Outburst is incredibly beautiful, sad, dark, magical, and lonely. You need to read it.

Outburst
by Pieter Coudyzer
SelfMadeHero
2017, 120 pages, 9.7 x 0.6 x 7.1 inches, Hardcover
$16 Buy on Amazon

That tight yet hollow feeling in the stomach, the one that happens when you recognize a particularly sharp sadness, the kind of sad you remember so deeply and fully in your body that your whole self winces slowly inward. Outburst is that feeling, in book form, and Tom, it’s main character, is the embodiment of it.

Tom is a thinker. A brooder. A child, bullied and forgotten and both. Pushed or simply allowed to drift to the edge, to the forest, until the lines are inexplicably blurred and the edge dissolves. The forest inside wants out and Tom transforms, bone to branch, limb to limb.

Outburst is incredibly beautiful, sad, dark, magical, and lonely. You need to read it.

– Marykate Smith Despres

June 7, 2017

Head Lopper — a tale of swordplay, magic, and treachery

Head Lopper
by Andrew MacLean
Image Comics
2016, 280 pages, 6.6 x 0.9 x 10.1 inches, Paperback
$11 Buy on Amazon

A tale of swordplay, magic, and treachery, Norgal the Head Lopper travels the countryside with the severed head of Agatha the Blue Witch to vanquish the Sorcerer of the Black Bog and rid the land of the Plague of Beasts.

Head Lopper is an action-packed, dynamic, and bloody adventure story of a mighty serpent-slaying swordsman who lugs around the head of a wise-cracking witch, leaving a trail of dead behind him. He battles bat creatures, mega-arachnids, the ghosts of warriors, and the undead giants that devour the ghosts of warriors. Many heads are lopped.

A handy sketchbook details the concepts behind the characters, and a pinup gallery at the back of the novel highlight some covers drawn by noted artists Mike Mignola, Dave Stewart, and Mike and Laura Allred.

Featuring muted colors befitting a dark, cursed land of monsters spread over lively, energetic panels, poetic, Tolkein-esque dialogue, and an epic, Homeric plot, Head Lopper is a funny, exciting read. Hardly a page goes by without swordplay, spellcast, or intrigue. Heroes, villains, and royalty are all run-through with various weaponry, limbs of humans and beasts are amputated, and heads of all styles are decapitated, so those looking for subtlety should probably look elsewhere. Those looking for a ripping adventure are in the right locale.

– SD

June 6, 2017

The Disney Book is a beautiful, visual exploration of all things Disney

The Disney Book
by Jim Fanning
DK
2015, 200 pages, 9.2 x 0.9 x 11.1 inches, Hardcover
$21 Buy on Amazon

The Disney Book bills itself as “A Celebration of the World of Disney,” and boy oh boy is there a lot to celebrate. Essentially an all things Disney history book, in here you can find a complete timeline of Disney’s creations, starting from Walt’s first work at a newspaper all the way up to now. The book has three major sections: “Drawn Disney,” including information and images about the animated classics; “Disney in Action,” a history of live action movies; and “Experience Disney,” concerning the theme parks and Disney’s appeal around the globe. If Disney made it, it’s in this book.

Content within these sections is broken up into smaller topics that cover a specific film or time period each. It follows a chronological order, so over time you can see how the Disney brand shaped itself into what it is today. Every page has multiple images of some kind to decorate or add additional information. Pictures are a mix of movie stills, behind the scenes photos, and pre-production artwork. This third category is the most fascinating for me, giving the opportunity to see what an early version of Snow White looked like, or Tinker Bell, or even classic Pixar characters like Buzz Lightyear and Woody. A Finding Nemo storyboard is a particular standout, showing how detailed they can be, even in the early stages of production.

