Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha are best friends, muddling through high school together. In the previous volume, the four girls worked together to get their high school to carry free menstrual products in the girls’ bathrooms. Now, Abby is determined to go further: to convince the school to carry the products in all bathrooms so that trans and nonbinary students can access them. Meanwhile, Sasha is so wrapped up in her boyfriend that her grades are slipping, which hurts her self-esteem. Brit is dealing with endometriosis and with two boys vying for her attention. And Christine is still not ready to come out to everyone—or to admit she has a massive crush on Abby.
Educating readers about menstrual issues is part of the authors’ goal, so it’s perhaps not surprising that this volume, like the first one, can be a little didactic. At the beginning, Brit explains endometriosis to her friends, accompanied by cartoon diagrams of a uterus. After that, though, Look on the Bright Side focuses mostly on crushes. Christine is scared to confess her feelings to Abby; Abby isn’t sure about her own orientation; and Brit finds herself reenacting Pride and Prejudice with two boys in her class. (Despite being a huge fan of the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries, Brit never comments on how closely her love life parallels that story: she is torn between a grumpy-but-noble boy named Fitz and a charming scoundrel named Jorge.)
All the protagonists are imperfect but good-hearted and easy to root for. They make mistakes and struggle with misunderstandings and fears, but they overcome these challenges with help from each other and from their families. While the girls’ friendship is central to the book, we also get at least a glimpse of each girl’s family, all of whom seem loving and supportive. Their school environment, too, seems positive. The high school has a new principal since the events of the last book and there is an active LGBTQ+ club.
The art is colorful, with a simplified cartoon style. The characters are all distinct, in part because they include a variety of races and body types. The backgrounds include enough detail to set the scenes, which are generally at school, outside, or at the girls’ homes. The focus, though, is on the characters. Despite the simplicity of their designs, they are expressive—important in a book with so many emotional plotlines. Their feelings are often underscored by scribbles or smudgy textures in the backgrounds of the panels, especially when the characters are stressed.
There are lots of crushes in this book, but no nudity or sexual content beyond a couple of quick kisses. There is one discussion in which the girls joke about wishing for bigger or smaller boobs. Characters discuss attraction, but not in terms more explicit than, “I think she’s cute.”
Despite being set in high school, this book fits nicely among the many popular graphic novels depicting the trials of middle school life. That’s a good thing, because middle school readers may benefit most from clear discussion of menstrual issues. And while this book does drop a fair amount of information on endometriosis, it centers on friendships, romance, helping others, and figuring out life. The heroines are relatable and kind. This volume can stand alone, but reading Go with the Flow first will provide some context (and a lot more menstrual information). Hand both books to fans of authors like Raina Telgemeier, Megan Wagner Lloyd, and Kayla Miller.
Look on the Bright Side By Lily Williams Art by Karen Schneeman Macmillan First Second, 2023 ISBN: 9781250834119
Publisher Age Rating: 10-14 NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13)
Character Representation: African-American, Lesbian, Queer
Author Chesca Hause created the Litterbox Comics webcomic to share her family’s funniest struggles and stories. Because she never liked drawing humans, she portrays herself, her husband, and their two sons as anthropomorphic cats. Fran and Joel are a pair of frazzled but highly adaptable cat parents. Their kittens are Vincent, a six-year-old with major attitude, and Cooper, an adorable three-year-old who often causes trouble by accident.
In this volume, Fran and Joel muddle and flail through—and sometimes triumph over—sibling squabbles, mealtime mishaps, their kids embarrassing them in front of other adults, and more. They tackle it all with humor and manage to find time for each other and for their own interests, like video games. In addition to the relatable parenting challenges, the comics sometimes include nods to the fact that this is a family of cats and their friends are all other anthropomorphic animals. For example, the whole family goes into berserk hunter mode when a fly buzzes through the room, and Fran accidentally yells about the song “Baby Shark” in front of a family of actual sharks.
In this new format, the author includes a new feature: each section of the book begins with two pages that can be flipped back and forth to create the illusion of motion, showing small scenes like Joel tossing Cooper in the air, or the kittens jumping on a bed. Readers of the webcomic will note that the book does not include the bonus panels that often accompany the pages in the online version. However, there is some fun bonus content, like stickers, character bios, notes about the real-life incidents that inspired some of the comics, and a “photo album” of comics at the end.
