Go With The Flow, by Lily Williams & Karen Schneemann

     A friendship story. Period.

    This new graphic novel is about four girls who become friends as sophomores in high school (second year students). Three of the girls were friends coming into the new school year, and Sasha becomes the newest friend when the other girls step in to rescue her from her first period, which occurs at school (of course!). She is unsure about what is happening or what to do, and of course other kids turn on her and make fun of her for some weeks afterward. People can be mean, can't they?

    Go With The Flow is a new graphic novel from artists Williams and Schneemann who began an online comic series titled The Mean Magenta a few years ago. The comic series, and this book, address menstruation - periods - something that girls first experience at some point in their young lives but is still seen as a taboo topic in most social settings (like school). In the book, the girls are upset that even though there are dispensers in their high school for products to assist with a period, they are not stocked with supplies - yet the football team gets new uniforms every year, so clearly the school has money. Why are girls' needs not being better addressed at school? A fair question, and these fearless four girls go to work to try and solve this "problem".

    A good book, an important topic that I don't think should be a "thing", but apparently it is, even in 2025! I'm not sure the topic will appeal to everyone, but I wish it did...we could all help each other with the parts of being human that we don't control, and make topics about things like menstruation not something to be secretive, or embarrassed, about! Nice, clear artwork, and a topic I haven't seen addressed in a book since Judy Bloom did it many years ago! 4 paws!

The Windeby Puzzle, by Lois Lowry

     From one of the very few authors that has won the coveted Newbery Award twice (when even winning once is remarkable), comes this really unique story that mixes history with fiction...but not in the traditional way! The Windeby Puzzle is the story of the Windeby Girl, a skeleton found in a bog in Germany in the 1950s in an area of the country named Windeby (a bog is a lot like a swamp, except less water and more firm - firm enough to hold a body, for example). At that time scientists believed the body was one of a teen girl. After years of study, later scientists decided the body was actually a teen boy. Much of the body was still intact - hair, skin, a blindfold over its eyes - it was really an amazing find...and it was determined to be about 2,000 years old!

    Author Lois Lowry took the facts surrounding the Windeby body and created one possible story behind how the body ended up in the bog at all. She did her research about life in that time and tried to create a realistic story about the body, and how it met this fate. She starts with a story about Estrild, a girl in a village who really wants to be a warrior, something only boys could be. Estrild was friends with a sickly boy named Varick who was helping her realize her dream to be the first girl warrior in her village.

    Then Lowry wrote a second story, where Varick ends up being the body in the bog. Different perspective, different reasons for being Estrild's friend, but the same end result. In between these two stories the author tries to share her thoughts behind her creation based on what life would have been like 2,000 years ago. It really is a unique way to approach a piece of archeology and world history, and I appreciated this as I read the book. I can't say she hit a home run with the book overall, but she gets a lot of credit for trying something like this. I don't know if I've ever read a book put together in quite this way.

    Lowry is as accomplished as any teen author, with books like The Giver and Number the Stars in her writing repertoire. This book would not have been as good in many other hands, I believe. So I give her a lot of credit for this creative approach, even if the overall effect wasn't as solid as some of her other, award-winning books. But a cool idea and a decent book, worth a read! 4 paws!

Jupiter Rising, by Gary D. Schmidt

     Jupiter Rising is the latest book by author Gary D. Schmidt, notorious for having the worst looking book covers ever. Fortunately, a few of his latest releases seem to be improving on the book cover thing, which is very exciting, because I love his stories, but the covers usually make it tough for me to convince anyone else to read his books!

    Jupiter Rising is a relatively short story (201 pages) based on characters from a previous Schmidt book, Orbiting Jupiter, which was also a pretty short and really good book. It's been a while since I read Orbiting, but I'll admit I nearly teared up twice while reading Jupiter Rising, and I challenge you to read it without having the same reaction. In Jupiter Rising, protagonist Jack is living on his family's farm in rural Maine, helping to raise 3-year-old Jupiter, a child born to Jack's sort-of-step brother Joseph, who has passed away. Jupiter's wealthy grandparents enter the picture and decide they want Jupiter, and a custody battle ensues. Along the way Jack is navigating 8th grade, which by itself qualifies for it's own story - bullies, homework, teachers, principals, possibly the track team, and of course working on the farm and helping to raise Jupiter. 

    That's the gist of the story minus the emotions and feelings of it all. However, under the masterful writing of Schmidt, the short book is full of emotions and feelings, and most of them are so believable that it is impossible not to be immediately drawn into Jack's world. In fact, I would say Schmidt is one of the best storytellers I have read, and he writes character voice as well as anyone I've read!

    Before the book ended it seemed as though several subplots of the story were not going to end well, meaning happily. I was happy about this - in the real world, everything doesn't end happily every time! - but also a little afraid of this - I wanted Jack to get all the good things he seemed to deserve. I won't tell you which way Schmidt went (you'll have to find out for yourself), but it got just a little too unrealistic, which is why I am giving this book 4 paws instead of 5. But that's the only reason...it's still really good realistic fiction that I recommend you read!

The Many Assassinations of Samir, Seller of Dreams, by Daniel Nayeri

     From the author of Everything Sad is Untrue, this second book by Daniel Nayeri is a blend of folktale, picture book, and fable - with a lot of humor thrown in! Thanks in part to the wonderful artwork of Daniel Miyares, Seller of Dreams reminds me of some of the books I would read as a young pup, the sorts that had pictures on the oversized spine and came in bright oranges and greens. I always read a new book with one eye on who I think would enjoy this story, and I have to admit I was a bit baffled throughout most of the book. But the end of the story was unpredictable, and a real treat for sticking with it until the end (there were a few times during the book when I wasn't sure where this story was going, or if it was worth finding out), like the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop! 

    Samir is a traveling salesman as well as a wonderfully enthusiastic teller of stories. His story is being told by a young boy who has many of his own stories to tell, but when the boy's life and Samir's come together, the boy is being chased by a mob of rock throwing monks, and when Samir trades some of his possessions for the boy's life, he gives him the name Monkey (monk-ey!). And so the story begins. Samir and Monkey are part of a traveling caravan of merchants and nomads traveling the Silk Road in the early 11th Century. Author Nayeri shares in his notes at the end of the story that he has always had a fascination for the Silk Road, and from his notes and the story he creates in this book it is easy to see why. That "road" of hundreds of miles is where trade between the East and what was then the West was focused, but I don't think many of us know a lot about it. Samir and Monkey travel this trail throughout the book, and experience many wonderful adventures along the way!

    I think you would like this book if you are open to reading something different than what you might normally read...if you are open to a whimsical tale where adventure and humor are woven together to create a life like you may not have ever imagined. I mentioned that during my reading I often wondered where this story was going, and if you wonder the same thing but stay to the end, I think you'll be very satisfied with where the entire book takes you! Seller of Dreams did win the Newbery Honor last year, so you know it's a better-than-average story. I hope you'll stretch yourself a bit and give this a try...and then let me know what you think in the comments! Happy New Year, and happy reading! 4 paws!