While there are some great factoids that are sure to surprise even the most diehard Disney fans (for example, did you know there was a Stitch anime in Japan? Because I didn’t!) if you’re getting this book for information I would mainly use as a springboard towards other research. It’s a delightful book to explore a bit of Disney history, but it’s encyclopedic in its approach to information, in that it has so much to cover that you aren’t going to get the full story with every topic. The trade off is that the content here is varied enough to please fans of all ages and obsession levels. The production art and behind the scenes photos from so many films, across such a large period of time, is enough to warrant a purchase on its own. If you love Disney, you will love this book.

– Alex Strine

June 5, 2017

Morrison’s poetry has a crispness of detail and a taut simplicity that engages and the book is further enhanced by the artwork throughout

We Doubt The Call Even As We Answer It
by Meghan Rose Morrison
Lost Alphabet
2017, 86 pages, 5.0 x 0.2 x 8.0 inches, Paperback
$11 Buy on Amazon

“You and the ocean, both salt and water, both rocked by the moon.”

A consistent dismissal of criticism is “you’re not the intended audience”, a sentiment I generally feel is bunk. A book, a song, a movie, they are all things consumable by anyone and have the potential to be appreciated by anyone. Yes, tastes vary, but a good show for kids can often be appreciated by an adult with the right sensibility, the cheesiest pop song can be adored by the snobbiest of Pitchfork writers, and even the best chefs can be lured in by a simple hot dog smeared in mustard.

Yet I was very surprised to find myself immersed in We Doubt The Call Even As We Answer It, a new book of poetry by first time author M.R. Morrison. It felt odd to be pulled in by its sometimes fierce, sometimes soft tones, because I’m far more a reader of prose than poetry and I’m probably not the intended audience by some years (okay, probably many). But immersed I was, for its a book that pulls one in slowly and, much like the water that flows through the themes of the 29 poems it contains, takes the shape of of the vessel reading it. It didn’t matter that I’m a grizzled coot at this point and most of the audience for the book must be tasteful twenty-somethings. Its words filled me and I enjoyed feeling her art through my own lens and finding it fitting like a favorite t-shirt.

“…eyes downcast on the burnt coffee of her freckles…”

Ms. Morrison’s poetry has a crispness of detail and a taut simplicity that engages and the book is further enhanced by the artwork throughout. It seeps through every page, evoking water at every turn, whether it’s the ocean or waving fronds of seaweed. Clean penciled lines that soothe by their simplicity but help create the feeling that the book is of a piece. It’s not simply a catalogue of the author’s latest poems, it’s a crafted work that’s designed and not just produced.

I don’t think I’ve bought a book of poetry since The Canterbury Tales, to be honest, and to think of its generic college-book cover and plain pages it’s no wonder that one might not be pulled in. I certainly wouldn’t say that every book should have art plastered through it for the sake of art, but I can say that a book, an object to be held and felt, can only be enhanced through the addition of complementary presentation. Think of the best book covers you’ve seen of Nineteen Eighty-Four or the most famous version of the cover of The Great Gatsby (the one that doesn’t feature Leonardo DiCaprio). Gatsby is a fine book but, oh, how that imagery adds to it. It starts the story right on the cover and no matter what Hemingway thought of it it’s endurance is its only necessary recognition.

In We Doubt The Call everything from the soft-textured cover to the blackened pages featuring snippets of partially heard far off conversations to the drawings that hold the words aloft celebrates the tactile nature of books. The site this review comes from has a mission to shine a light on “remarkable books that belong on paper” and this slim volume nails that intention. It’s a remarkable little thing that will have a long life on my bookshelf.

“Boys on bicycles pass making verbs of nouns.”

I’m very glad I wasn’t too afraid to try this book because it didn’t fit the preconceived notions of my own taste. The purring syllables of the poems, the agile alliteration and use of recurring themes, the way the art buoys the reader through the book. It’s a book of brash youth, sometimes baring too much in the way that only sheer creative exuberance can, but it works and sticks with you, whether you’re grizzled, graceful, or a little of both.

