Tag Archive | grandparents

Lakota teen must escape THUNDEROUS magical world! by Smoker, Peeterse & Deforest (YA Graphic Novel review)

Jun18
On book cover of graphic novel Thunderous, a Native American teen crouches on cliff top amid lightning, ready to spring upward, Behind her is gigantic silhouette of wolf's head with snarling mouth, a flying raven, and dimming sun. By ML Smoker and Natalie Peeterse.

Off the rez,
in the city –
new school! New friends?

Aiyana is happy for a new start in town, even if her grandmother recounts Lakota tales when the teen would rather be on social media.

Her younger cousin Kola loves those traditional tales and makes comics of them; for him, their South Dakota reservation will always be home.

On a field trip to sacred Black Elk Mountain, the popular girls make fun of Kola and dare Aiyana to take a selfie from the high tower as a storm approaches.

A crash of thunder and she falls into a magical place where Raven counsels that only wise Iktomi the Spider can send her home.

Uh-oh, bargaining with that trickster gives Aiyana only 2 days to get to the Badlands or be trapped here forever!

With no GPS, how will she find her way?
Can she trust any of the other animals she meets?
Does she remember enough of Grandmother’s tales to properly greet Iktomi?

This Native-created graphic novel uses color to great effect, with dark purples and blues for the storm (and Raven’s attempts to slow down Aiyana’s journey) and warm clear colors as she meets the animals long-beloved by her people. Includes an area map and Lakota glossary.

What other tricksters in traditional stories do you know?
**kmm

Book info: Thunderous / M.L. Smoker & Natalie Peeterse; art by Dale Deforest; colors by Adriano Augusto, Wendy Broome, Lisa Moore, Omi Remalante Jr. Curiosity Books/ Dynamite Entertainment, 2022. [M.L. Smoker info https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ml-smoker] [Natalie Peeterse site https://nataliepeeterse.com/] {artist site https://daledeforest.squarespace.com/] [publisher site https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?CAT=DF-Thunderous or https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/books/thunderous-9781338877748.html] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

MINNOW, who speaks for the orcas in peril! by Willie Poll & Emily Graceanna Pearson (MG Graphic Novel review)

Jun10
A large orca and a First Nations girl with fish tail swim beneath the nighttime waves, a city silhouetted against hills behind them and graphic novel title Minnow, by Willie Poll & Emily Graceanna Pearson below.

Called to the sea,
concerned about its creatures,
what can she do?

As Minnow walks the Vancouver shoreline, picking up trash on the beach as she always did with her grandmother, the grieving young teen is certain that an orca just offshore is following her. But that can’t be true – orcas stay in deeper safe waters, right?

Mom takes her to the aquarium, where the fish follow Minnow as she walks along their huge tanks and the sea lions flee in the middle of feeding time – very strange.

There she meets Celia, new here from the Great Lakes. When they use the aquarium’s equipment to listen to the captive orca there, Celia hears screeches and clicks, but Minnow hears words!

Their summer times together include days at the beach, where Minnow’s feet turn to flippers in the water and her eyes become as black and deep as an orca’s – what is happening?

Minnow’s mom tells her the ancestral story of this gift handed down by countless generations of grandmothers – the ability to communicate with water creatures and the responsibility to speak for them to the human world.

Gran has been missing for 74 days, last seen at the proposed pipeline site on the shoreline, but investigating the disappearance of indigenous women isn’t a priority for Canadian authorities.

Time to find Gran’s journal and decide how a pair of young women can help the remaining group of orcas, before it’s too late!

This debut graphic novel by First Nations author and illustrator duo celebrates the power of community and connections for change.

Which sea creature would you like to hear speaking to you?
**kmm

Book info: Minnow / Willie Poll; art by Emily Graceanna Pearson. Medicine Wheel Publishing, 2026. [author site https://www.williepoll.com/] [illustrator site https://emilygraceannapearson.ca/about/] [publisher site https://shop.medicinewheelpublishing.com/en-us/products/minnow1] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.

Be sweet, be silly, ALWAYS BE MY BIBI, by Priyanka Taslim (YA book review)

Jun2
A Bangladeshi-American teen girl wearing large earrings, many bracelets and bright neck-scarf holds a glass of tea and winks over her heart-shaped rosy sunglasses in front of a terraced hillside and the book title Always Be My Bibi, by Priyana Taslim.

No phone, no fun, no boys,
bummer summer ahead –
until big sister’s big news!

Bibi the flirty fashionista tries to get around Abbu’s archaic rule about her not dating until older sister Halima is married, but the rising senior got caught going to prom and now is grounded for the summer.

