Most of us have eaten some kind of instant noodle, whether that’s ramen, microwaveable mac and cheese, or something else. Some of us have modified instant noodles with other ingredients: adding veggies or an egg, for instance. Robin Ha’s book is here for people who want to get fancier and more adventurous, all with the starting point of a humble noodle package.
Instant Noodles and Beyond begins with a comic book guide to ramyeon (the Korean word for ramen). It briefly covers the history of instant ramyeon, how it’s made, and its nutritional profile before shifting into cookbook mode: after a few pages of recommendations for staple ingredients to have on hand, the book dives into its many clearly and cheerfully illustrated recipes. There is a section for ramyeon soups, one for brothless ramyeon (like stir-fried noodle dishes), and one for cold ramyeon recipes. Then there’s Think Outside the Bowl, with instructions for using instant ramyeon in dishes ranging from popcorn to puffed rice treats to scallion pancakes. This section also includes some recipes using boxed macaroni and cheese.
The recipes – most of which make one or two servings as written – are inspired by cuisines from all over the world, with everything from Shrimp Alfredo Ramyeon to Pad Thai Ramyeon to Elote Mac and Cheese. Occasionally, there will be a short comic about the historical or cultural background for a specific recipe. Scattered through the book are a few longer comics (usually still just a page or two) that tell fun personal stories, like one about the author’s friend who hosts ramyeon parties.
The comics that illustrate the recipes are drawn in a realistic style, which makes them useful and informative: they include pictures of the packages of recommended brands of ramyeon for each recipe, and they clearly show how to prepare the meat, veggies, and other ingredients. The comics at the beginning of the book get a little more whimsical, with talking ramyeon packs, a cartoon cat cooking, and more.
As a cookbook, this has a fun and novel premise: make your instant noodles fancy! Of course, two major appeal factors of instant noodles are that they are fast and easy to make, and that situation changes somewhat once you have a recipe that requires adding a bunch of other ingredients, which often have to be diced or otherwise prepared. But many of the recipes are still fairly simple, with peppy and straightforward instructions that make them feel accessible, and those other ingredients can add significant nutritional value as well as flavor and texture. Hand this cookbook to inexperienced cooks looking to expand their recipe rotation, or to anyone who likes noodles and wants to try something new.
Instant Noodles and Beyond A Comic Book with Recipes for Souped-Up Ramen, Mac & Cheese, and More By Robin Ha William Morrow / Harvest, 2026 ISBN: 9780063437142
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: Korean,
It’s a common enough joke that we’ve heard it in a bunch of movies and series (television or streaming), but this was a new way for me to get hooked. Apparently, an FBI agent is barred from resignation or retirement if there is a threat to national security.
So begins the mystery of No Man’s Land.
Set in 1963, FBI Agent Collins – on the day he decided to deliver his resignation letter – is called by the director to assist in solving a strange case. The body of a woman is found in the middle of an ice bridge that connects the USA and Russia (the Diomede Islands); no clear jurisdiction has been established. The bridge lasts for about three months of the year, and Agent Collins is suddenly forced to solve a murder mystery. Can he and KGB agent Fiodrow work together to tie up loose ends? The clock is ticking. Not just because the ice bridge will soon melt, but also from the tense and fragile relationship between two nuclear superpowers.
This is an excellent, almost noir-y kind of book and it’s just the first one! The illustrations are lifelike and gritty with minimal color and a smart use of inkblots, perhaps to evoke bureaucratic paperwork or blood stains (or both). The writing lives in the dramatic close ups of the eyes and faces of the characters, evocative and emotional. The images as a whole are very painterly with many opportunities for dramatic lighting and sunbursts. The author/illustrator even put in some cover variations that pay homage to many famous movie posters, so that was a fun bonus at the end of the read.