– Rob Trevino

June 2, 2017

Ghosts — a moving and insightful story about the power of family and friendship

Ghosts
by Raina Telgemeier
GRAPHIX
2016, 256 pages, 5.5 x 0.9 x 7.9 inches, Paperback
$9 Buy on Amazon

Cat’s sister Maya is suffering from cystic fibrosis, which is the reason why her family moved to the Northern Californian town of Bahia De La Luna. Upon meeting Carlos, the girls discover that the new town they must reluctantly call home is filled with ghosts.

Aloof, perpetually annoyed teenager Cat, and her active, curious sister Maya, journey to the haunted town of Bahia De La Luna. They meet local teen Carlos, who takes them on a ghost tour of a spooky abandoned arcade. There they are greeted by shy, familial ghosts. The sisters learn about aspects of Latin culture, including the holiday Dia De Los Muertos. They eventually work out some sibling rivalry, and Cat develops a crush on Carlos, which she denies. After a dramatic health scare, the girls experience a joyful Dia De Los Muertos celebration with music, dancing, and bottles of orange soda.

A bittersweet story of learning to appreciate new cultures and customs, Ghosts features colorful art work, and its lively, engaging dialogue and expressively-drawn images of marigold-strewn altars, dim, foreboding woods, and festively attired, rollicking holiday celebrations keep the story moving along. Focusing mostly on interpersonal relationships, the eponymous spirits are only minor supporting characters, and the plot rarely becomes scary. Ghosts is a charming tale of family, friendship, and bravery.

– SD

June 1, 2017

Wiesner’s intriguing and mysteriously gorgeous Flotsam begins with a boy stumbling onto an antique camera by the shore

Flotsam
by David Wiesner
Abrams ComicArts
2017, 240 pages, 6.9 x 1.0 x 9.4 inches, Hardcover
$19 Buy on Amazon

Go to any beach, and odds are that you may have seen flotsam wash onto the shore. Flotsam has become a catch-all term for refuse, but it’s more accurately defined as the wreckage of a ship or its cargo. This is an important distinction. Flotsam is not simply trash, but somebody’s precious possessions, something of enough value that made it worth transporting to begin with. David Wiesner’s intriguing and mysteriously gorgeous Flotsam begins with a boy stumbling onto an antique camera by the shore, but what he discovers far surpasses any material treasure.

After developing a weathered roll of film that he finds inside the camera, the hero of this story finds a series of snapshots that offer tantalizing glimpses of a surreal, compelling underwater microcosm. The reader is treated to the gradual revelation of a strange and wondrous hidden realm below the sea where a family of octopi lounge in their living room, the skin of brilliant red fish peels back to reveal shining clockwork gears, sea tortoises carry entire cities made of seashells upon their backs, a starship full of aliens visits a colony of seahorses and tropical islands are revealed to be the centers of giant starfish that cavort while comparatively diminutive blue whales swim beneath.

The last photo particularly captures the boy’s attention. In it, an Asian girl holds up a photo of a boy in a knit cap, who in turn holds a photo of a blond girl. This discovery prompts our protagonist to further examine the photo with a magnifying glass, gradually revealing even more images of children holding up photos of the previous child to find the camera. Closer examination with a microscope reveals the vivid colors of the present day fading to the black-and-white of earlier times, until all that remains is a photo of one child standing by the shores in clothes that indicate the turn of the past century. Recognizing himself as part of a continuum across generations, our young hero takes a picture of himself holding up the photo with all of the other children, his secret sharers in viewing an enchanted, hidden world below the sea.

The wordless tale ends with the boy throwing the camera back into the ocean. As a school of squid, a whale, a pelican and a team of sea horses carry the camera across the sea for a young girl to find on the shore of another beach across the world, we’re reminded of how all of us can share in wonder and joy, led only by simple curiosity and the willingness to look more closely at the world around us.

