Tag: Graphic Novel

Sheets – Brenna Thummler

I was bowled over by Brenna Thummler’s illustrations in Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel so when I heard she had written her own graphic novel I was all in. I simply adore Brenna’s ability to capture an image and present it in a way that I want her to draw the entire world for me. Seriously, I can’t get enough. Her use of colour is absolutely gorgeous and she’s able to evoke the emotion of a scene through colour as well as the images. I enjoy finding Easter eggs so I loved that Anne of Green Gables is in view a couple of times in Marjorie’s school library.

As soon as Sheets downloaded on my iPad I devoured it. That was months ago and I never got around to telling anyone how amazing it was… until now. This graphic novel is amazing!!! I’ve just read it for a second time and I’m still in love with the artwork. I felt there was something missing in the story that I couldn’t put my finger on during my first read but I didn’t feel that way during my reread.

Marjorie’s mother died last spring and since then her father has been essentially MIA, holed up in his bedroom most of the time. Marjorie (at 13!) has been left to singlehandedly run the family laundromat business, do the household chores, look after her father and younger brother, and attend school. Any combination of these would be a monumental ask and that’s before you take into consideration that she’s grieving her mother and feels completely alone. The family business is in danger of closing, with some help from Mr Saubertuck, who is the dastardly villain of the story.

Wendell is also lonely. He died a year ago and doesn’t fit in with the other ghosts. Wendell discovers the laundromat and accidentally makes life more difficult for Marjorie, but perhaps there’s a way for these two lonely kids to help each other.

During my first read I had trouble getting past the fact that 13 year old Marjorie is effectively running the family business by herself because her father’s grief has made him withdraw from his life. I couldn’t believe that the customers could be so mean to a kid who shouldn’t have been doing all of that work in the first place and that no one who was alive stepped up to help her or her family.

During my second read I focused more on the friendship between Marjorie and Wendell. It’s such a sad story, dealing with the pain of grief and feeling all alone in the world. However it also touches on forgiveness and perseverance, and is ultimately hopeful.

I’m really keen to see what Brenna comes up with next. I don’t care what the story is; I just want to see more of her beautiful illustrations.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Lion Forge and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Marjorie Glatt feels like a ghost. A practical thirteen year old in charge of the family laundry business, her daily routine features unforgiving customers, unbearable P.E. classes, and the fastidious Mr. Saubertuck who is committed to destroying everything she’s worked for.

Wendell is a ghost. A boy who lost his life much too young, his daily routine features ineffective death therapy, a sheet-dependent identity, and a dangerous need to seek purpose in the forbidden human world.

When their worlds collide, Marjorie is confronted by unexplainable disasters as Wendell transforms Glatt’s Laundry into his midnight playground, appearing as a mere sheet during the day. While Wendell attempts to create a new afterlife for himself, he unknowingly sabotages the life that Marjorie is struggling to maintain. 

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Hocus & Pocus #1: The Legend of Grimm’s Woods – Manuro

Illustrations – Gorobei

I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid and I’ve loved graphic novels since then so a combination of these in game form seemed like a trifecta that couldn’t fail. In Hocus & Pocus you have the choice of character and which magical creature you will take on your adventure. Aimed at kids in middle school this interactive graphic novel includes “choices, puzzles, mysteries, and powerups”. For this adventure you will need a die, pencil and eraser.

Pocus has pink hair so naturally she was who I wanted to be for my first adventure.

My choice of magical creature was also easy; the Boxobullfrog, “who keeps a bunch of weird things in its mouth to take when you need them”. I barely looked at the other options. Why wouldn’t I want a creature that produces handy weirdness when required?!

So with my character and creature chosen I took off on my adventure and fairly soon I was lost. I ended up on the exact same path in the forest several times and I thought for a while that I was going to be lost forever. There were times where I wandered around paths with no story. I went from a panel where all I needed to do was choose a number, flipped to the number and found another panel where all I needed to do was choose a number.

On my second adventure I decided to be Hocus with his hair sprayed pompadour. I kept my Boxobullfrog because “weird things in its mouth”! There was no other option for me although this little critter wasn’t as useful to me this time around. While I didn’t get lost on a path this time I had to return to the map of the castle so many times I felt the urge to scream in frustration. If I wound up at the Groundhog Day map again in a future adventure I’d write down each number I followed from it so I didn’t accidentally wind up at the same place so many times more than once.

There are rules to follow regarding whether your magical creature is awake or asleep which involve searching for its food in the drawings and marking boxes on your Adventure Tracker. I probably would have loved this part when I was in the age group the book is intended for but now that I’m old it felt too much like homework to me and so I may have cheated, deciding that my magical creature was always going to be awake when the story gave me the option of obtaining their help. I expect a lot of kids will enjoy making notes each time they find some food for their creature or a star.

Because my brain has a habit of connecting pieces of information that have no relevance to one another (thanks, brain!) this book reminded me of an article I read last week where someone was discussing the differences between Pass the Parcel from the good ol’ days and now. Back when I was a child sometimes the music stopped on you during a game and sometimes it didn’t. When the next layer was opened there’d be a cheap plastic toy or a lolly or nothing. Apparently every layer now has a toy (that’s not some cheap plastic thing) and everyone has to win something or they’ll feel left out. Hold on; my brain is about to try to connect the dots for you.

In this story it felt as though no matter what I chose everything would end up fine in the end and that it was more an illusion of choice than the real deal. There was always the possibility in the Choose Your Own Adventures of my childhood that the wrong choice could be dangerous for the character and potentially lead to their demise but when I read this graphic novel straight through I didn’t uncover anything dastardly, which was disappointing. I was encouraged by the amount of panels I came across when I read from cover to cover that I hadn’t already seen so you could potentially read this a number of times and discover different parts of the story, albeit with the same ending.

The illustrations were cute. I particularly liked the tree at the crossroads in the Woods of the Treemen that looked like it was shrugging, not knowing which path to choose either.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quirk Books for granting my wish and giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Introducing a new series of interactive graphic novels – first published in France, and translated/transported to English language readers by Quirk Books.

Enter a world inspired by all of your favorite fairy tales – complete with gingerbread houses, a girl dressed in red, and seven children lost in the woods. Hocus & Pocus offers a new kind of reading experience – part game book, part graphic novel, and part Choose Your Own Adventure story. Readers can play as Hocus (a girl) or Pocus (a boy), choose a magic animal companion, and enter a colourful fairy tale forest of riddles, magical objects, and unusual characters. Succeed or fail, it’s all up to you! 

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Zita the Spacegirl #3: The Return of Zita the Spacegirl – Ben Hatke

What a fun way to round out the trilogy! After the huge Legends of Zita the Spacegirl cliffhanger I’ve been keen to know where we’d find Zita at the beginning of this story. Zita is on trial in the Court of Dungeon World, facing a slew of trumped up charges; her heroics in the first two graphic novels twisted into crimes. Poor Mouse appears at her kangaroo court and, shackled in a way that brought to mind Hannibal Lector, he’s been sentenced to death! But wait! Who or what is that mysterious creature in the blue cape that’s overlooking the proceedings?

Bringing back all of my favourites from the first two books and introducing a few new ones, this is the action packed volume that finally answers the question of whether Zita ever returns home to Earth. I don’t think I’d return if I were her because of all of the amazing adventures she’s had and the wonderful friends she’s met along the way, but it’s what she’s dreamed of since the beginning so I couldn’t help cheering her on.

What’s lovely about this story is that you don’t just get to witness Zita saving a friend, an enemy or a world; Zita needs help herself in this one. Thankfully she’s made such an impact previously that there’s no shortage of people/beings/objects willing to lend a hand or whatever is needed to contribute to saving her.

Femur and Raggy, Zita’s dungeon mates, were the comic relief for me and became new favourites.

I also loved that previous favourites including One, Strong-Strong, Randy and Shippy returned.

Like the two previous Zita books the illustrations in this one were brilliant. Although the story could end with this book and currently does, there is potential to keep the story going. While you could argue that this series presents a good case for quit while you’re ahead I’d keep reading if another Zita book magically appeared in front of me.

In what I’ll call the Special Features after Zita’s journey concludes (I’ve been bingeing a lot of TV series recently) there’s a beautiful story of how she came to be. It’s one of those melty heart stories that makes you appreciate Zita even more.

Once again, I have to say that I love my library. They didn’t stock this book but they bought it just because I asked them to. Now they have the whole series, which I plan to borrow again for a reread ASAP!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Ben Hatke brings back our intrepid space heroine for another delightful sci-fi/fantasy adventure in this New York Times-Bestselling graphic novel trilogy for middle grade readers.

Zita the Spacegirl has saved planets, battled monsters, and wrestled with interplanetary fame. But she faces her biggest challenge yet in the third and final installment of the Zita adventures. Wrongfully imprisoned on a penitentiary planet, Zita has to plot the galaxy’s greatest jailbreak before the evil prison warden can execute his plan of interstellar domination!

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Cici’s Journal: The Adventures of a Writer-In-Training – Joris Chamblain

Illustrations – Aurélie Neyret

I feel like cheating with this review and just telling you to check out the review Lola wrote, which you can find here. Thank you Lola for already articulating so well what I wanted to say. 😊

So, onto my ramble.

I quite liked the stories of Mr Mysterious in Part One and Ms Mysterious in Part Two. The initially unseen depth of their sweet but sad stories were unexpected, although to be completely honest I felt Cici had no business playing Nancy Drew and interfering in their lives in the first place.

I loved Cici’s inquisitive nature but wasn’t a fan of the sneaky way she went about her investigations. I loved that she cares about people and wants to help once she solves their ‘mystery’ and understands what she can do to help (not that she was asked to help in the first place) but I hated that she spends the rest of her time lying to her mother and using her friends.

Because Cici is so Cici-centric all we know about one of her friends until the very end is that they are a whinger. Seriously, would you want to be friends with someone who can only describe you as a complainer, even if they’re right? It’s not that I hated Cici. A lot of the time I found her endearing and sweet but she really irritated me too. Thankfully she does learn lessons along the way about the way she’s treated her friends and mother.

My brain went a little nutty during the first story when all of the kids are lying to their parents and sneaking off to go hang out in the middle of the bush with a strange old man. Granted, he was a lovely but sad old man and I doubt he would slap a mosquito actively draining all of his blood. He could’ve been a creepy old man though. I know it’s just a story but my adult brain is practically hyperventilating (no, I don’t know how that’s physically possible either) at the thought of sending a message that it’s okay to lie to your parents to secretly meet a stranger in a remote location! Nuttiness aside, I adored the old man in the first story. He was an absolute sweetheart.

Naturally I loved that the scene of the second ‘mystery’ was the local library. Woohoo! Cici manages to solve Ms Mysterious’ mystery the first time she checked out the book that Ms Mysterious has been checking out every week for many years (of course). There’s no romantic hiding in the depths of my icy cold heart but I admit I really liked the love story of Ms Mysterious and her beau.

The illustrations were gorgeous and I loved the soft warm colours used throughout the book. The layout was really well done, with layers showing crayons, pencils (with pencil shavings) and pens laying on top of pages in Cici’s journal that made it seem as though the reader is peeking over her shoulder at the page she’s working on. She’s also pasted in relevant bits and pieces, including postcards from her friends, newspaper articles, letters and photos. The creativity of telling the story through graphic novel format interspersed with journal entries and drawings makes this visually a really interesting book.

I wouldn’t mind revisiting this book again in a few months. I wonder even as I’m writing this if I’ve been a bit harsh on Cici’s Cici-centricity. I’m interested to know if I’ll find her more endearing and less irritating next time. I hope so because the stories are quite good. I’d probably give the stories alone 3.5 stars but because I loved the illustrations so much I’m rounding up.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Cici dreams of being a novelist. Her favourite subject: people, especially adults. She’s been watching them and taking notes. Everybody has one special secret, Cici figures, and if you want to write about people, you need to understand what’s hiding inside them. But now she’s discovered something truly strange: an old man who disappears into the forest every Sunday with huge pots of paint in all sorts of colours. What is he up to? Why does he look so sad when he comes back?

In a graphic novel interwoven with journal notes, scrapbook pieces, and doodles, Cici assembles clues about the odd and wonderful people she’s uncovered, even as she struggles to understand the mundane: her family and friends.

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Night Mary – Rick Remender

Illustrations – Kieron Dwyer

I was quite interested in the premise of this graphic novel. Mary enters the dreams of some seriously troubled people to gain insights that will help her father (who runs a sleep disorder clinic) to help them. Mary is trying to cope with the ‘loss’ of a patient and the guilt she feels for what she feels is her responsibility in the circumstances surrounding the loss. The fact that there’s been another presence in Mary’s lucid dreams since the ‘loss’, in the form of a disembodied eye and the words “Dreamer, wake unto me”, only adds to the creep factor.