The art is colorful and features lots of fun visual humor, like the dad jokes on Joel’s t-shirts. Besides the central cat family, the characters include animals from birds to bulls to hyenas, all roughly the same size and all wearing clothes in a variety of styles. They are highly expressive, emoting with not just their faces but tails and other animal-specific features (for example, a chameleon changes color when smelling something gross).
The art also grounds this comic in the current time: readers will notice lots of franchise-specific toys and accessories, including Pokémon, Star Wars, Minecraft, Marvel, and more, as well as Starbucks cups, Capri Sun drink pouches, and Goldfish crackers. Some objects mimic identifiable brands, but with a humorous twist, like chips that come in what is clearly a Doritos bag but are labeled Spicy Triangles.
These comics will probably be most relatable—and most amusing—to parents and other adults who spend a lot of time with children. They are much more parent-focused than some other family-centered comics, and they include the very occasional swear word as well as several humorous instances of the word “penis” (no actual penises appear in the comic). Parents, teachers, and other kid-adjacent adults will likely be familiar with some of the scenarios in this volume, and will laugh at how those scenarios play out for Fran and her family.
Parenting is Weird: Tails from the Litterbox By Chesca Hause Andrews McMeel, 2023 ISBN: 9781524879358
The bold cartooning knight is back, and she’s ready for her biggest adventure yet! She wants to travel to new and fantastic worlds—but first, she’ll have to draw them. Her horse, Edward, is no help at all; he can’t seem to draw anything but food. When the knight gets frustrated and yells at him, Edward leaves. Well, she doesn’t need him, anyway! She’ll draw her own fabulous worlds! She just has to figure out how.
Luckily, the Magical Cartooning Elf is here to help. He shows the knight some tricks for drawing worlds, like how to use a horizon line and how to show distance and scale by overlapping objects. When the Elf leaves to help other budding cartoonists, the knight starts drawing world after world: islands, cities, alien planets, and more. But each one is missing the one thing she really wants: Edward. How can she get him back?
Readers of the Adventures in Cartooning series will enjoy learning about world-building with the impetuous knight and the Magical Cartooning Elf. The Elf explains some helpful basic techniques for drawing settings, while the knight demonstrates brainstorming methods to help fill out those settings. For example: “I started jotting down all the things that make a city a city… I had to look at pictures to remind myself of everything!”
Then, of course, there’s the story. (After all, this is Adventures in Cartooning, not Instructions in Cartooning.) The tips and tricks all fit into the tale of an impatient knight realizing that even the wildest adventures aren’t much fun without her best friend.
The characters are drawn using simple shapes, and the worlds start that way, too. Beginning cartoonists may share the knight’s frustration at having to practice and learn to draw more complex elements, and will be encouraged by the book’s assurance that even simple shapes can create complex worlds—and if you start with the basics, your skills will grow as you go. Readers can enjoy this book on its own or along with others in the series, some of which cover other elements of cartooning, like drawing characters, speech bubbles, and more.
Adventures in Cartooning, Vol. 3: Create a World By James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, Alexis Frederick-Frost Macmillan First Second, 2023 ISBN: 9781250839411
Publisher Age Rating: 6-10
NFNT Age Recommendation: Easy Readers (5-9), Middle Grade (7-11)
Cade is a shy, horror-movie-obsessed teen living in rural Texas. Surrounded by homophobia, he figures he’ll never be able to come out as gay, let alone find a boyfriend. Anyway, he has other things to worry about. His family is low on money, so his parents insist that Cade get a summer job at a ranch, which pays better than the more comfortable indoor jobs he would prefer. It’s hard labor, but on the plus side he gets to work with Henry, the teenaged son of the ranch owner. Henry is attractive, mysterious, and possibly interested in Cade. But there are rumors swirling around the ranch. People have died. In fact, the whole situation reminds Cade of a horror movie. Will he be the next victim?
This is a retelling of Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey, in which a young woman allows her love of Gothic novels to color her perception of the real world. Like the heroine of that novel, Cade sees and hears a few strange things and lets his imagination fill in the gaps with terrifying theories. Changing the Gothic novels to horror movies and the setting to a lonely ranch in modern-day Texas makes for a creative update. Cade’s unease and sense of being in danger are supported by encounters with racist and homophobic locals—a situation based on the author’s own experience growing up queer, closeted, and Latine in rural Texas.
Cade comes from a class background that is underrepresented in teen fiction: his blended, multiracial family is struggling financially, living in a rural area where military service and religion play a large part in many people’s lives. This adds to Cade’s isolation, as there is a lot of homophobia in the local culture. Even his generally well-meaning stepdad casually uses homophobic language. Henry, too, has struggled to reconcile his identity with his church’s condemnation of queer people.