Like a lot of thrillers, the story is dense, but I feel that’s warranted by the narrative. The reader can do their best to follow along and sort out the facts in a way that makes sense, or just keep reading forward with anticipation to see what comes next.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and I hear there’s a movie deal in the works. This is not a book for young children, certainly. Though there is nothing particularly graphic depicted in this installment of the series, there are a few corpses and war and violence continue in the background.
Folks who enjoy True Detective, the Fargo series, and The Terror will likely enjoy this as well.
No Man’s Land By Szymon Kudranski Image, 2025 ISBN: 9781534333604
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Polish, Character Representation: Russian,
A murderous cowboy, monstrous bugs, characters and places that may or may not exist—all this and more waits within the pages of this strange and unsettling anthology collection.
Created by Dustin Weaver and with the additional talents of Jeremy Barlow and D.J. Bryant, The Juniper Lodge collects 5 stories from Weaver’s anthology series PAKLIS, also released by Image Comics. Though tonally similar, each episode stands entirely on its own, making this a perfectly viable entry point for any reader not familiar with Weaver’s work.
Though “the Juniper Lodge” story sits at the heart of the collection, the first entry brings readers back to the wild west, where a gun demands sacrifice and a man facing execution finds that his hopes of salvation may come drenched in blood. Each new narrative delivers a surreal mix of body horror and monsters alongside mystery, fractured realities, and unraveling psychological uncertainty among characters struggling to separate the real from the fantastic. The stories embrace their own ambiguity, leaving a great deal unresolved by each finale and stranding the reader amidst the grotesqueries of each new world. With all three writers taking the lead at various points, some stories offer shades of Kafka while others play out with more noir tones. There are flashes of superhero lore, and visual elements of scifi and cyberpunk woven throughout. But even with all the strangeness unfolding across each page, the core themes remain close to characters in crisis, each reckoning with a world that is not what they once believed it to be.
While the writing rotates hands, Weaver creates the visuals across each new chapter. The realism of the art shifts between stories, with some more polished and others feeling more textured on the page. Further capturing the tone of the volume, Weaver plays with color palates and perspectives to sometimes change and sometimes distort the reader’s experience. One scene may appear normal; a few panels later, we’re confronted with bulging eyes, twisting hallways, a floating grin that lingers where a stranger once crouched. Weaver’s art establishes the familiar and then breaks it, luring the reader into the horrors. The volume also ends with some bonus content, exploring the comics industry and what it takes to make the leap from big superhero titles to a book like this, providing insights into Weaver’s artistic journey.
Image gives The Juniper Lodge a Mature rating. There’s violence and death, graphic nudity, sexual content, and horror imagery aplenty over the course of the five stories, so this one is more suited for adults. This collection offers a fascinating trip through a series of vivid worlds and distinct characters. As is sometimes the case with anthology comics, the pieces of Juniper Lodge may feel undeveloped, leaving readers searching for a coherent whole. The stories do not resolve neatly, and some feel cluttered with too many moving pieces and big ideas to follow as effectively as I would have liked for myself. But for any reader who wants the blend of science fiction, mystery, and horror wrapped up in nightmare landscapes where nothing is certain, The Juniper Lodge will provide a memorable ride. It will likely have the most appeal to readers who have enjoyed Prince’s Ice Cream Man or Walsh’s The Silver Coin—and possibly some of Junji Ito’s shorter works alongside.
In the end, The Juniper Lodge was a bit too abstract for my tastes, but no one can accuse the volume of being boring. For the right reader, I expect these five stories could be exactly the sort of portal they’re looking for.