Suddenly, big sis and Sunny announce their plans to marry this summer, in both families’ hometown in Bangladesh, and stay there! Is she giving up her dream of being an environmental lawyer?

Abbu is a famed entrepreneur in their Bangladeshi-American Muslim community in New Jersey, but the undisputed royalty in his hometown is Sunny’s family with their tea garden and resort here. So stiff, so formal, even the groom-to-be’s younger brother…

Despite their differences, Bibi and Sohel agree that their siblings aren’t right for each other and scheme to break them up, before it’s too late.

Oooh, a date with Sunny’s rich friend Akash is thrilling! Of course, they are properly chaperoned at all times, just like Halima and Sunny until their wedding.

Why aren’t Sunny and Sohel as close as Bibi and Halima are?
Why is Bibi beginning to enjoy being around Sohel at the tea gardens that he cares for so much?
Is it too late to stop making the engaged couple unhappy with each other?

When her beloved grandmother reveals a secret from her own university days, Bibi wants to solve the mystery, with Sohel’s help…

Releasing in paperback today! (6/2/26)

Got a favorite family wedding story?
**kmm

Book info: Always Be My Bibi / Priyanka Taslim. Salaam Reads, 2025. [author site https://priyankataslim.com/always-be-my-bibi/ ] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Always-Be-My-Bibi/Priyanka-Taslim/9781665901130] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Her family is like ALL FOUR QUARTERS OF THE MOON, but where is she? by Shirley Marr (MG fiction book review)

May27
In front of a large full moon, a young Chinese girl cups her hands around those of her little sister who holds a paper rabbit. Above them is book title All Four Quarters of the Moon by Shirley Marr. In the foreground below are trees, animals, and a barn, all cut from paper.

New country,
new expectations,
old worries.

It’s good that Ba Ba doesn’t have to work every day of the week as he did in Singapore, but in their new Australian home there are no aunties down the hall for Ma Ma to visit or play mahjongg with Ah Ma.

No cousins to play with, so it’s even harder for 11-year-old Peijing to keep her impulsive little sister Biju in check, as their very traditional family expects.

Speak only English at school, only Chinese at home. Speak up when answering the teacher, never talk back to their parents. Peijing is always worried about doing something wrong.

Thankfully, the sisters can escape to the paper world that they’ve drawn and cut out, where Biju retells the rabbit in the moon story and more.

Ma Ma feels trapped at home with her limited English, Ba Ba gets to do more with the family now, and grandmother Ah Ma has begun forgetting.

How can Peijing help her new schoolfriend Joanna, always hungry?
Why does she have to take Biju wherever she goes, even to a birthday party?
When will Ma Ma ever appreciate her artistic skills?

Peijing feels like her four family members with their varied temperaments are like the four quarters of her favorite mooncakes of the Mid-Autumn Festival, as she tries to work out where she fits in at home and at school.

Another rich and tender story of a family from another country finding their new life in Australia but the author of Glasshouse of Stars , recommended here: https://booksyalove.com/?p=12451.

Where are you in your family’s order of birth?
**kmm

Book info: All Four Quarters of the Moon / Shirley Marr. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, hardcover 2022, paperback 2023. [author site https://www.shirleymarr.net/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/All-Four-Quarters-of-the-Moon/Shirley-Marr/9781534488861] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

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.

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.

S is THE BLOSSOMING SUMMER, safe from war, finding herself, by Anna Rose Johnson (MG fiction book review) #A2Z

Apr22
A dark-haired young teen girl wearing a 1940s short-sleeved plaid dress stands on a windy hillside above a sparkling lake beneath a sunny blue sky with high white clouds as well as military airplanes. She holds a bouquet of flowers tightly against herself with her elbow as she looks left, into the wind.

Separation and reunion.
Travel amid war!
Secrets…big family secrets.

Fleeing the London blitz in 1940, Rosemary’s parents gather up the children from relatives’ homes across England and take them to America, to stay with the grandmother in Wisconsin they’ve never met. After three years apart, the 13 year old wants to be a good big sister, but isn’t sure how.

From rationing and blackout curtains to a gigantic house and gardens straight from her dreams! She’s relieved and happy, until she meets their snooty same-age cousin (not one pimple – how unfair) and is treated like a child by Aunt Ann.

Dad left this beautiful place on purpose, changed his last name – why didn’t he ever tell them that his family was French and Indian?!

Grandmother is determined to win the flower and vegetable show at the county fair – will local boy Jacob lose his gardener’s job if Rosemary and her brothers help out?

As they work in the gardens, Grandmother teaches Rosemary about traditional Objiwe plants and their names in Anishinaabemowin – could her family be transplanted here as easily as the tiny violet plant that she brought from her best friend’s garden in England?