With Flotsam, Wiesner provides the reader with exotic fragments of a complex and nuanced inner world beneath the fantastic realms of the ocean and imagination. His compelling book functions very much like a photo album, offering glimpses into the lives of its subjects. These are the memories that Wiesner’s denizens of the deep cherish, the moments that linger in the memory and consciousness of the sea creatures, and, by extension, the reader of this handsome and nuanced book.

– Lee Hollman

May 31, 2017

Spill Zone will have YA readers wishing that the graphic novel was released as a series

Spill Zone
by Scott Westerfeld, Alex Puvilland (Illustrator)
First Second
2017, 224 pages, 6.4 x 0.8 x 8.8 inches, Hardcover
$16 Buy on Amazon

Before there was binge watching, there was binge reading. Spill Zone will have YA readers wishing that the graphic novel was released as a series, to be devoured eagerly, coming up for air in the seconds between back cover slapping shut and a new front cover flipping open, before diving back in again. Unfortunately, moderation has been forced upon us and we’ll have to wait until next spring for a second helping.

Spill Zone has all the hallmarks of a good story in pacing, narrative, and character for the YA set and keeps readers wanting more with its cliffhanger ending. There’s the artsy, gutsy young woman protagonist, Addison, surviving a post-apocalyptic life in the woods of upstate New York as the sole caretaker for her little sister, Lexa. There’s the creepy, possibly possessed doll, Vespertine, whose intentions are unclear but who is somehow (hopefully revealed in book two) connected to and animated by forces within the spill zone. There’s the rich, sinister art collector whose interest in Addison’s photographs of the spill zone surely (but how?!) go beyond an appreciation for voyeuristic art. And, of course, there’s the spill zone itself, which claimed Addison and Lexa’s parents among its victims, the cause and and full effects of which are still unknown.

Scott Westerfeld does a whole lot of set-up on this book, yet it never feels bogged down or overly expository. Exactly the opposite. Alex Puvivalland’s moody artwork—fast and slow in all the right places—and use of color, perspective, and varied panelling make Spill Zone nearly impossible to put down.

– Marykate Smith Despres

May 30, 2017

Norman Mailer’s game-changing coverage of John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign

Norman Mailer: JFK, Superman Comes to the Supermarket
by Norman Mailer
Taschen
2014, 370 pages, 12.5 x 2.8 x 18 inches, Hardcover
$50 Buy on Amazon

It’s impossible not to imagine what sort of damage Norman Mailer’s pen would have tried to do to candidate Donald J. Trump, especially after reading the “Centennial Edition” of Norman Mailer: JFK, Superman Comes to the Supermarket, (JFK was born on May 29, 1917). When Mailer’s essay was originally published in the November 1960 issue of “Esquire” magazine, three weeks before that year’s presidential election, the writer was, by his own admission, attempting to drum up enthusiasm among skeptical New York City liberal elites for the junior senator from Massachusetts. Had Mailer been around last fall to write a similarly timed piece on Trump, one assumes his angle would have been just a little bit different.

Today, anyone can read Mailer’s essay for free at esquire.com, which is why the Taschen version of Superman Comes to the Supermarket is much more than a reprint. Characteristically, Taschen has packed its weighty volume with scores of photographs from the period, the majority of which capture John Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, on the campaign trail—giving speeches from the hoods of tractors and station wagons, huddling with aides in smoky back rooms, and shaking endless numbers of hands. Naturally, there are lots of views of supermarkets, too—from metaphorical ones (I love the grainy black-and-white by John Bryson of a man from the Maine delegation holding a bunch of balloons at the Democratic National Convention) to literal ones (check out the look on the female checker in a West Virginia grocery store as Kennedy walks past her, licking his lips, a delectable moment preserved for posterity by Hank Walker).