The Juniper Lodge By Dustin Weaver, Jeremy Barlow, and D.J. Bryant Art by Dustin Weaver Image, 2026 ISBN: 9781534331020
In this sequel to Meems & Feefs: Ferrets from Planet Ferretonia, Meems & Feefs: The Council of Ferrets, Meems repairs the travel opal and opens a portal to return him and Feefs to Planet Ferretonia and brings Liza along for a visit. However, Meems and Feefs are in quite a bit of trouble due to creating and using banned technology and so must answer to the Council. Together, the three of them uncover more of the mysteries of the banned ancient technology of Ferretonia and Meems’ missing mentor…
Cooper’s world-building is incredibly detailed for a whimsical fantasy graphic novel series for children. The premise of a young girl meeting cute intelligent ferrets is a good one no matter what, but Cooper has developed a full society for her ferret characters as well as depthful lore that is revealed in parts throughout the story. Still, the premise is easy to follow as the human character Liza serves as the reader’s liaison to Meems and Feefs’ world.
Liza is more than just a projection of the reader though. The majority of the first Meems & Feefs book took place on Earth, and the reader was introduced to Liza’s life, and it seems like there is more to be revealed about Liza and her life back on Earth. Liza’s development takes a backseat to the ferrets and the revelations surrounding Ferretonia in this volume, so hopefully future volumes will explore her and some of the Earth characters a little bit more.
The art in Meems & Feefs is perfect for its charming and fantastical story. Cooper’s work is the epitome of a story made for the graphic novel format. Previously, Cooper worked as an Art Director for the animated web series Simon’s Cat, and that animation experience serves her well as a graphic novelist. Her dynamic panels pack a lot of movement into each page without being overwhelming. Her characters are expressive and unique – she is able to make each ferret individuals not only with physical design but with facial expressions as well. They are fully realized characters with their own emotions and motivations. There is one sequence in which Meems and the character Leeloo are trying to escape, and the reader can almost hear their banter instead of simply reading it due to the combination of Cooper’s panels and word bubble placements as well as the characters’ movements. Though the graphic novel format is perfect for the story, it almost feels like an animated series due to Cooper’s mastery of sequential art.
The publisher’s age rating for The Council of Ferrets is ages 10-12 and Grades 3-8. It definitely will appeal to that age range, but older teens and some adults who like a magical adventure with touches of whimsy and humor will enjoy Meems and Feefs’ adventures with Liza. The adventure is ongoing, so it is beneficial for readers to have read Ferrets from Planet Ferretonia before reading The Council of Ferrets, andhopefully their tale continues in future volumes. The Meems & Feefs books would make great additions to libraries with juvenile readers looking for a funny but intriguing fantasy series.
Meems and Feefs: The Council of Ferrets By Liz Cooper Andrews McMeel, 2025 ISBN: 9781524876715
Company Age Rating: Ages 10-12
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13)
Sara’s parents are traveling for work this summer, so she’ll be staying with her aunts while all her friends go to drama camp together. She’s disappointed, but trying to make the best of things. After all, Sara’s family is moving soon, and maybe being in a new place will help her get some practice at making new friends.
But as it turns out, Sara’s aunts live on an island, a boat ride away from the closest neighbors. And it’s not just any island: once you pass through the fog that surrounds it, things start to get magical. Here, trees and rocks and even the wind seem to have personalities. And animals can talk—including her aunts’ two friendly, chatty dogs, who can’t wait to spend the summer with Sara. So maybe she can still practice making new friends. They just won’t be humans.
That isn’t easy, at least at first. Sara is supposed to help with chores (like cleaning the chicken coop) and learn new skills (like paddling a rowboat to nearby islands), and she feels like she’s failing at everything. She doesn’t want to admit she’s struggling, which means she can’t ask for help. Finally, Sara realizes that you don’t make friends by pretending things are fine when they aren’t—you have to be honest, be yourself, and accept help. That’s when the magic really starts happening.
Small Magics is a charming story about a girl who goes from feeling lonely and adrift to connected and capable. The island setting is both whimsical and immersive, with lots of little magical twists for Sara to learn, and lots of settings visited and revisited enough for them to feel like real places. The dogs—who are the characters Sara spends the most time with – are kind and fun-loving, with a bouncy energy that feels very dog-like, but also each with their own hobbies, interests, and fears. They are especially excited to have another human around because, despite accommodations that Sara’s aunts have made, lots of things in their world are still easier to navigate with opposable thumbs. (For instance, dogs can’t row boats. Though one of them can, if absolutely necessary, use the outboard motor.) But of course, there is also plenty they can do that humans can’t, and we get glimpses of their particularly doggy senses and sensibilities.