A content note at the beginning advises that the book contains “moments of homophobia, misogyny, racism, domestic violence, animal cruelty, and confronting death.” There is a character whose past includes becoming suicidal and spending time in a mental health facility, and another character uses stigmatizing language about it. And although he is seeing a therapist and working on his anger issues, Henry can be violent, which is an alarming quality in a love interest. There are also a handful of swear words, up to and including the f-bomb. Despite all that, though, this story is not grim throughout. It is, after all, a romance, with plenty of sweet moments and—eventually—a hopeful ending.
The art is cute and expressive, with a simplified realistic style reminiscent of Faith Erin Hicks. The book is two-color, with shades of red and pink punctuated by bold black and lots of deep shadows, especially in the creepy parts. Horror movie fans may notice a few classic film posters in some of the panels.
This is a creative retelling that stands alone. Sometimes sweet and sometimes gripping, it addresses tough topics but also brings humor and smooches. Hand it to fans of Kevin Panetta’s Bloom and Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper.
Northranger By Rey Terciero Art by Bre Indigo Harper Collins Harper Alley, 2023 ISBN: 9780063007383
Publisher Age Rating: 13+ NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Hiromi Sakura is a burned-out office worker. He once dreamed of heroically helping people, but now works long, unappreciated hours for a toxic boss. He does have one friend at work, Saotome, but otherwise, Sakura’s life is pretty bleak. Then, on his way home from work one day, he sees a child being attacked by a bizarre and frightening creature. Sakura pulls off his tie and rushes to the rescue, but he’s no match for the monster—until he unexpectedly transforms into a magical girl, complete with super-strength, incredible reflexes, and fast healing. After winning the fight, Sakura changes back to his usual self, full of confusion. Aren’t magical girls the stuff of fiction? And even in fiction, isn’t it usually girls who transform into them? Why is this happening to Sakura? And what was that monster?
When Sakura’s work friend Saotome discovers his secret, he enthusiastically volunteers to help. Saotome pushes Sakura to learn more about his abilities, and also assists Sakura using his incredible wealth and influence (for Saotome, a citywide security announcement or a helicopter ride is just a phone call away). Which is good, because more monsters are turning up, and the entity responsible for them is interested in the city’s new magical girl. Sakura is going to need all the help he can get.
This manga offers an oddball spin on the magical girl trope. Most magical girl stories center on teenage girls who, when not transformed, usually attend school and live with their parents. This one follows a tired, insecure adult who lives alone and spends his days at the office. Indeed, a lot of this volume is devoted to Sakura’s work life, especially after he is assigned to mentor a new employee. Sakura is kind and welcoming, even shielding the new recruit from the ire of their abusive boss. This plotline later intersects with Sakura’s magical girl adventures, but the workplace scenes show that Sakura can be heroic in quieter, more ordinary ways.
Neither monsters nor magical girls seem to be part of the generally-accepted reality of Sakura’s world, as people are shocked and confused to see either one. However, Sakura is certainly aware of the concepts and tropes: during his first battle, he complains, “So I’ve got the costume but no weapon? Not even a helpful little mascot thing?”
Like most magical girl stories, this manga contains violence, mostly in the form of supernatural battles. The monsters Sakura faces were once human, and their transformations can be quite creepy. Sakura’s everyday, non-monster-fighting life is also decidedly more adult than that of most magical girls: he works for a jerk who mocks the notions of safe spaces and work-life balance and claims that accusations of abuse are just employees being “wimps.” There is also a little swearing and one reference to porn magazines, though no actual nudity or sexual behavior.
The art is active, with dynamic character poses even in the scenes that are set at Sakura’s corporate job. The page layouts vary, adding visual interest. Sakura’s magical girl form and the monsters he fights match the rest of the art in terms of style, but they stand out for being bizarre and different in the otherwise ordinary city setting.
The magical girl genre has inspired many spinoffs, including grim ones like the Puella Magi series and Magical Girl Raising Project. This is a more comedic take, though not without some serious elements. Its corporate-office drama and zany after-hours hijinks might appeal to fans of Aggretsuko, though obviously Magical Girl Incident has more combat and fewer cute animals.
Magical Girl Incident, Vol. 1 By Zero Akabane Yen Press, 2023 ISBN: 9781975360368
Publisher Age Rating: Older Teen NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Best friends Grace and Lola talk about everything together—and lately, they’re talking a lot about love. Relationships and boys are a mystery to both girls, but they are curious,. They decide to launch a project together to find out more: the Love Report.
