A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel will be released on March 11, 2025. 

Earthsea: a land of many islands and vast oceans, ancient names and fierce dragons, skillful seafarers and powerful sorcerers. Sparrowhawk is only a boy when he is sent to the school on Roke Island, where the greatest mages learn the limits of their powers, and the rules that constrain them. 

Only he is too arrogant, and too skilled. In a show of hubris, he summons a spirit out of legend and releases a nameless shadow into the world, one set upon the death of the one who made it. And to rid himself of this haunting and find its name, Sparrowhawk must travel Earthsea’s waters, bargain with dragons, and see the truth in a shadow born from his most terrible mistake. 

I’m a longtime fan of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea books, and so when I saw this graphic novel adaptation, I jumped at the chance to review an early copy. It absolutely blew me away. I couldn’t have imagined a graphic novel that could so flawlessly encapsulate the magic of A Wizard of Earthsea, but this one does so in gorgeous full-color, immersing me so utterly in this world it felt more like an illustrated version of the original than any sort of adaptation. Each page is such a beautiful, complete work of art that I would honestly love any of them as a poster or screensaver. I don’t recall ever reading a graphic novel where every illustration contains such a precise attention to detail, creating an atmospheric and absorbing experience that I fell in love with all over again every time I turned a page. 

The adaptation of the text itself is also superb. Fred Fordham was clearly fiercely committed to Ursula K. Le Guin’s work; nearly every line is pulled verbatim from the original text, and the changes that are made—whether abridgements or alterations—are so seamless that the reader scarcely notices their presence. Upon finishing this book, I didn’t feel as though anything was missing; rather, it was although, through the illustrations, I had been able to absorb all the details and moments of the story not explicitly spelled out. This is truly the most beautiful graphic novel adaptation I’ve ever read. Whether you’re new to Earthsea or an enduring fan, I can’t recommend A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel highly enough! 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own. 

​ages 11+ / adventure / ARC / fantasy / fiction / graphic novel / series / young adult

A Song for You and I will be released on March 4, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC for review purposes; all opinions expressed here are my own.

Rowan wants to be a ranger and protect their community, and they’re finally on the verge of achieving their goal. But then their recklessness injures their flying horse, Kes…and Rowan can’t help but wonder if they can truly be a hero if they can’t even take care of the creature they always rely on.

Without Kes, Rowan is assigned to less adventurous tasks on land—including roaming the countryside with Leonne, a violin-playing shepherd who Rowan once mocked for laziness. But as Rowan gets to know Leonne better, they start to wonder if they judged their new companion a little too harshly, and if they can still learn a thing or two about what it means to belong.

​I became a K. O’Neill fan over this summer through The Tea Dragon Society, and A Song for You and I absolutely lived up to my expectations. I love O’Neill’s colorful, gentle illustrations and cozy stories of friendship and self-realization, and this book is exactly that without ever feeling cliché or boring. This gentle, soaring tale of self-realization and discovery, and the struggle that comes when finally reaching a lengthy goal, hits perfectly, and the genderqueer identities of both Rowan and Leonne—as well as their developing friendship—formed such a strong emotional core to this story. This book truly feels like a warm, comforting hug. The atmosphere and worldbuilding are spot-on, and I felt like I was alongside the protagonists as they walked through this adventure. I highly recommend A Song for You and I for readers ages ten and up looking for a cozy fantasy graphic novel. 

fantasy / friends / graphic novel / middle grade / standalone / ages 10+ / LGBTQ+

It's All or Nothing, Vale will be released on February 11, 2025 (tomorrow!)

Nothing can stop Valentina Camacho, fencing champion. Not bad days or new competitors or whatever else the world throws at her—no, because Vale trains more, pushes herself further, and works harder than anyone else.

Nothing, that is, until the accident.

After months of physical therapy, Vale is finally cleared to fence again…but it feels as though the world has moved on without her. While she’s struggling to find the strength and stamina to execute once-simple maneuvers, her competitors have grown stronger, and better. And then there’s Mykra, a new fencer who might be better than Vale ever was.

Vale has only ever been a fencer. And that means she’ll do anything it takes to get back to where she used to be.

But what if that old Vale isn’t coming back?

​This was my first read by Andrea Beatriz Arango, but I know I’ll be checking out her other books immediately. This is one of the best free verse books I can recall reading, with the perfect balance of lyricism, authenticity, and uniqueness to make me fall in love with Vale’s story. This story—one of a middle-school champion struggling to find her identity after losing what she grounded herself in—is one I can’t recall seeing before but that I absolutely loved. Vale is so utterly relatable: determined, perfectionistic, self-sufficient, and yet ultimately incredibly vulnerable, I loved every beat of her voice and her story. The queer romance plotline here was also incredibly sweet, adding a light touch that made me smile. I truly can’t recommend It’s All or Nothing, Vale enough to readers ages ten and up—five extraordinarily well-deserved stars! 

ages 10+ / ARC / book group pick / fiction / friends / in verse / middle grade / realistic fiction / standalone / sports / LGBTQ+

Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

By Nico

The land hovers in an uneasy truce. The powerful giants live in lush gardens spun from magic woven from human lips. And every day, the world becomes a little colder…

On her own in the frigid winter, Lyriana is determined to get her younger brother Zave to Orphan’s Garden, a half-myth oasis beyond the reach of the giant’s powers. If she fails for too much longer, they might not survive.

Brob is a giant, but he’s no longer welcome among his people, either—he and his family are exiles from the lifesaving gardens, sentenced to a soon-to-be-fatal existence in the cold. Luckily, he has a plan: the garden he built years ago from the frost and pooled magic, an impossibility he’s certain no one else knows about. He certainly doesn’t expect—or want—humans among its trees.

But though Lyriana and Brob are at odds, they may need each other to save the garden that has become both of their home.

Within the opening pages of The Song of Orphan’s Garden, I found myself wondering: where have all the other fantasy novels in verse been? This lush, thoughtful book has the feel of a fairytale while being wholly original, and I truly enjoyed it. I love the way Hewitt uses verse in this book—to convey alternate points of view, to create lyricism, and perhaps most of all to separate the perspectives of Lyriana and Brob that was distinct without becoming jarring. Plus, the entire setting is just cool (no pun intended), the sense of an uneasy peace as palpable through the pages as the unique take on something as set as the seasons. I’ll definitely be looking to read more of Hewitt’s books in the future! I highly recommend The Song of Orphan’s Garden to fans of lyrical middle-grade fantasy books and stories where the setting feels as though it has a character of its own.

Thank you to Feiwel and Friends for the gifted copy! All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

adventure / ​ages 9+ / fairy tales / fantasy / fiction / friends / in verse / middle grade /
standalone / siblings