There were too many backstories and ethical dilemmas that were dealt with too superficially for me to love this one. I would have preferred there to be less ‘stuff’ going on. You’ve got a daughter lucid dreaming for her father while clearly traumatised. He’s quite happy for her to be missing out on school because she’s doing what he trained her to do since she was a small child. You’ve got a mother who’s in a coma due to ‘the accident’ and the daughter who’s supposedly responsible for bringing her mother out of the coma. The father has his own backstory. Each patient has their own backstory. The FBI is involved. There’s the “Dreamer, wake unto me” thing throughout the story.

The artwork was interesting and the splashes of blood worked well in the scenes that were mostly greyscale. Having the dream/nightmare sequences in different colour schemes depending on the content and dreamer was a nice touch and I liked that it was the time the characters were awake that had the least amount of colour.

I didn’t have any problems with the dream/nightmare sequences being disjointed and strange. Had they all flowed seamlessly with no weird elements they wouldn’t have appeared dreamlike to me. What l did have a problem with was how quickly the story was wrapped up. It was all a bit too neat towards the end and the final few panels provided a pretty clichéd conclusion. Ultimately I didn’t love or hate it. While I was reading I wanted to continue to see how it would end but I don’t feel the need to urge you to read it immediately so we can gush over its awesomeness together.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Meet Mary Specter, a misunderstood teenage girl trained to be a lucid dreamer. Mary’s father runs a sleep disorder clinic where Mary enters the ghastly dreams of severely disturbed people in an attempt to help them. When a patient is revealed to be a serial killer, the nightmare world and the waking one become intertwined, putting Mary in real jeopardy. Set in a world where the boundaries between dreams and reality are tenuous, Night Maryis a very dark and terrifying trip into psychological horror.

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Zita the Spacegirl #2: Legends of Zita the Spacegirl – Ben Hatke

After the events in Zita the Spacegirl Zita has gone from Girl Who Pressed the Red Button to Famous Girl Who Pressed the Red Button. Oh, and she did have a part to play in the whole saving Scriptorius from the apocalyptic asteroid thing.

When an Imprint-o-Tron robot imprints on a poster of Zita, it begins its transformation into Zita Imposter Extraordinaire. Eager for some respite from the adoration of the masses, Zita is only too happy to allow robot Zita to take the glory. While robot Zita soaks up the attention, human Zita and Mouse sneak off to enjoy Lady Madrigal’s circus.

Meanwhile, ambassadors from New Lumponia plead their case for (robot) Zita to save their planet from a swarm of star hearts, which are deadlier, less cutesy and with nastier looking teeth than they sound. Before she knows it real Zita finds herself left behind, branded a criminal and unsure who she can trust.

Along the way she meets plenty of new characters including Madrigal, a gigantic cat with glowing eyes called Glissando and my personal favourite, Shippy. We learn some unexpected backstories for Piper (just don’t call him Whistle Man) and Mouse. Piper also reveals a hidden talent along the way which comes in quite handy.

The illustrations are just as good as the first story and even feature a cameo of my mate Jerry from Zita the Spacegirl. I love the aerial units, the spider and the adorable multiplying Doppelganger. There’s one panel that certainly gives new meaning to heart attack as well.

The best thing about robot Zita is that she can read 147 books straight without needing to stop to eat and she has an eidetic memory. I wish!!

The worst thing about this book? There’s a cliffhanger and I don’t have The Return of Zita the Spacegirl on hand. How am I supposed to move on with my life before I find out if Mouse is okay, if Zita ever returns home and if she does, how she can ever say goodbye to all of her new friends across the galaxy?!

I will not sneak a peek at reviews of the next one to find answers.

I will not sneak a peek at reviews of the next one to find answers …

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Fame comes at a price …

Zita must find her way back to earth … but her space adventures have made her a galactic megastar! Who can you trust when your true self is overshadowed by your public image? And to make things worse … Zita’s got a robot double making trouble – while wearing her face!

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Far Out Fairy Tales: Ninja-Rella – Joey Comeau

Illustrations – Omar Lozano

Okay, Ninja-rella is really fun! As one of the Far Out Fairy Tales graphic novels, the original gets twisted in some imaginative ways. I love that Ninja-rella isn’t hoping to go to the Prince’s ball because she wants her happily ever after, being saved from her circumstances by the Prince and then marrying him. No, this version of Cinderella wants to save herself and the Prince by becoming his “extremely awesome royal ninja bodyguard”.

