Lunar Boy, by Jessica & Jacinta Wibowo

     A graphic novel by new authors and illustrators Jes and Cin Wibowo. According to the inside back cover, they are twins, born in Indonesia, and living both in Indonesia and the United States. Very colorfully drawn and illustrated - in fact, the artwork is the strength of this book. 

    Lunar Boy tells the futuristic story of Indu, a boy who is found alone on the moon. They are brought to a place called New Earth where they try to fit into their new family, all the while trying to discover their gender identity. Along the way they meet many different people, most of whom are also trying to figure out their identity. The story touches on non-binary characters, transgender characters, queer characters, panromantic and more. It seems, upon just one read through, that the Wibowo's have tried to create a story where questioning your gender is not easy, but eventually embraced by the people around them. 

    I love the idea behind this story, and know that there is a great need for more gender affirming and exploring books for teens and young adults. Even though the "book climate" around the United States has become scary in the last couple of years, with so many more challenges and bans on young people's books than ever before, books that continue to mirror everyone in the world (not just some people) are vital. So for that reason alone I support Lunar Boy and the story it is telling. However, it is not very well written. The graphics seem to be the strength of both artists, but the writing is below average. Again, I appreciate and support the messages, but books like The Prince and the Dressmaker and the Lumberjanes series are so much stronger in their story lines. 

    In short, I like the idea of this book. I hope Jes and Cin continue to create and grow as artists. Credit given for taking on such a needed yet controversial topic (although it shouldn't create controversy, should it?). But their writing needs help, or time, or both. Too simplistic, at times confusing. I think future efforts will be stronger. 3 paws.

The Magician of Tiger Castle, by Louis Sachar

     This is the first book I have ever blogged about that will not get a paw rating. The reason is that The Magician of Tiger Castle, contrary to it's name (which sounds like a potentially wonderful fantasy story for teens), is not a middle school book. It was written for adults. The reason I read it is twofold: One, I read one or two adult books a year, on average, just to take a break from teen/tween/young adult stories. I love reading what you read, or what I hope you'll want to read based on my amazing paw review system! But once or twice a year I come across something I want to read that falls into the adult category...so I read it! Two, the author of this book is Louis Sachar, who wrote one of the first Newbery Award books I ever read, Holes. Maybe one of my top five favorite books of all time. Perhaps you've heard of it, or seen the movie (which is nowhere near the quality of the book, so please read the book if you've seen the movie). Sachar has written a lot of books for elementary, middle and high school readers. The Magician of Tiger Castle is his first book written for adults.

    It is a story of Anatole, a magician living in the 1500s, who ends up being favored by a king of a fictional kingdom. The princess - the king's daughter - has been promised in marriage to the prince of another kingdom. But she is supposedly in love with a regular man, who is not a prince, and who in fact never met the princess, but thus the confusion - and humorous storyline - begin. The story involves tigers in moats, potions, deception, romance, dungeons, magic...it really is a fun story throughout! And it's written for adults. Which means it has suggestions of situations that wouldn't occur in books for kids. That said, there are plenty of adult books that get recommended for teens and young adult readers, and although I don't read many of those, I didn't find anything in this book that I would say a teenager could not or should not read; no strong, inappropriate language, no explicit sex scenes, no excessive or gratuitous violence.

    So, if you are an adult reading my canine words of wisdom, you may enjoy this fantasy story, written for you, by a master storyteller. If you are a teen reading this blog, you might like this latest release by Sachar, but you could easily find other fantasy stories written more for you that are just as good (scroll through my blog to find some recent reviews). As books go, Sachar is a wonderful writer, and Magician was fun to read, but it isn't Holes. If I was rating it, I would probably give it an average rating...maybe 3 paws. Make what you want of that, and I promise I'll be back to middle grade books as soon as I post this entry!

    Whatever you do, keep on reading!

Best of All Worlds, by Kenneth Oppel

     The first book I've read by author Oppel since Ghostlight, which was scary and fun! Best of All Worlds is a little science fiction, a little weird (in a cool way), and a little romance. Where Ghostlight was different and over-the-top spooky and fun, Best of All Worlds is pretty slow, focused way too much on the romance (and I love a good romance, but Oppel makes too much of this story a romance thing between main character Xavier and Mackenzie).

    The Oak family - Xavier, his step mom and his dad - wake up one morning in a totally different world...not on the beach in the cabin where they fell asleep the night before but on a large, beautiful farm, with a beautiful big barn, and farm animals, all needing to be milked and fed and cared for! No stores, no other people, no cars or buildings (other than the barn).  They explore their new world while trying to decide on what exactly happened - taken by aliens? Taken by the government? In their three years in this place, a new baby brother is born, who doesn't know (or miss) the world they used to know. 

    Then the Jacksons suddenly appear. A new family with their own very strong opinions about how they ended up being dropped in this strange new world. The families cooperate but also disagree on where they are, how they got there, and what to do about it. Xavier would be in high school, and Mackenzie, already in high school, becomes his love interest. And so these plots intertwine.

    This wasn't a terrible book, and Oppel is usually a really good story teller. But as a dog I can readily point out when something doesn't "smell" right. Best of All Worlds made me want to read a really good science fiction story, maybe a classic like War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Or something newer, like Shipbreaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. I often recommend Oppel to strong 7th grade and 8th grade science fiction fans, but this one...only for a die hard Oppel fanatic.

3 paws.