Still, Superman Comes to the Supermarket is Mailer’s book, and it’s surprising—or perhaps not—how many of his words from more than half a century ago still resonate today. Of candidates, he writes, “A man running for President is altogether different from a man elected President: the hazards of the campaign make it impossible for a candidate to be as interesting as he might like to be (assuming he has such a desire).” Of those who make careers of politics, he observes that, “most of the people who nourish themselves in the political life are in the game not to make history but to be diverted from the history which is being made.”

But it’s Mailer’s sketch of voters that rings most true today, and feels like such a punch in the guts. “It was a hero America needed, a hero central to his time, a man whose personality might suggest contradiction and mysteries which could reach into the alienated circuits of the underground, because only a hero can capture the secret imagination of a people… Roosevelt was such a hero, and Churchill, Lenin and DeGaulle; even Hitler, to take the most odious example of this thesis, was a hero, the hero-as-monster, embodying what had become the monstrous fantasy of a people, but the horror upon which the radical mind and liberal temperament foundered was that he gave outlet to the energies of the Germans and so presented the twentieth century with an index of how horrible had become the secret heart of its desire.”

– Ben Marks

May 29, 2017

A victim of racism throughout her life, Josephine Baker would sing of love and liberty until the day she died

Josephine Baker
by Jose-Luis Bocquet, Catel Muller (Illustrator)
SelfMadeHero
2017, 496 pages, 6.7 x 2.0 x 9.4 inches, Paperback
$16 Buy on Amazon

Josephine Baker, the graphic novel biography, is so thorough and so thoroughly good. I knew almost nothing about the artist’s life and did not grasp the seemingly non-stop trajectory and reach of her career before reading this. Baker’s confidence and poise in the face of rampant personal and institutional racism, her deep and joyful affection for her animals and her friends, and her unrelenting devotion to her family and her adopted country are narrated in nearly 500 pages of vividly matter-of-fact black and white.

After the story, there’s still more. It doesn’t feel right to simply call the appendices in this book “further reading.” The Timeline of Baker’s life and Biographical Notes character sketches are incredibly comprehensive, the former giving clarity and the latter giving context to the fullness of the artist’s life and the scope of her career. This biography is beautifully executed, with art and text that are so on-point, the only person you see is Josephine.

– Marykate Smith Despres

May 26, 2017

A hilarious graphic novel series about two young cave kids living 40,000 years ago

Lucy & Andy Neanderthal
by Jeffrey Brown
Crown Books for Young Readers
2016, 224 pages, 6.6 x 0.8 x 8.6 inches, Hardcover
$8 Buy on Amazon

Lucy & Andy are two Neanderthal kids. They learn about different Stone Age animals, fashion spears and hand axes, go on a mammoth hunt, and create cave art. After some unexplained occurrences, such as odd noises in the woods and some of their mammoth meal going missing, they meet some strangers. Meanwhile, two modern-day paleontologists narrate, explaining Neanderthal biology, the methods of determining the age of archeological discoveries, and the use of various Stone Age tools.

A humorous, educational, and dialogue-driven graphic novel filled with sibling rivalries, Lucy & Andy Neanderthal explores what life might have been like 40,000 years ago through many cleverly-drawn black-and-white panels. Lucy is creative but self-conscious, Andy is eager to hunt, but is squeamish. Eric and Pam, two modern-day paleontologists, reveal the science behind our understanding of Neanderthal civilization.

Did you know that most Neanderthals, like modern humans, were right handed? Science! They also chewed animal hides to soften them for use as clothing. More science!

Featuring a funny sequence where the family debates and critiques their cave art, a timeline of Neanderthal evolution, and a brief history of cavemen in fiction, Lucy & Andy Neanderthal is a comic and educational graphic novel.

– SD

May 25, 2017

A visual and creative feast for anyone who wants to imagine and build a more beautiful life

This Can Be Beautiful: Simple DIY Projects to Style Your Home and Redesign Your Life
by Tiffany Pratt
Appetite by Random House
2016, 176 pages, 8.1 x 0.7 x 10.0 inches, Paperback
$14 Buy on Amazon

This Can Be Beautiful is more than your average DIY-themed book. Created by the bright-eyed (and even brighter-haired) Stylist, Designer, and HGTV star Tiffany Pratt, the publication presents the most fun and stunning array of projects to transform your life from boring to beautiful.

