Category: Doreen

The Last Witch: Fear & Fire (The Last Witch #1-5) by Conor McCreery, V.V. Glass & Natalia Nesterenko

Gosh, ’tis the season for some truly affecting graphic novels! The Last Witch is the story of Saoirse, a young Irish girl who just wants to beat her best friend Padraig to the witch’s tower on the outskirts of town one Imbolc, never mind the superstitions about witches coming out to prey on children that …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/06/the-last-witch-fear-fire-the-last-witch-1-5-by-conor-mccreery-v-v-glass-natalia-nesterenko/

Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma by Melanie Lee and Arif Rafhan

Y’all, I did not expect this book to make me cry but it sure did. Ash Tan is a young Singaporean girl stressed out from having the National Exams looming over next year’s horizon, particularly since she isn’t very good at math. When she gets her latest bad grade, her mom takes away her handphone …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/03/amazing-ash-superhero-ah-ma-by-melanie-lee-and-arif-rafhan/

The Mermaid, the Witch, And The Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

I honestly think it does a great disservice to this book to consider/market it as YA. For starters, I very nearly bounced off it in the first few pages when a main character, who we’re clearly meant to feel sympathy for, brutally kills an unarmed man. Had I gone in thinking this was a regular …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/02/the-mermaid-the-witch-and-the-sea-by-maggie-tokuda-hall/

The Math Kids: An Incorrect Solution (The Math Kids #5) by David Cole

with illustrations by Shannon O’Toole. The Math Kids are starting fifth grade in a pretty glum mood. Not only are they not all in the same class any longer, but the boys, Justin and Jordan, have been stuck with a teacher known as Miller the Killer, who has no love for math and barely teaches …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/01/the-math-kids-an-incorrect-solution-the-math-kids-5-by-david-cole/

Madly Marvelous: The Costumes Of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel by Donna Zakowska

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel has long been on the list of shows I’d watch if I had more time in my life, so I was immensely grateful to receive this book so I could make the time to watch at least the pilot episode. Even as someone unfamiliar with the show, I’ve long been a …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/30/madly-marvelous-the-costumes-of-the-marvelous-mrs-maisel-by-donna-zakowska/

From Page To Screen: Dune by Frank Herbert

I’ve read Frank Herbert’s Dune once, when I was 8 and it was the only other English-language book in my grandparents’ house, after Robert Louis Stevenson’s far more age-appropriate Kidnapped. Dune left an indelible mark: I thought in terms of worm sign and the Weirding Way for years, even as I knew uneasily that there …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/29/from-page-to-screen-dune-by-frank-herbert/

The Last Jews Of Penang by Zayn Gregory & Arif Rafhan

Hey, everyone, my very talented friend Arif Rafhan has illustrated a(nother) terrific book! The Last Jews Of Penang is a slight volume suitable for all ages, that highlights a little known corner of Malaysian and Jewish history. A small but thriving Jewish settlement existed on the island of Penang for well over a century, building …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/24/the-last-jews-of-penang-by-zayn-gregory-arif-rafhan/

The Bird: The Great Age Of Avian Illustration by Philip Kennedy

So for real, I spent every few pages of this gorgeous, luxe volume either exclaiming or sighing, “So beautiful!” I hardly expected anything less from a book billing (ha) itself as a retrospective of the golden age of avian illustration, but I honestly did not expect a volume so hefty and extraordinary, and for only …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/23/the-bird-the-great-age-of-avian-illustration-by-philip-kennedy/

Gigantic by Ashley Stokes

The blurb makes you think this is going to be a comedy, and perhaps for some it is. But it reminded me very much of my first pro theater production, a play with what I thought was a bleak if occasionally funny script, set in a series of airport waiting areas. We performed it to …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/22/gigantic-by-ashley-stokes/

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

I don’t remember the last time a novella, oh heck, any book, has been so strong and thoughtful before totally collapsing for me in the last two pages. “Riot Baby” is not a directive, as I’d mistakenly believed: it’s a nickname. Kev is born during the L.A. riots that blaze in the aftermath of the …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/19/riot-baby-by-tochi-onyebuchi/