Apr 20 2023
This heartwarming children’s book is being marketed as a graphic novel but feels very much like a picture book to me. That said, both formats are good? Especially when the story and art are both so strong. Our title characters are best friends. Otis is a long-haired guinea pig while Peanut is a naked mole …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/20/otis-peanut-by-naseem-hrab-kelly-collier/
Apr 19 2023
As someone who has spent a patently absurd amount of time playing Legend Of The Five Rings, a role-playing game heavily inspired by Far Eastern cultures, it’s always fascinating to me to see how lacking my knowledge of Japan actually is. Books like this one gently correct my misperceptions, in the most interesting way possible. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/19/magical-history-tour-vol-12-the-samurai-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoia/
Apr 18 2023
My middle child loved this book so much that he took off with it after we finished reading it and I still don’t know where it is, lol. Landis Blair’s first picture book is the story of Watson, whose fears of the creatures in his closet and under his bed prevent him from feeling sleepy. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/18/the-night-tent-by-landis-blair/
Apr 11 2023
I didn’t even know Tom Gauld had written a children’s book! This is his first of hopefully many, especially given the delightful allusions peppered throughout this volume to the title characters’ adventures while on their epic journey. Once upon a time, a king and queen lived happily but for the fact that they had no …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/11/the-little-wooden-robot-and-the-log-princess-by-tom-gauld/
Apr 06 2023
with colors by Angel/Michi DeSantiago. This is a really fun graphic novel that I almost bounced off of in the first few pages because it’s so darn dark. And I don’t mean in mood: I mean that it’s so visually murky that my brain was refusing to engage with the images on the page. I’d …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/06/codex-black-vol-1-a-fire-among-clouds-by-camilo-moncada-lozano/
Apr 03 2023
Due to my absolutely bonkers (and entirely self-inflicted) work schedule over at CriminalElement.com, I feel like I’ve had to dial back a lot on my professional obligations w/r/t books over here, but you’d best believe that when the chance to join the book tour for J. L. Worrad’s latest book came up, I jumped on …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/04/03/the-keep-within-by-j-l-worrad/
Mar 29 2023
If you think of the saxophone nowadays, you think of jazz musicians, perhaps John Coltrane and Stan Getz if you’re of a certain musical inclination, perhaps Lisa Simpson and Kenny G if your knowledge of the instrument tends more towards mainstream pop culture like my own does. But the saxophone has a long and storied …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/29/the-story-of-the-saxophone-by-lesa-cline-ransome-and-james-e-ransome/
Mar 28 2023
with the absolutely delightful subtitle: Bees Are So Amazing and You’re About to Find Out Why. I am 100% the target audience for this humorous non-fiction book extolling the benefits and wonders of bees. Heck, I even wrote a hybrid role-playing/board game, Honey Hex, that benefits the National Wildlife Federation’s efforts to protect pollinators. In …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/28/omfg-bees-by-matt-kracht/
Mar 23 2023
with the most charming of illustrations, as with the other books in the series, by Wastana Haikal. Salam Ramadan, readers! Do I have the perfectly timely OwnVoices read for you, the third and latest in one of my favorite middle grade series. As Zara’s Rules For Living Your Best Life opens, Spring Break is springing! …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/23/zaras-rules-for-living-your-best-life-by-hena-khan/
Mar 22 2023
This is a strange, arresting book that one hundred percent works better as a novel(la) than as the lyric game it purports to be. Ostensibly a collection of spells and games created and played by two young girls living within recent memory, the short descriptions take common childhood games of the West and give them …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/22/lilancholy-by-john-battle/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire