Completely Full Bookshelf

Happy Father's Day and Juneteenth to y'all! I feel like I've lived seventeen lifetimes this past week—not necessarily in a bad way, just in a "whoa" way. There was household chaos, professional development, extracurriculars, even writing if-then statements to use in a statistical analysis program for school. There was also a trip to the movies to see  Kiki's Delivery Service  (from Studio Ghibli), which is so completely beautiful  and tells a warm, gentle story of a girl with a zest for life and magical powers who faces the lonesome tests and challenges of independence. And amidst all of it, somehow I crammed in graphic novels more quickly than I've maybe ever done before. It was crazy , y'all—and I had so much fun! So let me bring these books to your attention forthwith! (Sidenote—non-graphic novel fans, I suggest you jump down to my review of Understanding Comics !) Middle Grade Borders Written by Thomas King (based on his short story) and illustrate...

Happy Labor Day! For #IMWAYR, I am recommending the stunning graphic novel Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me , written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell. A word of caution to any young readers: this is a YA (young adult) book, not an MG (middle grade) book, and it contains mature content.           This book absolutely blew me away, and I am SO excited to tell you all about it! Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me  chronicles the life of Frederica "Freddy" Riley. Freddy is a high schooler who spends her time Frankensteining old stuffed animals together with her best friend Doodle, hanging out at school with Doodle and fellow friends Eric and Buddy, or working at a lesbian-owned sandwich shop called Gertrude's. Freddy is dating a girl named Laura Dean, and some days, their relationship is picture-perfect. Other days...not so much. Laura Dean has broken up with Freddy 3 times, and she is far from good to Freddy. Yet Freddy gets...