Maybe Dad will help them in the garden and canoe with them on the lake and become happy here by county fair time… during this lovely summer, even as war’s shadows come closer.

By the Native American author of The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry, recommended here: https://booksyalove.com/?p=14384 .

What’s your favorite garden plant?
**kmm

Book info: The Blossoming Summer / Anna Rose Johnson. Holiday House, 2025. [author site https://annarosejohnson.com/the-blossoming-summer/] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/777259/the-blossoming-summer-by-anna-rose-johnson/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

H is THE HOUSE OF FOUND OBJECTS mystery and Matisse in Paris! by Jo Beckett King (MG fiction) #A2Z

Apr9
In front of a Parisian antique shop, a chic French teen girl with black short hair and a red-haired American girl wearing flowered pants and sneakers look at a map on the book cover of middle-grade mystery The House of Found Objects, by Jo Beckett-King.

The beauties of Paris!
A long, long family feud!
Oh, no! Thief on the loose!

Dad and his brother never stopped arguing, so this is the first time that 12-year-old Bea has ever visited her aunt and grandmother in France – a few weeks for the New Jersey tween in the City of Light away from her parents.

The family antique store has been downsized greatly now, packed with merchandise and memories; Mamie is especially proud of a sketch by famous artist Matisse – that suddenly goes missing!

When envelope addressed to “la jeune fille” arrives on her doorstep, Bea enlists the reluctant help of her chic 13-year-old cousin Celine to puzzle it out and get to the location of the next clue.

Five clues to solve in four days to get the Matisse sketch back and save Mamie’s store from being sold!

The girls race to puzzle out scrambled words, codes, and tricky riddles, Bea using her math logic skills and Celine with her cultural savvy, as they crisscross Paris to reach the next clue.

Who made all the clues for this treasure hunt?
Why would they steal from an old lady?
How can Bea ever tell her proud parents that she didn’t make the Mathlete Team at home?

Riddles and puzzles galore in this first book of the Bea Bellerose Mystery series. Look for The Lost Jewels of Room 713 in July 2026!

What’s your favorite kind of secret code?
**kmm

Book info: The House of Found Objects (Bea Bellerose Mystery #1) / Jo Beckett-King. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author site https://www.jobeckettking.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-House-of-Found-Objects/Jo-Beckett-King/A-Bea-Bellerose-Mystery/9781665967174] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Lake, cousins, a treasure map! Is THE FIREFLY SUMMER their last one? by Morgan Matson (MG fiction)

May21
Book cover of The Firefly Summer, by Morgan Matson. On a lake with cabins and woods on either shore, life-vest-wearing tweens float beneath the title words, on standup paddleboard, kayak, canoe, inflatable pizza slice raft. The girl in center has an old map and is pointing the way the group should go next.

Whoa, this is utterly not the summer that Ryanna had meticulously planned while enduring sixth grade in LA and gaining a new (very nice) stepmother. Dad is directing a movie in Europe, and they’ll join him later in summer.

But then grandparents she doesn’t remember (Mom died when Ry was 3) invite her to their old summer camp at a lake in upstate New York, to “get to know where she’s from while she still can” – the anxious 11 year old decides to go, at least for a little while.

Wow, so many trees and family members! Ry has a rocky start with one cousin, meets a kid from across the lake that all the Van Camps are mad at, is supposed to jump into the lake with all her clothes on?

As things calm down, Ry appreciates her grandparents and aunts and uncles sharing their memories of Mom since they all spent summers together at Camp Van Camp. S’mores around the campfire, photos of Mom in her favorite thinking place – why didn’t Dad keep in touch with this side of Ry’s family?

This may be their last summer here since the neighboring property owner claims their land is his – if only they could find the deed agreement that Gramps and his old friend signed…

Mom’s favorite mystery book at age 12 inspired the treasure map that she drew! First clue is a quote by da Vinci that’s carved into the dock railing – the five cousins decide to hunt for the treasure.

The kid Ry met in the woods is the cousins’ former friend Holden, super angry that his dad wants to build ugly glass condos where the camp is and very willing to help hunt for the deed and the treasure!

Days and weeks fly by as the tweens swim, joke, argue, invent outdoor games, puzzle out clues on the map. Are they getting closer to finding that deed or is this their final summer of fireflies and family time together?

What’s your favorite summer-only memory?
**kmm

Book info: Firefly Summer / Morgan Matson. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, hardcover 2023, paperback 2024.[author site https://www.morganmatson.com/the-firefly-summer] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Firefly-Summer/Morgan-Matson/9781534493360] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.