Having learned to be smart from her mother and strong from her father, Cinderella transforms herself into a kick-ass ninja, now known as Ninja-rella, after her mother’s death. Of course, her father remarries a woman with two daughters and after he too dies, Ninja-rella is relegated to servant by her cliché evil stepmother.

On the evening of the ball the most adorable little fairy godninja rocks up to outfit Ninja-rella in appropriate ninja attire and provides her with her glass katana sword!

There’s no pumpkin or talking animals in this version so Ninja-rella makes her own way to the ball.

Ninja-rella has some brilliant moves and her expressions are priceless. I appreciated that it’s her strength and skills that shine in this story instead of her beauty. I really connected to her and loved her determination and attitude.

The illustrations were fantastic, capturing Ninja-rella’s emotions and moves well. I always enjoy the bonus material at the end of the Far Out Fairy Tales stories: an explanation of the original story, illustrated representation of the main differences between the original and Far Out version, questions to get the reader to think about what they’ve read and a glossary that explains tricky words.

My main nitpick with this story is that I was disappointed Ninja-rella ran from the Prince so he wouldn’t see her rags at midnight. I would’ve thought this Cinderella wouldn’t give a damn about her clothes and what others thought of them. However I concede it’s a necessary evil to move the plot along to the all important search for the owner of the glass katana.

As a side note, I always found it bizarre in the version I grew up with that at midnight all of the fairy godmother magic is undone – except for the slipper the Prince took door to door. Surely the glass slipper should have vanished or transformed back into its pre-magic form like everything else?

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Cinderella’s stepmother and two stepsisters treat her like dirt. Each and every day, they force her to clean their clothes, cook their meals, and only give her rags to wear and crumbs to eat. But each night, in secret and in shadows, Cinderella trains to be a ninja! More than anything, Cinderella yearns to become the Prince’s personal bodyguard. When the opportunity to prove her worth to the Prince finally arrives in the form of an invitation to a royal costume ball, Cinderella’s stepmother won’t let her go! But this time around, Ninja-rella isn’t going to take “no” for an answer …

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Far Out Fairy Tales: Red Riding Hood, Superhero – Otis Frampton

My library ordered more Far Out Fairy Tales and Red Riding Hood, Superhero is one I’d really been looking forward to getting my big teeth into (sorry but I had to go there!). While it was still a fun twist on the original it was lacking the woohoo! factor of some of the others in the series.

Ruby Topper first gained her awesome powers of flight, laser-ray vision and extreme strength when she freaked out an alien by hugging it in Area 54. The poor alien mistook the loving squeeze for attack and accidentally left its magical red hood and cloak behind when it took off in its UFO, possibly never to be seen again.

Since acquiring her new favourite outfit, Ruby has saving the Earth and moon from the nefarious plots and schemes of super-villains, unbeknownst to her mother.

This adventure begins with Ruby and her mother on their way to Camp David to celebrate the granny’s (A.K.A, the President’s) birthday. On their way Ruby/Red discovers that familiar foe, Professor Grimm, is up to his old tricks. Determined to achieve world domination, Grimmy has decided to kidnap granny using his latest invention, the Big Bad Wolf-Bot. It’s up to Ruby to save the day, or else President granny won’t be enjoying any birthday cake this year!

As is standard with the Far Out Fairy Tales series, the story has some cool twists on the original (which is described after the twisted version) and there are wonderful illustrations, along with visual story questions, a guide to the main differences between the original and twisted versions of the tale and a glossary for tricky words.

I didn’t connect with the characters in this tale and unlike a lot of the others, I didn’t find this one funny. I liked the twisted changes that were made, especially Red’s transformation from victim to superhero. However, while this was a decent enough story, I don’t feel the need to ramble on about the wonders of this graphic novel.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

While taking a tour of Area 54 with her grandmother, the President of the United States, little Ruby Topper discovers a mysterious little alien carrying a red hood. When Ruby dons the crimson cape and cowl, it grants her AMAZING SUPERPOWERS! But will her newfound abilities be enough to save the White House – and her grandmother – from the rampaging Big Bad Wolf-Bot?

