What I appreciated about this book, as I have daughters and work as a disability advocate in my day job is how Ben naturally includes into the story strong female characters and normalizes the inclusion of folks living with disabilities.

I really enjoyed the build-up of mysteries and the reveal of backstories while the reader learns more about Wyatt and Adeline.

The book has a pretty good pace and fits well within the teen superhero genre. It has heart and Eric did a great job showing the reader what a supportive and competitive sibling relationship looks like.

This is a great children’s book and has a great message for kids, and that is all about following your dreams, and being kind can make you feel good. Amy Baron also found an amazing illustrator for ‘The Gentle Bulldozer’ with Rogerio Coelho. His friendly and accessible style is a perfect companion to Baron’s story.

This was an engaging and visually stunning coming-of-age story about a girl who accidentally crashes her father’s airship in a faraway jungle paradise. She meets new friends and builds her confidence and grows from seeing the flaws of those she looks up to and learns that no one is perfect.

I have been enjoying reading some of the comics that I bought through doing Proxibid. One of them is the old New Universe series ‘Kickers Inc’. Jim Shooter created the line of in celebration of Marvel Comics’ 25th anniversary.

As a reader, I knew I was reading a horror comic, but my logical brain was trying to make sense of what was happening and was hoping that I would get some answers at the end of the story, but frankly, I am glad I did not. It made the story’s horror last longer in my mind.

This anthology compromises seven stories of Direct Support Professionals on their duties of support folks living with disabilities. Green Mountain Support Services sponsored the comic and it was written by Mike Luoma and illustrated by several Vermont cartoonists.

This past week I read ‘Kerry and the Knight of the Forest’ by Andi Watson it was a delightfully thick YA graphic novel that reaches over 260 pages. The story is about a boy named Kerry who gets lost in the woods and a waystone helps him find his way out of the forest.

‘Baba Yaga’s Assistant’ was geared towards the young adult audience, but at the same time had some pretty adult themes of the death of family members, while discussing the importance of finding one’s own life path based on the values and wisdom established by multi-generational households.

One of my favorite things about this is the repartee between characters. It is reminiscent of the 90s in the sense that the original Image Comics superhero teams were built from a similar story premise and the 90s movies were also a great era of witty banter.

I really enjoyed ‘The Return of Thelma the Unicorn.’ It read like a poem and the illustrations were entertaining for kids and fun to look at for adults as there were enough visual jokes and references that gave me a chuckle.

This past week I read ‘Turner Family Stories’ from the Vermont Folklife Center. It is an anthology of stories that follow Daisy Turner retelling the stories of her parents and herself over a 100-year timespan from enslavement in Virginia to freedom in Vermont. This book is over 100 pages and features 5 cartoonists, including our ‘Friend of the Show’ Marek Bennett.

I read with the girls Jim Arnosky’s ‘Every Autumn Comes The Bear’. I have always been an avid fan of Jim Arnosky’s work since he was the first children’s book author I met way back in the early 80’s in elementary school and he is local to my area.

I am a fan of old golden age public domain comics and there are so many people trying to reintroduce old characters to a modern audience, but I feel Scott does it the best.

He can write a good pulpy story while nodding at the original material while updating it for a modern readership.

I read Issue #2 of Samual Vera’s ‘There’s an Alien in My Toilet’. I have been a fan of Sam’s journey into making his loveable and fun alien, Doodie a household name.

Issue #2 continues Doodie’s adventure in learning more about the earth while letting his imagination send him on adventures.

I also like seeing Sam build up the story from the perspective of the antagonists. The reader can get a glimpse of where the metaplot is going to take us.

On the cover, it looks like it fits solidly within a middle-grade audience, but as I read the 200+ page graphic novel, there might be a bit too much blood and violence for a middle-grade reader. This could depend on the maturity of the reader, of course.

Depending on the age of the child, this is a great book for a kid to read or have read with an adult. I introduced this to my 8-year-old as she loves kid's comics, but was a bit overwhelmed by the science aspect as it introduces some math formulas, but she did really love how accessible the craft designs were as it used common household items as ingredients.

I had some fun reading Laurie Calcaterra’s debut comic, ‘Path of the Pale Rider’. Laurie came on the show earlier this year to talk about the story of this post-apocalyptic western comic book and I was immediately excited to read the story.

What I love about this system is that the rules provide enough narrative freedom for the player, while still keeping it within a defined system that would appeal both to seasoned players that like a little ‘crunch’ in their game; whilst making it easy for first-time players to tabletop to enjoy.

This book and his style of books remind me a bit of Eric Carle and Dr. Suess. His illustrations and simple and creative use of words are accessible, much like Carle’s books, but the humorous and entertaining storyline that appeals to both adults and children is reminiscent to me of Dr. Suess.