The artwork is colorful and feels casual even while sometimes being quite detailed. The poses are active and expressive, making good use of postures and the dogs’ ears as well as regular human facial expressions. The outlines are often loose, sometimes barely there, but the colors keep everything clearly defined, and their brightness adds to the art’s playful energy. Much of the creator’s art experience is in background painting, so it’s not surprising that the book has some lush, beautiful settings and backdrops.
Small Magics is a sweet read with humor, heart, and an inventive fantasy setting. Hand it to fans of cozy fantasy or anyone who likes gentle Studio Ghibli vibes.
Small Magics By Emily Tetri Macmillan First Second, 2026 ISBN: 9781250855640
Company Age Rating: 8-12
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13)
Ross’s Murray’s Bedford Street is an often bleak, sometimes funny, but quietly compelling look at the lives, loves, and losses of a group of characters united by their proximity to a single street.
Opening with a short sequence aptly titled Roadkill, Bedford Street immediately sets its somewhat grim tone which is nevertheless run through with bursts of dark humor. From there, the book transitions to the first full story of the collection—that of an alcoholic father entrusted with taking care of his teenage son for the weekend. He sips drinks and searches for shared interests as his son unleashes rage issues on a battered grill in the yard. Much of this opening story is told in visuals, but Ross works a great deal of character and connection into the way father and son move through their shared space—each unsure exactly how to exist on their own or communicate with the other. It’s an effectively human story, full of relatable uncertainty and capped with bittersweet moments of love and connection.
Each story that follows shares similar threads of deeply flawed people trying their best, through moments of strength and often moments of failure. A nurse debating whether to intervene in a domestic disturbance, two brothers navigating life after an accident, a man trying to restart life after release from prison—the stories are quiet, but they are earnest and honest in capturing all the rough edges of their subjects as the lives of the Bedford Street residents continue to unfold.
Ross brings a deft hand to each vignette, crafting a compelling character arc, and blending natural dialogue with powerful visuals to capture the heart of each short story. Like any collection, some are likely to land with a reader more than others, but the range of characters feels united by the tone of the overall book. In each, it feels as though Ross is looking to understand the central characters and bringing the reader along on the experience. Some make terrible mistakes that upend their lives and the lives of those around them. Others are caught in difficulty through no fault of their own. Regardless, Ross’s delivery doesn’t feel as though it seeks to pass judgment on this collage of lives. They are simply complicated, and through the choices they make, they will be forced to face the consequences, whatever those may be.
Matching this writing, the art has a simple realism to it. There are plenty of details to take in, but Ross’s visual style strips away the noise to focus on scenes—on expressions and quiet moment as they occur. Different colors dominate the palate depending on the nature of the sequence, but the subdued shades interplay with light and shadow to build panels that feel worn and lived in, but which also hold the eye as these characters pass their days.
Fantagraphics rates Bedford Street for 16+. The stories are all thematically mature, but some are more acceptable for teenage readers than others. While certain of the mature elements occur infrequently, the book does include strong language, death, suicide, injury to humans and animals, substance use, strong sexual content, and graphic nudity among its content concerns. Between this and the overall subject matter, it will have strongest appeal with adults. Overall, for readers who like more literary works, Bedford Street is a generally quiet examination of complex characters and a range of themes. There isn’t a strong narrative tissue connecting the stories to each other, but a definite emotional arc runs across the collection and these characters who ultimately seem to (mostly) be doing the best they can with a myriad of imperfect situations. It’s a striking book that deserves a place on any shelf where it will be appreciated.