In a shared notebook, they record everything they learn as they interview people who might have a useful angle on love: the school gossip, a couple who just started dating, two female friends who are feuding over a boy, the pretty girl who all the boys like, and the tough girl with a bad reputation. Lola even gets up the nerve to talk to the boy she likes! But heartache is coming for both girls. Will their friendship get them through? And will they ever understand love?
This story features close friendships, school drama, and family issues. Grace is a little jaded and skeptical, with a string of short relationships behind her, while Lola is less experienced and more hopeful about romance. The rest of the cast—mostly their classmates, with occasional appearances by their family members—brings other backgrounds and personalities to the mix. The story is set mostly at school and at various character’s homes, with a few forays into other parts of the unnamed city where it takes place.
In all the talk about love and relationships, the story acknowledges, but does not thus far actually show, the existence of LGBTQ+ people. For instance, Grace suggests that the boy who keeps dodging Lola’s attention might already have a girlfriend, or “maybe a boyfriend.” Characters take it in stride when the possibility of same-sex dating is mentioned, but we don’t actually see any of it happen.
This book collects the first two volumes of The Love Report, which were originally published in French as Coeur Collège (BeKa is a two-person writing team based in France). The illustrator is Italian. There are a few traces of the original French, including characters whose names have changed: for example, whenever Lola’s name appears in the illustrations, and at least once in a speech bubble, she is called Linon. There are also a couple of places with possible missing words or other small editing slips, but nothing big enough to cause confusion.
The illustrations are rich with detail. The delicate line art and varied but low-intensity color palette give a sense of cozy softness that is underscored by a lot of the visuals: fluffy hair, puffy or slouchy jackets and sweaters, rumpled beds, even poofy autumn trees. The style is realistic, but with clear manga influences. The characters are lively and expressive.
While the book has zero nudity and doesn’t show anything more sexual than a few kisses, there is discussion of one girl having a reputation for being “easy.” The words “bimbo,” “slut,” and “bitch” appear once or twice each, though the latter two are used by unpleasant characters and clearly not meant to be viewed as acceptable. There are some tough family situations, including parents who fight and a verbally abusive stepmother. There is also one scene of mild danger when a man chases and threatens our protagonists before being scared away.
With sympathetic characters exploring a topic of near-universal interest, plus a cozy and colorful art style, this book will appeal to fans of realistic fiction and school stories. Hand it to older readers of Raina Telgemeier, Victoria Jamieson, and Shannon Hale’s graphic novels, especially if they are open to an art style with more of a manga feel.
The Love Report Vol. 1 By BeKa Art by Maya Hippo Park (an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers), 2023 ISBN: 9781662640407
Publisher Age Rating: 10 and up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: French, Italian Character Representation: Assumed Black
Syv is the youngest of seven snowcat princes and the most popular with the people of the realm. Since the people’s support determines the next king, his older brothers are worried. So they decide to send Syv on a quest: find the magical crown of the legendary snowcat Eldking that allows its wearer to defeat the wicked sandfoxes, who have used magic to warp and twist the natural world. Many snowcat princes have sought the crown, but none have returned. Still, armed with a map that his brothers claim shows the way to the crown, Syv is willing to try.
For all his bravery and good intentions, Syv is sheltered and inexperienced. Luckily, he soon stumbles upon a well-traveled companion: a rough-around-the-edges girl named Kit. As they follow the map, Syv discovers how badly the world has been corrupted by the foxes’ magic, which causes everything from extreme seasons to twisted wildlife. If he can just get the crown, he can fix it all.
Then Syv learns the devastating truth about Eldking. He can’t trust the legend, the map his brothers gave him, or maybe even his new friend Kit, who has been hiding a big secret. Can Syv still find a way to save the world?
Syv and Kit are both well-intentioned, but both naïve in their own ways. At first, Syv finds Kit obnoxiously uncouth and Kit finds him laughably ignorant of the world. But as they face warped wild animals and treacherous shape-shifters, the two grow to trust and value each other. Being the protagonist, Syv undergoes more personal growth and encounters more challenges, including deciding how to react when Kit’s secret comes to light. The young snowcat is devastated, but his good heart leads him to do the right thing when it matters most.