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Noble Volume 1: God Shots – Brandon Thomas

Illustrations – Roger Robinson

Colours – Juan Fernández

The blurb for this graphic novel sounded like a mash up of lots of movies I’ve enjoyed and while it’s not an especially original concept, it sounded like it would be fun. We have astronauts on a suicide mission to save Earth from an asteroid (Hi, Armageddon, etc). Somehow while saving the world one of the astronauts learns a new trick. David now has telekinesis (Hello, Carrie and Matilda).

For some reason David can’t remember much of anything at all (Hiya, Dory). There’s a villain (Hey, every action film ever!) and a wife that’s fighting to get her husband back (take your pick!). Astrid, David’s wife, is a real badass and I would’ve liked to have seen her in action some more because she had potential to wreak havoc.

Unfortunately there was so much jumping around that if I hadn’t already read the blurb I would have been completely lost and even with that information I still couldn’t really connect the dots with any consistency until around the halfway mark. There were so many time shifts, back and forth to different time periods both before and after the ‘event’.

The main character has no idea who they are so they’re no help to the reader but they do get flashbacks, oftentimes in the middle of a fight scene. There’s a lot of action, with people fighting all over the place as David’s powers continue to grow stronger for some reason.

Had there been smoother transitions and some more information early on to help readers get into the story and get to know the characters this could have been a winner. As it stands I really struggled to make it to the point where the story was starting to make sense and I never really connected to the characters.

While the story will be continuing I won’t be following along, which is a shame because the illustrations were really well done and the story itself had a lot of potential. There are some explanations given along the way but not enough to balance out the frustration I felt at the frenetic time shifts.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Lion Forge and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Astronaut David Powell was one of the team of five astronauts who took on the suicide mission of destroying the Icarus2 asteroid before it could collide with Earth and annihilate all life on the planet. The team succeeded, but as a result of the explosion, David gained the ability of telekinesis, the means of moving matter with one’s mind. David also lost his memories.

Now, back on Earth, David is travelling throughout the world, taking on different identities and jobs, helping people while his powers grow. Fighting to stay alive and out of the reach of the Foresight Corporation and its CEO, Lorena Payan. Hoping to one day remember his life, his name, and the mysterious woman and young boy in his memory flashes. His wife and son.

David’s wife, Astrid Allen-Powell, has been receiving secret messages from an informant within Foresight, confirming David is alive and his movements. Astrid is now on a mission: to get her husband back. To put her family back together. Astrid Allen-Powell is much more than most people realise, and she will use every skill and weapon in her arsenal to get back the man she loves. 

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Stinky Cecil #3: Stinky Cecil in Mudslide Mayhem! – Paige Braddock

Nesbit the chameleon grew up in a pet store so he doesn’t know what rain is. Cecil the toad is annoyed by Nesbit’s innocence about the way life works outdoors but Jeremy the earthworm has empathy for Nesbit. Usually the spring rain doesn’t cause any problems for the habitat but this year Cecil’s pond floods.

While Cecil always wanted a waterfront property he didn’t want his home to be under the water. Jeff the hamster arrives in a speedboat to help his friends. He’s seen something from his treehouse that may be causing the flood. The friends work together and with their new beaver friends, Bud and Patricia, to solve the problem as a team.

The importance of helping friends is demonstrated when Evelyn the caterpillar helps Nesbit early in the story and when Nesbit later helps Evelyn. Empathy is encouraged and solving problems by making sure that both sides are happy with the solution is explored.

Along the way young readers will learn facts about the different animals in the story and there are additional facts after the story about beavers and the lifecycle of a monarch butterfly. The illustrations are sweet and the colours are bright and cheerful.

I really liked Nesbit’s adorable naivety. A character with wide eyed awe at all of the new things they’re experiencing was a lovely addition to the story.

Favourite bit:

“Pardon me. I thought you were lunch, but you’re a friend.”

Nesbit to Evelyn

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

It’s springtime at Cecil’s Pond and everything is coming alive: the flowers, grasses, insects, and butterflies. The marsh around the pond is all in bloom. Poor Nesbit (the chameleon) is overwhelmed by it all. He sees all the change as unsettling chaos!

Nesbit grew up in a pet store before moving to the pond. He has no idea what it’s like to live in the wild or where he fits in the chain of life. Cecil and his pond pals will have to help Nesbit along on his journey of self-discovery.

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