Bedford Street By Ross Murray Fantagraphics, 2026 ISBN: 9798875002625
It’s 1999, Sara is about to start sixth grade, her first day of school since her family’s moved to a new house. She’s excited to join a new club but even more excited to spend lots of time with her best friend Monica since they didn’t get to see each other much this past summer. It’s going to be a great year! That is, until Sara wakes up to discover her legs are suddenly… hairy.
Mixed Feelings by Sara Amini and Shadia Amin is a colorful fun semi-fictional memoir of Amini’s own childhood. The book follows Sara through her sixth grade year as she starts dealing with puberty and the dynamics of middle school life. On top of this newfound hair she’s discovering on her legs (and arms… and eyebrows), Monica has a new best friend from her summer camp and Sara can’t seem to escape the two of them, making her feel like a left out third wheel. There’s some standard touchpoints of a first year in middle school story but Amini’s storytelling works in such a way it never feels redundant or overdone.
In an attempt to try something new and fulfill her goal of joining a club, Sara joins drama club, landing a lead role after her first audition. All that time spent watching television is finally paying off! The drama club and the upcoming play are a solid backbone to the story. The depictions of the intricacies of drama clubs and the pre-show warm up games are a particular highlight; any reader who spent time in a drama club will find them very familiar.
As the mixed race daughter of immigrants, Sara begins facing uncomfortable questions and exclusionary remarks from peers at school and her Farsi classes. She’s not Colombian enough, she’s not Iranian enough, she’s not Catholic, she’s not Muslim, so what is she anyway? There’s multiple scenes of other kids belittling her identity with appropriately angry and frustrated reactions from Sara. She watches her mother being discriminated against for her language and accent firsthand. Her pride in her parents’ backgrounds and their respective cultures grows as the story continues, which could be a source of inspiration for young readers dealing with similar experiences themselves.The text features bits of dialog in both Spanish and Farsi throughout the book and includes a glossary at the end.
While it does have serious moments throughout, Mixed Feelings is overall a very fun graphic novel. The scenes of Sara’s ongoing newly sprouted hair drama and subsequent secret shaving are laugh out loud funny. So are many of the moments with her family, especially with her dad. Amin’s art includes great facial expressions that jump off the page, with lots of colors in the panels. The art sets the mood for the story and works alongside the emotions perfectly. For readers interested in retro pop culture, including those beyond their middle grade years, there’s a lot of great 90s references hidden in the very detailed art too.
The first in a new series, Mixed Feelings is a delightful addition to the ever growing collection of middle grade graphic novels. Amini’s love of her family and reflection on her own childhood shines through the story; Amin’s art complements this perfectly. The story deals with serious topics while making you laugh on the next page. Readers will be excited to follow Sara’s story through to the next book in the series.
Mixed Feelings By Sara Amini Art by Shadia Amin Scholastic GRAPHIX, 2026 ISBN: 9781338797398
Company Age Rating: 8-12
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: Colombian-American, Iranian-American, Character Representation: Colombian-American, Iranian-American,
The monsters in horror fiction, whether those monsters are ghosts, vampires, or zombies, always seem to represent something beyond the natural fear a person would have against something with fangs and claws. Many times, these monsters are symbolic of a more universal fear involving a person’s space in society or in the universe at large (at least according to critics). Ghosts, for example, are often connected to humanity’s universal fear of death. Zombies are often symbols of death as well as disease. Author and illustrator Jon Claytor, however, presents an interesting idea in his book Nowhere, the world of zombies, vampires, and aliens represents the very modern fear of growing up.
Nowhere takes place in Beauséjour. Beauséjour, a small town in Canada and it’s where teenage Joel ends up, along with his morose mother, his verbally abusive but generally useless stepfather, and various animals. When the family’s car breaks down in Beauséjour, they stay at a roadside motel and slowly become accustomed to what makes Beauséjour different from other towns. Those differences include vampires that talk to therapists, ghosts that look like sheets and who actively engage with the living, and a massive cube that sits on the edge of town. And don’t forget about the zombies that wander around at night.
