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Graphic Novel

The Tea Dragon Society

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The Tea Dragon Society Series by Kay O’neill
Format: Book & eBook on Hoopla
Who is it for?: Everyone

Prepare yourself for an overload of adorable in a world where tea leaves grow on the antlers of tiny dragons. In volume one, Greta a blacksmith’s apprentice, meets new friends and the tea dragons that they care for. Minette is a former prophetess with a mysterious past. Hesekiel and Erik, retired adventurers, are the last remaining members of The Tea Dragon Society. Together they work to keep the knowledge of tea dragon care alive. In volume two, The Tea Dragon Festival, we meet Rinn, a forager from a small village in the mountains. On one of their quests, they meet Aedhan, a dragon from the Silver Wing Clan that accidentally took an 80-year nap. In volume three, The Tea Dragon Tapestry, Greta pursues an apprenticeship with a famous blacksmith from a faraway city and Minette has reoccurring dreams of memories she thought were lost to her.

The series touches on a lot of very important themes such as friendship, grief, and personal growth. Each volume includes pages from the Tea Dragon Handbook. Kay O’neill’s art is warm and charming. I enjoyed seeing how they “dragonified” the different kinds of teas. Chamomile is cute and sleepy while Jasmine is regal and well-groomed. This graphic novel series is perfect for someone who wants something calm, endearing, and lovely to read. Find The Tea Dragon Society in the catalog or on Hoopla!

Inkblot

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Inkblot by Emma Kubert, Art by Rusty Gladd
Format: Book & eBook on Hoopla
Who’s it for?: Teens and Young Adults

Meet Inkblot! Anyone who cohabitates with a cat knows that our feline friends are going to do what they want, when they want. Inkblot is no exception. Seeker, a bookkeeping sorceress, accidentally summons this magical black cat, a “space-distorting demon” that has “no regard for any established law of nature, magic or otherwise.” As Seeker chases Inkblot through time and space, he leads them into chaos, from a pirate mutiny to battling giants and dragons and even solving a sphynx’s riddle. If you’re a cat person who happens to enjoy space travel, I highly recommend.

Find Inkblot in the catalog or on Hoopla!

Jupiter’s Legacy

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Jupiter’s Legacy by Mark Millar
Format: Book, eBook, Graphic Novel
Who it’s for: Adults

I think it’s safe to say we’ve all struggled from time to time with comparisons to our family. Maybe you have a super successful family, with high expectations of you, that you’re afraid you’ll never live up to, much less surpass. Maybe you have a family who was not present when you were growing up, and you wonder for the rest of your life who they were, or whether they loved you. Maybe your family is overbearing, and you just want out from under their shadow. Maybe your family has done something terrible, and you would do anything to not follow in their footsteps. And we’re just ordinary people. What if your family had literal super powers?

That is the question raised by the Jupiter’s Legacy series (recently adapted by Netflix) by Mark Millar (author of Marvel’s Civil War, Old Man Logan, and many more amazing comics). In the wake of the stock market crash of 1929, Sheldon Sampson follows mysterious visions leading him and his friends to an island in the middle of nowhere, where they receive powers such as flight, super strength, and psychic abilities. For the next few decades The Union, as this group comes to call themselves, enjoy a golden age of celebrity and civil service. But years later, their children are vapid and rebellious, and the country has changed so drastically from the one they swore to protect. What is the role of a Superhero in this modern age, and is this new generation capable of taking on that mantle?

This is not your average Superhero story. Check it out if you like drama, mystery, action, complicated relationships, and commentary on American culture.

Find Jupiter’s Legacy in the catalog

Giant Days

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Giant Days by John Allison
Art by: Max Sarin, Lissa Treiman, Liz Flemming, Jim Campbell, and Julia Madrigal
Format: eBook, Graphic Novel
Who’s it for?: Teens and Young Adults

This is a super fun slice-of-life graphic novel series about the shenanigans of UK college students. It’s funny, charming, and features strong female relationships between wildly dissimilar, but believable characters. In the first volume: Esther, gorgeous and goth, is a chaos magnet who is dealing with the heartache of a recent breakup. Daisy, homeschooled, wicked smart, and incredibly kind, does a bit of self-discovery. Susan, fiercely independent and kind of cranky, comes face-to-face with her hometown nemesis on campus. Throughout the 14-volume series, readers experience the wins and woes of university, from sickness to housing drama, from part-time jobs to exams. The art is adorable and the plot stays relatable, but light-hearted at the same time. I definitely recommend. Find it on Hoopla!

Cosmoknights

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Cosmoknights by Hannah Templer
Format: Book, ebook, Graphic Novel
Who’s it for: Teens

Prepare for the greatest games in the galaxy! Known as cosmoknights, these cyberpunk gladiators travel the stars to compete for the hand of a planet’s princess. However, there are those who find no pleasure in the games, such as Pan—a young girl from the planet Viridian. When she meets two charismatic cosmoknights with ulterior motives for participating in these deadly games, Pan stows away on their ship in hopes of taking a stand against these planetary kingdoms. But space is vast and dangerous place – she’ll have to pick up a few new tricks if she wants to survive.

Cosmoknights is vibrant, fun, and inspiring. Perfect for anyone trying to find their place in the universe.

Find Cosmoknights in the catalog, or read it on hoopla!

Sweet Tooth

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Sweet Tooth Vol. 1: Out of the Deep Woods by Jeff Lemire
Format: Book, eBook, Graphic Novel
Who it’s for: Adults

An “affliction” has wiped out most of the population, and all the children born after the onset of this sickness are human-animal hybrids, like our hero, Gus, a young human-deer hybrid. Gus was raised in the woods, in isolation, by his father, who told him it was unsafe to ever leave the woods, but when his father dies, and hunters encroach upon the woods, Gus has little choice but to take the help of a mysterious drifter named Jepperd, who offers to deliver Gus to “The Preserve” where he promises Gus will be safe with other hybrid children.

So begins this graphic novel series, recently adapted into a TV show by Netflix, that is part Bambi, part Mad Max, part Island of Dr. Moreau, part The Road. Join Gus, AKA Sweet Tooth, for his love for candy, and Jepperd, AKA Big Man, for his large stature, on their epic quest across a post-apocalyptic America.

Find Sweet Tooth in the catalog

Or on Hoopla