaydavault.com/about-contact] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Oddity-Woods/Kay-Davault/Oddity-Woods/9781665915830] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.