People might look at Claytor’s story and think of shows that run on late 20th century nostalgia like Stranger Things, especially when Joel finds a group of his friends close to his own age to hang out with. However, these friends don’t battle the various monsters that show up in town; they simply accept them as part of living in Beauséjour. In fact, no one within this book expresses any emotions other than melancholy, even when more apocalyptic elements start happening. Many have likely read action/adventure stories with a coming-of-age element that has the protagonist learns more about who they are and who they’re going to be due to the events in the book, but if Joel comes of age within Nowhere’s pages, Joel grows to realize that banality is the norm, which is perhaps the most terrifying thing to realize.
Banality could be used to describe the book’s artwork, which, in any other book, would be a critique, but the banality fits into the book’s overall tone. Claytor uses a deceptively simplistic art style that nevertheless depicts realistic human faces that are struggling to emote within a muted black and white world. Colors are also used sparingly, such as the blood on the vampire’s teeth when he talks with his therapist, and only provide a speck of brightness in Claytor’s universe. Even the aliens, typical grays with bulbous eyes and small mouths, approach their job of manipulation with the enthusiasm of security guards who’d much rather watch the clock tick toward the end of their shift, which is not surprising considering the universe they inhabit.
While lacking the excitement of Stranger Things, this book does share some DNA with an intellectual property well-known for weirdness. “Welcome to Night Vale,” a novel and podcast created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, features a supernatural town where residents accept the supernatural to an absurd degree. Fans of that book/series will want to visit Beauséjour, as well as fans of shows like “X-Files” and “Supernatural,” particularly of their sillier episodes.
Nowhere By John Claytor Goose Lane Editions, 2026 ISBN: 9781773104584
Company Age Rating: 14 Years and Up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Memoirs often capture memories frozen in time, yet over the years, these memories can become reshaped, remixed, and even distorted. After all, facts become scattered but the truth behind the experiences endures. In her introspective memoir Until We Meet Again, Lily Kim Qian wrestles with deeply ingrained truths as she recounts her earliest memories leading to the estranged relationship between her parents, setting her on a path to discovery and inner healing.
The story begins in a jumbled dream-like state as Lily, a daughter of Chinese Canadian immigrant parents, sorts through a mixture of forgotten and remembered childhood memories—baby pictures, birthday parties, walks on a frozen lake, sizzling fried eggs made by her PoPo—which abruptly shifts to a darkened room where she watches her mother in a deep slumber. The scene later segues into a two-page spread where a tidal wave sweeps into a bedroom, signifying violent verbal battles between her parents that rage like a relentless tsunami. Narrated in vignettes, each story illustrates a moment in time, highlighting intimate details as she grapples with the gradual decline of her mother spiraling into the throes of mental illness. Segmented into chapters labeled after family members and locales spanning from Toronto to Shanghai, the plot runs the gamut of turbulent family dynamics converging through time and place as Lily constructs shattered fragments of her childhood to forge a new identity. From affectionate moments of her mother giving her a bath and dining over a meal of fried rice to outbursts of anger erupting between her warring parents, she navigates the ebbs and flows of fractured relationships in search of meaning and stability.
Bold and vivid line streaks infused with flecks of color paint the emotional landscape of each story. A variety of layouts—dynamic double-page spreads, a collage of photos, full-page scenes of places and characters—showcases a compelling assortment of visual compositions and storytelling prowess. Most striking is how the artwork translates metaphors into concrete images, which ranges from Lily somersaulting through recursive panels to illustrate her constant displacement from one home to another to a tangled ball of yarn symbolizing the mass confusion in the triangular relationship with her parents.