The setting draws inspiration from the author’s native Norway. The three lands Syv and Kit visit are depicted in a map at the back of the book. In the north, the snowcats lounge in their Halls of Gold; in the south, the sandfoxes have their Temple of Thorns. Humans occupy the middle, though they also make up most of the population of the north, supporting the snowcat princes with offerings. Both snowcats and sandfoxes have innate magical abilities, which are connected to aura, the magic of the land. Notes at the end of the book elaborate on this, as well as on the life cycles of snowcats and sandfoxes.
The art is vivid and appealing. The bright, saturated colors and Syv’s plush, cuddly character design could be at home on a Lisa Frank binder, while the sneering foxes and the sickly sludge of corrupted magic add an edge. In the book’s opening, when Syv’s father tells him the legend of the Eldking, the art supports the mythic tone with dramatic two-page spreads, larger than life characters, and geometric page borders framing the action. The style changes slightly once the main story begins, dropping the borders and splitting the pages into a variety of dynamic panel configurations for a more immediate, active feel. The bonus material at the end includes character sketches and alternate covers.
There is some danger and creepiness in this book: Syv uses his snowcat magic to fight, an aura-corrupted bear threatens a village and is shot by archers, and some sandfoxes menace Syv and Kit. These scenes are over fairly quickly, though, and there is no gory violence.
This lavishly-illustrated story has action, creative worldbuilding, and lots of heart. Hand it to fans of the Warriors series and other animal-centric fantasy.
The Snowcat Prince By Dina Norlund Oni Press Lion Forge, 2023 ISBN: 9781637151983
Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha are best friends, muddling through high school together. In the previous volume, the four girls worked together to get their high school to carry free menstrual products in the girls’ bathrooms. Now, Abby is determined to go further: to convince the school to carry the products in all bathrooms so that trans and nonbinary students can access them. Meanwhile, Sasha is so wrapped up in her boyfriend that her grades are slipping, which hurts her self-esteem. Brit is dealing with endometriosis and with two boys vying for her attention. And Christine is still not ready to come out to everyone—or to admit she has a massive crush on Abby.
Author Chesca Hause created the Litterbox Comics webcomic to share her family’s funniest struggles and stories. Because she never liked drawing humans, she portrays herself, her husband, and their two sons as anthropomorphic cats. Fran and Joel are a pair of frazzled but highly adaptable cat parents. Their kittens are Vincent, a six-year-old with major attitude, and Cooper, an adorable three-year-old who often causes trouble by accident.
worlds—but first, she’ll have to draw them. Her horse, Edward, is no help at all; he can’t seem to draw anything but food. When the knight gets frustrated and yells at him, Edward leaves. Well, she doesn’t need him, anyway! She’ll draw her own fabulous worlds! She just has to figure out how.
Cade is a shy, horror-movie-obsessed teen living in rural Texas. Surrounded by homophobia, he figures he’ll never be able to come out as gay, let alone find a boyfriend. Anyway, he has other things to worry about. His family is low on money, so his parents insist that Cade get a summer job at a ranch, which pays better than the more comfortable indoor jobs he would prefer. It’s hard labor, but on the plus side he gets to work with Henry, the teenaged son of the ranch owner. Henry is attractive, mysterious, and possibly interested in Cade. But there are rumors swirling around the ranch. People have died. In fact, the whole situation reminds Cade of a horror movie. Will he be the next victim?
Hiromi Sakura is a burned-out office worker. He once dreamed of heroically helping people, but now works long, unappreciated hours for a toxic boss. He does have one friend at work, Saotome, but otherwise, Sakura’s life is pretty bleak. Then, on his way home from work one day, he sees a child being attacked by a bizarre and frightening creature. Sakura pulls off his tie and rushes to the rescue, but he’s no match for the monster—until he unexpectedly transforms into a magical girl, complete with super-strength, incredible reflexes, and fast healing. After winning the fight, Sakura changes back to his usual self, full of confusion. Aren’t magical girls the stuff of fiction? And even in fiction, isn’t it usually girls who transform into them? Why is this happening to Sakura? And what was that monster?
boys are a mystery to both girls, but they are curious,. They decide to launch a project together to find out more: the Love Report.
Syv is the youngest of seven snowcat princes and the most popular with the people of the realm. Since the people’s support determines the next king, his older brothers are worried. So they decide to send Syv on a quest: find the magical crown of the legendary snowcat Eldking that allows its wearer to defeat the wicked sandfoxes, who have used magic to warp and twist the natural world. Many snowcat princes have sought the crown, but none have returned. Still, armed with a map that his brothers claim shows the way to the crown, Syv is willing to try.
