Drawing Dead, by Brian McKinley, is set in 1930s New York, a time when the Mafia ruled supreme in the area. We first meet Faolan O’Connor, a hitman known as ‘the Wolf’, as he is preparing to go out on a job to take out Dutch Schultz. Faolan himself is also marked for death this […]
Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms by Robert Paul Weston & Misa Saburi Written in the sparse style of Japanese poetry, and accompanied by artwork that recalls Japanese watercolor, Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms by Robert Paul Weston is a beautifully rendered tale of love, loss, and cultural upheaval. Moving to a new country is a huge step. You leave behind […]
Seng’s Starving Season is a true story of hope, heartbreak, and survival. It is a snapshot of one life disrupted by one of the most horrific, rarely spoken of atrocities of the ‘modern age’- the genocide of native Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge through slow starvation and brutal labour. Seng entered the ‘killing fields’, the […]
California Illustrated written by Mark Drenth and illustrated by Abner Cardona, is a massive, oversized colouring book stuff full of California history and nature. There are sixteen different categories, with colouring pages, and activity pages. At the back is a sheaf of zany stickers to be affixed in different places in the book. The back […]
The Shark Lady by Jess Keating Via beautiful illustrations, The Shark Lady by Jess Keating introduces readers young and old to Eugenie Clark, a girl with a love of sharks. Despite being old many times growing up that women couldn’t be deep-sea divers or zoologists, and that she should find something appropriate to do with her […]
Human Tribe is a stunning photography collection that showcases the true diversity of our planet. The majority of the photos are from places in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America, with a few being from North America, and Europe. It show everyday people immersed in their own vibrant cultures. From bright clothes, scant […]
Amelia Earhart: Flying Solo by John Burke With Amelia Earhart: Flying Solo, Burke introduces young readers to Amelia Earhart, a true heroine for the ages. Beginning when Earhart is a girl, she was more interested in adventure than appearing ‘proper’. Among other things, she tried to build a roller coaster as a child! Despite familial upheavals […]
Jiayi is a servant to the Empress. She possesses the clairvoyant gift of retrocognition. By touching an object, she can see its past- who owned it, who handled it, etc. She never knows when along the timeline of the object she will end up though. The Empress has her using her gift to attempt to […]
Abraham Lincoln’s Dueling Words is a delightfully illustrated tale about a lesser known incident in Lincoln’s life as a barrister. In response to tax changes that would affect the poorer folk rather harshly, Lincoln wrote a letter to the newspaper under the name ‘Aunt Rebecca’, which also called out rival James Shields. Two other ‘Aunt […]
The Little Book of Lagom by Jonny Jackson & Elias Larsen Jackson & Larsen’s Little Book of Lagom is all about learning to live in simplicity. Lagom is a Swedish word that means ‘just the right amount’. I loved the sidebar explanation for how it possibly came about, deriving from the phrase ‘laget om’ or […]