We’re talking more than DIY home décor too, as the book also covers topics such as fashion and beauty, travel, party goods, kids’ projects, and more. It can certainly be called a bible for the modern-day creative, and who better to teach us about all things glitter-related than the proclaimed ‘fairy godmother’ of craft herself?

Readers will feel inspired by the colorful, confetti-adorned pages, as well as the whimsical photography by Tara McMullen throughout. There are also journal-style sections within the book to allow readers to get creative with specific prompts (i.e. I feel more beautiful because…).

Whether you’re looking to further flex your creative muscle or simply need a fistful of motivation to help you get started with all things crafty; This Can Be Beautiful certainly won’t disappoint.

– Melanie Doncas

May 24, 2017

The Little Moose Who Couldn’t Go to Sleep — a whimsically illustrated children’s tale

The Little Moose Who Couldn’t Go to Sleep
by Willy Claflin, James Stimson (Illustrator)
August House
2014, 36 pages, 8.8 x 0.1 x 11.3 inches, Hardcover
$14 Buy on Amazon

“It’s an anthropocentric world we live in,” explains acclaimed storyteller Willy Claflin at one of his concerts. “We think we’re the only species that tells stories, but we’re not.” This is his way of introducing his puppet sidekick Maynard Moose, an esteemed storyteller from the North Piney Woods well-versed in the Mother Moose tales of that region. Claflin is a former teacher who began using a moose puppet that was given to him as a gift with his students. As the moose gained popularity at his school, it gradually began to acquire its own distinctive voice and mannerisms before completing its metamorphosis as Maynard.

Willy and Maynard have since become star attractions at some of the biggest storytelling festivals to ever convene, yet Claflin admits that he never actually began writing any of his stories on paper until he was 60 years old. Now in his ‘70s, Claflin has since published four Maynard Moose books with accompanying CDs, so that readers can experience hearing Maynard’s unique dialect and accent. Maynard sound not unlike a distant relation of Bullwinkle J. Moose, but he speaks with a countrified pidgin in which malapropisms assumes a baroque comic beauty. Lest anyone lose sight of the narrative, a glossary of “Moose Words and Their English Equivalents” is included.

Many of the Maynard’s Mother Moose tales are variants on familiar fairy tales, which arose from Claflin amusing his young son with Maynard by reciting nursery rhymes incorrectly. But The Little Moose Who Couldn’t Go To Sleep stands out as a wholly original tale that expands Maynard’s world. The story follows a little girl moose whose insomnia stems from getting distracted by her thoughts each night. After too many sleepy mornings at her school in the forest and too many failed home remedies, she decides to count sheep. As she does, one of the sheep takes her on a voyage beyond the stars to Mother Moose’s kitchen, a cottage where Mother Moose herself cooks up all of the stars and planets. The kindly sheep offers her some herbal tea to help her sleep before returning her home. She at last sleeps and awakes refreshed, content in the knowledge that whenever she can’t sleep she can call upon her sheep friend for another cozy cup of tea in the realm of dreams.

The Little Moose Who Couldn’t Go To Sleep has abundant whimsy to appeal to any reader, and the colorful, expressive illustrations further the joy of reading it. But don’t be fooled… there’s much more going on here than a simple bedtime story. Claflin weaves a tale in which the heroine goes on an epic quest that assumes mythological proportions. She finds the source of all Creation, and with it, inner peace and self-knowledge along the way. This might be a weighty interpretation of a child’s bedtime story, but Maynard is smarter than the average moose and explores depths with each tale that he weaves. Or as Maynard himself has said, “I am not stupid. I am distremely intelligible.”

– Lee Hollman

May 23, 2017