Colleen AF Venable

I zipped through this fun book in one sitting. Katie is disappointed that she can't go to camp with her two best friends and will be stuck in NYC all summer. She decides to try to earn the money to attend the last week of camp, and after a few false starts (killing houseplants, failing to carry groceries up the stairs) she gets a great gig: catsitting for a neighbor's 217 cats. But soon Katie begins to suspect that Madeleine is, in fact, a supervillain known as the Mousetress (in this show more version of New York, there are superheroes and supervillains). It turns out Katie is half right: Madeleine is the Mousetress, but she's not a villain - she wants to save abused and endangered animals. And her 217 cats are each highly trained in a specialty, which comes in handy when the Mousetress is caught and Katie and the cats have to break her out of prison!

Woven alongside the action/adventure plot is the evolution of Katie and Bethany's friendship, as "Beth" begins to change, and Katie changes too. Sequel expected 2022.

See also: Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson, Spiderverse (movie), New Kid by Jerry Craft

Quotes

"This world is overflowing with unqualified people in ill-fitting spandex." (Bethany's mom, 33)

"I'm telling you! The cats are evil." "All cats are a little evil. That's what makes them cats." (Katie and her mom, 79)

"Tell my mother I love....when I get to say 'Told ya so.'" (Katie under a pile of cats, 91) show less

I found myself totally engaged with this family drama despite its fairly slow pace and a possibly triggering amount of transphobia and homophobia. I didn't feel nearly done with these characters by the end, and I'd love to see the last dozen pages expanded to another 300-page graphic novel.

The eponymous hero of this charming meta-fictional picture-book stands motionless as the text "Mervin the Sloth Is About To Do the Best Thing" slowly sinks down the page. His fox friend is eager to see what he will do, and so too are the other animals who show up, one by one. The bird think he will fly, the gazelle that he will "gazelle" (an activity that apparently involves a bit of bouncing), the moles think he will dig. As each argues for his idea, Mervin himself still stands motionless. show more Eventually everyone but the fox gets bored, moving off just as more text begins to sink down the page: "Hug his Best Friend..."

An entertaining tale with a sweet pay-off at the end, Mervin the Sloth Is About To Do the Best Thing In the World involves quite a bit of innovative character-typography interaction, not just in the relationship between Mervin's slow-moving action, and the aforementioned sinking text, but also in the way that various characters bump into or override the central text in their hurry and/or excitement. This interaction is really quite clever, as it parallels the interaction of the animals with Mervin, their quick speech and actions seeming to overwhelm his slow-moving mode of being, only for our sloth hero to get there in the end, going at his own pace. The artwork by Ruth Chan, whose recent Where's the Party was a charming debut, really adds to the sense of fun, while capably balancing the textual/artistic back and forth of the book. Highly recommended to anyone looking for humorous picture-book with a meta-fictional twist! show less

Kiss Number 8 is a beautifully drawn graphic novel about one girl’s journey to discovering she’s not straight through her grandfather's story -- all while being in a conservative family and environment (a Catholic school with close-minded, homophobic, and transphobic people). However -- and I’ll get into this in more detail -- it doesn’t seem like a story written for lgbt people at all, even though that’s what it’s about. It’s one of those tricky issues where if you’re show more writing about [blank], are you writing it for that audience, or are you writing it for everyone else to read about them, basically alienating your subject matter?

Content warnings:
- transphobia
- homophobia
- homophobic slurs
- domestic abuse
- misgendering
- sexual coercion

Representation:
- Amanda, the MC, is bisexual (though, of course, the word is never actually said)
- lots of secondary characters are lgbt
- Cat, one of the main characters, isn’t white
- there are also many secondary characters who are poc

So far, Amanda Orham has had seven not-so-great kisses. But nothing compares to the awfulness that is Kiss Number Eight, which sends her world into chaos. Amanda goes to a private Catholic school and grew up in a conservative household, so when her eight kiss is with a girl, everyone she loves -- including herself -- is beyond shocked. Kiss Number Eight is a book about exploring sexuality, about friendship -- when it works, when it doesn't, when you might need to find new friends who support you -- and mostly about family.

Okay, while I’m in love with the art style (WOW is it ever beautiful and expressive!), I can’t say the same for the story. The concept itself of a girl with a Catholic upbringing following a mystery letter to discover her grandfather was trans, and then discovering that she herself isn't straight? Is fantastic, and sounds like an amazing story. And don’t get me wrong, every moment spent with Amanda and her family is masterfully told and the highlight of the graphic novel no question. Another thing the novel does well is showing how hatred and intolerance is learned. There’s a flashback scene that almost made me cry because it’s just so well done.

But then there’s also that question: who is this written for? Because in the end, there was a lot that made me feel more awful about being who I am than made me feel hopeful (which is the book’s purpose, according to the summary). In over three-fourths of the novel, Amanda, her family, and friends use slurs and talk about how disgusting lgbt people are. They do grow (some of them), but having Amanda shout “Ew! Ew! Eww!” while laughing in response to her friend scornfully wondering if Amanda’s grandfather had surgery (in regards to transitioning) is excruciating. The characters also misgender the trans man for about half the novel, and they call him “sick”, etc. It becomes incredibly difficult to read, at least for me, who experienced abuse at the hand of my family, and some because of my identity. It’s very explicit here, and it’s why I’m wondering who exactly this graphic novel was written for.

Me, for one … I don’t want to read this. If I wanted to read about lgbt folk being abused and misgendered, I could just take a walk outside or call the family I’ve cut off. It feels like this story was meant for people who are not lgbt, to look in on what we’ve experienced, and be like “oh”. Which … isn’t necessarily a bad thing? But it alienates lgbt readers … when the book is about lgbt people. I guess it’s just knowing who you’re writing for. And maybe I’m missing the point, and this was the author’s intent all along.

In which case, the book just wasn’t for me! show less