Review: Go with the Flow by Lily Williams & Karen Schneemann

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: January 14, 2020

Publisher: First Second

Genre: young adult realistic graphic novel

Format/Source: finished copy, from the library

Status: standalone

Summary:

Good friends help you go with the flow. Best friends help you start a revolution.

Sophomores Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha are fed up. Hazelton High never has enough tampons. Or pads. Or adults who will listen.

Sick of an administration that puts football before female health, the girls confront a world that shrugs―or worse, squirms―at the thought of a menstruation revolution. They band together to make a change. It’s no easy task, especially while grappling with everything from crushes to trig to JV track but they have each other’s backs. That is, until one of the girls goes rogue, testing the limits of their friendship and pushing the friends to question the power of their own voices.

Now they must learn to work together to raise each other up. But how to you stand your ground while raising bloody hell?

Review: Check, Please!: #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu

Rating: 3 stars

Release Date: September 18, 2018

Publisher: First Second

Genre: young adult contemporary graphic novel

Format/Source: ARC, from the publisher

Status: book 1 of the Check, Please! series

Summary:

Helloooo, Internet Land. Bitty here!

Y’all... I might not be ready for this. I may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It’s nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking. And then, there is Jack—our very attractive but moody captain.


A collection of the first half of the megapopular webcomic series of the same name, Check, Please!: #Hockey is the first book of a hilarious and stirring two-volume coming-of-age story about hockey, bros, and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. This does not affect the content of my review.

Review: The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Rating: 4.5 stars

Release Date: February 13, 2018

Publisher: First Second

Genre: young adult graphic novel

Format/Source: finished copy, from the publisher

Status: standalone

Summary:

Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:

Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride―or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia―the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion!

Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances―one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect a friend? Jen Wang weaves an exuberantly romantic tale of identity, young love, art, and family. A fairy tale for any age, The Prince and the Dressmaker will steal your heart.

Review: The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by the McElroy family & Carey Pietsch

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: July 17, 2018

Publisher: First Second

Genre: fantasy graphic novel, humor

Format/Source: paperback, library

Status: book 1 of The Adventure Zone series

Summary:

Welcome to the Adventure Zone!

SEE! The illustrated exploits of three lovable dummies set loose in a classic fantasy adventure!

READ! Their journey from small-time bodyguards to world-class artifact hunters!

MARVEL! At the sheer metafictional chutzpah of a graphic novel based on a story created in a podcast where three dudes and their dad play a tabletop role playing game in real time!

Join Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided ("guided") by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that, like the smash-hit podcast it's based on, will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance.

With endearingly off-kilter storytelling from master goofballs Clint McElroy and the McElroy brothers, and vivid, adorable art by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins is the comics equivalent of role-playing in your friend's basement at 2am, eating Cheetos and laughing your ass off as she rolls critical failure after critical failure.

Review: Wires & Nerve by Marissa Meyer & Doug Holgate

Rating: 4 stars

Release Date: January 31, 2017

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Genre: young adult science fiction graphic novel

Format/Source: hardcover, from the library

Status: Volume 1 of the Wires & Nerve series,
companion to The Lunar Chronicles series

Summary:

In her first graphic novel, bestselling author Marissa Meyer extends the world of the Lunar Chronicles with a brand-new,action-packed story about Iko, the android with a heart of (mechanized) gold.When rogue packs of wolf-hybrid soldiers threaten the tenuous peace alliance between Earth and Luna, Iko takes it upon herself to hunt down the soldiers' leader. She is soon working with a handsome royal guard who forces her to question everything she knows about love, loyalty, and her own humanity. With appearances by Cinder, Cress, Scarlet, Winter, and the rest of the Rampion crew, this is a must-have for fans of the bestselling series.

Listmania Mondays: Graphic Novels

Another current trend in ya is the prevalence of graphic novels for previously published novels. I find this practice a little odd as in my experience, the manga/gn readers and the fiction readers have remained fairly separate. However, I have really enjoyed the graphic novels that I've read so far. It's really  cool to see artistic interpretation outside film and television. As always, please leave me comments with your favorite graphic novel adaptation or one you wish would get published or any I've left off the list. As for me, I hope that the Vampire Academy graphic novels lead to the publishing of Bloodlines and I REALLY would like Laini Taylor and her husband Jim DiBartolo to do an adaptation of Daughter and Smoke and Bone because I think that world would be RIDICULOUS in a phraphic format.