A memoir that reveals episodes of inherited trauma encompassed by the stigma of mental illness in Asian cultures, this story unearths poignant experiences dredged up from private memories. Much like how the brain functions when bombarded by a barrage of memories, Lily’s stories, or rather her recollection of them, unravels through a kaleidoscopic series of fractured moments that form a complex mosaic. Until We Meet Again adds a deeply intimate voice to young adult collections, exploring the complex emotional landscape of dysfunctional family dynamics in a beautifully rendered visual memoir from an Asian Canadian perspective.
Until We Meet Again By Lily Kim Qian Macmillan First Second, 2026 ISBN: 9781250884237
Company Age Rating: 14-18
NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Canadian-American, Chinese, Depression Character Representation: Canadian-American, Chinese, Depression
This graphic novel adaptation of Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s romance novel is about sisters, Hester and Rachel, who grew up in poverty and learned how to fight for justice. The original novel was released in 1925 and was based on Ethel’s own experiences in a mill, but was not well received at the time of release. Now Scarlett and Sophie Rickard have adapted the novel into a new format during a time when the world could use reminding that human rights and dignity are inherent, not earned.
The sisters work in a Lancashire textile factory where their mother and grandmother worked. Rachel is full of energy and willing to confront the men in her town telling her she’s worthless, but Hester has a fragility that doesn’t allow for that type of action. Instead, Hester chooses to take a marriage offer from a wealthy mill owner in order to try and better her situation in life while her sister becomes an activist.
Normally, I would not pick up a story like this one as my personal preference leans toward fantasy or escapism from reality. This historical account hits home on many levels of commentary that address the issues of the time but are relatable today to a modern audience. Although this is not a word-to-word adaptation, the creators made sure to include aspects of the original (e.g. accents and colloquialisms). Likewise, the illustrator took care to represent the time period through the clothing and architecture renditions. The color helps distinguish characters, mood, and poverty level by using darker, neutral tones to make everything dark and dirty and saving the brighter and lighter colors for the upper class and their frivolity.
This book is best suited for academic libraries with strong English literature programs or adult collections with patrons interested in historical (or romance) graphic novels. Although this book addresses prostitution, there is no on-page sex. Just a little kissing. Both a foreword and author’s note explain that the slavery indicated by the title is not referring to the horrific trans-Atlantic slavery that is most often acknowledged by history but instead refers to the powerlessness of women and laborers.
This Slavery By Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, Sophie Rickard Art by Scarlett Rickard SelfMadeHero, 2025 ISBN: 9781914224355
A murderous cowboy, monstrous bugs, characters and places that may or may not exist—all this and more waits within the pages of this strange and unsettling anthology collection.
In this sequel to 
her friends go to drama camp together. She’s disappointed, but trying to make the best of things. After all, Sara’s family is moving soon, and maybe being in a new place will help her get some practice at making new friends.
look at the lives, loves, and losses of a group of characters united by their proximity to a single street.
a new house. She’s excited to join a new club but even 
always seem to represent something beyond the natural fear a person would have against something with fangs and claws. Many times, these monsters are symbolic of a more universal fear involving a person’s space in society or in the universe at large (at least according to critics). Ghosts, for example, are often connected to humanity’s universal fear of death. Zombies are often symbols of death as well as disease. Author and illustrator Jon Claytor, however, presents an interesting idea in his book Nowhere, the world of zombies, vampires, and aliens represents the very modern fear of growing up.
Memoirs often capture memories frozen in time, yet over the years, these memories can become reshaped, remixed, and even distorted. After all, facts become scattered but the truth behind the experiences endures. In her introspective memoir Until We Meet Again, Lily Kim Qian wrestles with deeply ingrained truths as she recounts her earliest memories leading to the estranged relationship between her parents, setting her on a path to discovery and inner healing.
This graphic novel adaptation of Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s romance novel is about sisters, Hester and Rachel, who grew up in poverty and learned how to fight for justice. The original novel was released in 1925 and was based on Ethel’s own experiences in a mill, but was not well received at the time of release. Now Scarlett and Sophie Rickard have adapted the novel into a new format during a time when the world could use reminding that human rights and dignity are inherent, not earned. 
