The Greatest of Marlys

Written by: Lynda Barry

First line: One day, I was drawing my weekly comic strip, and as I drew the frame, I had a half-memory of being with my cousins after seeing the torchlight parade.

Why you should read this book: Lynda Barry returns the reader to the magical, confusing, frustrating, delightful, dirty, and exuberant world of childhood with her strange four-panel strips, containing far more words than you would expect, and far more ideas. Marlys, her siblings Freddy and Maybonne, and their cousins Arna and Arnold, live in a gritty but joyful world where adults are bizarre and inscrutable, teenagers are mysterious and exciting, kids have incredible power to interpret and reframe their circumstances, and also there are many cool dogs and interesting bugs. The next-level writing provides a unique and believable voice for every kid, offering short narrative arcs along with imaginative info-dumps from the young protagonists' perspective. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Lord help me, her writing is SO good but frankly, her artwork makes me want to barf.

The Willoughbys

Written by: Lois Lowry

First line: Once upon a time there was a family named Willoughby: an old-fashioned type of family, with four children.

Why you should read this book: Although you may have seen the animated film, the written version of this story about four children who ought to be orphans, given how incredibly terrible their parents are, is infinitely better (and contains a list of interesting vocabulary words and a bibliography of historical examples of the plucky orphan genre with which all well-read children should become familiar). Similar to the aesthetic of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, this book depends heavily on the conventions of "old-fashioned" literature, but offers a bit more clarity and joyousness, and a much happier ending, one where at least ten people's circumstances are improved by our plucky heroes' endeavors. Timothy, Barnaby A, Barnaby B, and Jane, abandoned by their criminally awful parents, must figure out new ways to live and to relate to each other and the world around them in order to move forward from their abusive upbringing, while actively hoping for their parents' actual deaths.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You've never one time read a children's book from the nineteenth or twentieth century about a plucky orphan, and you don't want to start now.

Not Fade Away

Written by: Rebecca A. Alexander

First line: Even though the doctor's office was warm, I was freezing. 

Why you should read this book: At the age of twelve, Rebecca learns that she isn't just kind of clumsy, but that she is, in fact, losing her sight, and, as she grows, the doctors determine she is losing her hearing as well, because Rebecca suffers from a rare genetic condition known as Usher Syndrome, and can expect to go completely blind and deaf at some point in her life. This memoir details not only Rebecca's journey into disability, but also all the joy and triumph she is able to wring from life despite setbacks and adversity. Although some parts of the story feel like inspiration porn (especially when, at the age of seventeen, she falls out a window and has to spend a year in rehab instead of going to college) a lot of it is simply devoted to the things she loves (a chapter about how much she loves teaching spin class, a chapter about how much she loves her best friend, a chapter about how much she loves her dog), as Rebecca demonstrates that her life is rich and full, and that losing her eyes and ears does not mean giving up on anything. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It might be a bit too chipper and upbeat for some readers. 

All the Ever Afters

Written by: Danielle Teller

First line: Suppers at the royal court have become entirely too oppressive.

Why you should read this book: Similar to the revisionist works of Donna Jo Napoli, this is a more grown-up retelling of Cinderella, from the stepmother's point of view. Beginning with young Agnes being sent Manor as a very young girl, because her parents can no longer afford to feed her, this book casts the young protagonist as a hard-working, determined go-getter, who learns through trial and error that nobody is going to take care of her, so she needs to take care of herself. A truly excellent example of the genre, with intelligent storytelling and clever plotting, this is a gripping read, one that keeps the reader wondering what will happen next despite the story's framework depending on the fact that most readers already know a lot of it.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are too busy trying to force someone else's autistic kid to learn basic manners. 

The Best Bad Thing

Written by:  Yoshiko Uchida

First line: "Mama, do I absolutely have to go?" I asked for the third time. 

Why you should read this book: Rinko doesn't even want to visit the recently widowed Mrs. Hata and her sons, who are wild and hop on freight trains for fun, and she definitely doesn't want to spend her summer living with them and helping with their cucumber harvest, but her mother has made up her mind: this is the right thing to do for a fellow immigrant in her time of need. Nothing at the Hata house is her idea of a good time, but gradually, Rinko learns to love unusual Mrs. Hata and even her rambunctious sons and the strange old man who lives in their barn. The only problem is that one tragedy seems to follow the next (although they all seem to be related to the freight train situation) and even with Rinko's help, the Hatas are falling further and further away from prosperity. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You regularly jump off of moving vehicles and nothing bad ever happens to you.

Alternative Remedies for Loss

Written by: Joanna Cantor

First line: "You must be new."

Why you should read this book: Ever since her mother passed away, very young adult Olivia has been sleepwalking through life: sleepwalking right out of college and into an entry-level job, sleepwalking through encounters with men, sleepwalking through the entire country of India. When her father asks her to clean out her mother's office (too soon, Olivia thinks, especially considering the presence of her father's new girlfriend, who showed up only a few months after the tragedy) Olivia stumbles upon a photograph and some letters that hint at some secret, something she needs to learn about her mother to try to make sense of her death. Suddenly imbued with purpose, Olivia becomes a detective as well as a filmmaker, and returns to India to uncover the mysteries left unspoken at the end of her mother's life.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You mainly like to travel overseas for the fresh new shopping experiences. 

Dragon's Library Year in Review 2024

For about the last 2 years, I was aware that social media was destroying my brain and I was addicted to mindless scrolling on my phone, but I felt powerless to do anything about it. Since the pandemic, this had manifested in a number of pathetic ways, increasingly in my reading habits, as evidenced by the sharp decline in the number of books I consumed: 42 last year, as opposed to an average of over 100 a year before covid. 

November brought a break for me and I was able to get myself 99% off Facebook, Reels, Instagram, Threads, and all the other infinite sources of garbage I had been feeding myself. It's not easy, and one thing that helped was downloading the Libby app, so that I could channel my entrenched inclination to stare at the phone into a more productive use of my time. My book consumption increased by an order of magnitude. Almost half the books I read in 2024, I read in November and December. 

Next year is going to be rough for a lot of people in a lot of ways, but for me, being on Libby instead of Facebook is going to make things a little bit better. 

Anyway, here it is: 

Dragon's Year in Review

Picture books:             12

Middle grade/YA        17

Nonfiction                   5

Graphic novel             12

Memoir                       7

Novel                          14

Poetry                         2

Short stories               2

Total:                         71

The Thin Man

Written by: Dashiell Hammett

First line: I was leaning against the bar in a speakeasy on Fifty-second Street, waiting for Nora to finish her Christmas shopping, when a girl got up from the table where she had been sitting with three other people and came over to me. 

Why you should read this book: This is the classic hard-boiled detective story, featuring tough and clever alcoholic (and retired detective) Nick Charles, and his clever and beautiful wife, Nora, who are just trying to have a relaxing vacation. Nick is dragged, very much against his will, into the case of a dead woman who has some connection to people Nick used to know, and to a lot of people that Nick doesn't care to know at all. Even though he swears he's retired, now he's consulting with the cops, interviewing suspects, getting shot at, and gathering evidence while avoiding sobriety at every turn. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: I thought it was pretty unfair to the reader that the story withholds some of the evidence until after Nick solved the crime.

Return of the Dapper Men

Written by: Jim McCann and Janet Lee

First line: Long from now, in a land known as Anorev, there lived...well...not many people. 

Why you should read this book: Ayden, a boy, and Zoe, a robot, live in a strange city populated only by children and robots, where time never passes and nothing ever changes. Ayden and Zoe are best friends, but the other robots and children don't like each other and live separate lives, beneath the unseeing eyes of a broken colossal angel clock, until the day 314 dapper men float out of the sky. Now it's up to Ayden and Zoe to restore the passage of time, ensuring that robots and children reunite the way they were meant to interact, and that a tock follows every tick. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You were born middle-aged. 

Moshkeleh the Thief

Written by: Sholom Aleichem

First line: Non-Jews called him Moshke.

Why you should read this book: Billed as a "lost" novel of the great Yiddish writer (more of a short story or novella in my estimation), this is a very exciting and non-traditional kind of love story that shines a light on the once-vibrant and now-extinct world of the Jewish shtetl. Moshkele is a horse thief who is held in disdain by the entire community, a community that calls on him to solve any problem that requires wit and strength, but refuses to let him marry any of their daughters; Tsireleh is the beautiful daughter of a tavern-keeper who has seen firsthand exactly what traditional marriage has done to her sisters and determines to have no part in it. When Tsireleh runs off with a goy and takes shelter in a monastery, her father engages Moshkeleh to bring her back, unaware that Moshkeleh has been in love with Tsireleh for a long time.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Your adult child has run off.