The Funny Little Woman

Written by: Arlene Mosel

First line: Long ago, in Old Japan, there lived a funny little woman who liked to laugh, "Tee-he-he-he," and who liked to make dumplings out of rice.

Why you should read this book: Originally published over forty years ago, this small and wonderful fairy tale still has the power to delight. A woman who doesn't seem to take anything seriously blunders into mortal danger and uses the power of not really caring very much to defeat a legion of terrible demons and make off with a magical artifact. Great fun for reading aloud, with eerie-funny illustrations that heighten the sense of tension unfelt by the protagonist.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are serious about stranger danger.

Tom

Written by: Tomie de Paola

First line: Tommy's grandfather always used to say, "We're named after each other, Tommy."

Why you should read this book: The special relationship between a small boy and a loving grandfather comprises this charming memoir about a couple of cut-ups and the trouble that a love of pranks and access to the butcher's discard pile can cause. Big Tom is a joker, but he probably doesn't anticipate the shenanigans that Little Tommy will find himself in when his grandfather shows him the world of possibilities inherent in a couple of chicken feet. A rollicking story that throws small children into paroxysms of laughter.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Fear of meat.

Because of Winn-Dixie

Written by: Kate DiCamillo

First line: My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog.

Why you should read this book: A friendly dog is Opal's entry into a social life in her new home of Naomi, Florida, as well as a way into a new place in her father's confidence and regard. Loving a needy creature gives her the courage to ask her distant father to tell her ten things about the mother who abandoned her, and make friends with some rather unlikely characters, all of whom live with their own loneliness until Winn-Dixie helps bring them all together. This quiet, beautiful slice-of-life book tells the truth about children and adults, about love and loss, and about the social infrastructure that is created when the right elements come together in conviviality and joy.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You would take that mangy mutt to the pound and doom your daughter to a life of loneliness.

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened

Written by: Allie Brosh

First line: It seems like there should be some sort of introduction to this.

Why you should read this book: Most Internet-savvy people are probably familiar with Allie Brosh, who published a completely random and intentionally badly-drawn comic featuring hilarious stories from her life, fell suddenly prey to the blackest depression, and then, still depressed, drew two comics about depression that are now held up as some of the best discussions of mental illness on the Internet. This book includes those comics, many other comics, some of which are not available online, and some other textual stuff. A fast, funny, real, touching, smart, and emotional book.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You will brook no insult to our canid friends, no matter how silly a dog might be. Also, you believe that Allie has always love hot sauce. 

2014: My Year of Few Words

In short: for the first time in my life, I deliberately stopped writing.

I mean, I didn't stop writing. I write constantly. But I deliberately did not write any novels. I started a few short stories but didn't finish anything. I wrote 3/5 of a script for a graphic novel. I wrote 55 4-panel comic strips and a lot of blog posts. I drew constantly, mostly on my Wacom tablet, sometimes 8 or 10 hours a day. Fiction sort of went by the wayside, and my reading did too. I feel like I read a LOT of comics and graphic novels, but very little serious or adult fiction or nonfiction. Of course, books that I've previously reviewed don't get counted, even though there are books that I read every year. 

Serious books I attempted to read this year but did not complete include Thomas Pikkety's Capital in the 21st Century, which is probably brilliant but there was a waiting list and the library only lets you keep it 3 weeks and it was SO DENSE, J. Craig Venter's Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of the Digital Age, which I was more or less interested in it even though some of the science was beyond me but somehow I couldn't follow through, and Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer, which, frankly, I forgot to read. 

This year's list is disappointing to me. But here it is: 

Dragon's 2014 Year in Review

Picture Books: 18
YA/Middle Grade Novels: 25
Adult novels: 16
Fairy Tale Collections: 1
Graphic Novels: 9
Nonfiction: 7
Memoir/Biography: 3
Poetry: 1
Short Fiction Collection: 1
Not Easily Categorized: 1

Total: 82

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 9: The Long Haul

Written by: Jeff Kinney

First line: If there's one thing I've learned from my years of being a kid, it's that you have ZERO control over your own life.

Why you should read this book: Admittedly, I haven't liked any of the previous books in this series because Greg Heffley really comes off, at best, as an entitled brat, and at worst, as a complete sociopath, but in this book he really seems like a helpless victim of his mother's completely psychotic sneak attack family road trip, which is badly planned and executed from beginning to end. It's not entirely clear where the family is meant to be going, but that's all right, since you know they're never going to get there anyway. I read this book because my stepson got it for Christmas, and he never reads anything for pleasure except gaming manuals, so it seemed like someone ought to read it.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Possible flashbacks to your own horrible family road trips.

Dork Diaries 4: Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess

Written by: Rachel Renee Russell

First line: OMG! I have never been so EMBARRASSED in my entire life!!

Why you should read this book: Nikki, the stereotypically insecure adolescent, worries that cute boy Brandon doesn't like her, and that mean girl MacKenzie will humiliate her, and somehow this translates into her decision to perform in a charity ice skating event despite her complete lack of talent or ability. I guess these novels help girls feel better about themselves, or more normal, or simply like they're at least doing better than Nikki; I have no idea, really. My stepdaughter received this one for Christmas but it's far above her reading level and I hate to see books go to waste.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You like to cultivate your obvious talents and you don't worry about what other people think.

Jack Kent's Hokus Pokus Bedtime Book

Written by: Jack Kent

First line: In a land far away there once lived a poor boy named Aladdin.

Why you should read this book: Sweet enough for the smallest children but with a little tongue in cheek humor tucked in neatly among the familiar lines, this collection of five favorite fairy tales is accompanied by the round and smiling faces of Kent's beloved illustrations. The real humor shines through in the delightful pictures: in "Jack and the Beanstalk," we see the beloved cow sitting in a chair at the table with Jack and his mother, grinning while munching on a bowl of hay; in "The Frog Prince," the Princess's disgust is writ large in her features over a series of images. Although this volume is a bit hard to find, it's a great addition to a child's library of bedtime stories.

Why you shouldn't read this book: People falling in love too fast for the wrong reasons.

It's Just a Plant

Written by: Ricardo Cortes

First line: Jackie loved to go to sleep at night.

Why you should read this book: When Jackie walks in on her parents smoking a joint, her mom decides to take her on a educational bike ride to talk to Farmer Bob and Doctor Eden about marijuana. Jackie receives honest and factual information about some of the plant's most interesting properties, how and why people have been using it for a very long time time, and the reasons that children shouldn't try drugs, even if it OK for adults. Later, watching an encounter between the police and some pot smokers, she learns even more truths about the political reasons for marijuana prohibition and the fact that the government sometimes makes legislative mistakes, which can be rectified through the democratic process.

Why you shouldn't read this book: One time your cousin's roommate's neighbor's daughter took marijuana and her eyes exploded out the back of her head and she died and you know that the only way to protect people from danger is to prohibit the spread of any information on the subject.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Written by: Marjane Satrapi

First line: This is me when I was 10 years old.

Why you should read this book: With simple lines and strong words, this powerful graphic novel describes life under the Islamic regime that took over Iran in 1979, as seen through the eyes of the author, an intelligent, thoughtful, and increasingly angry child. Marjane believes in freedom, and while she is sometimes confused by what she hears on the radio, she knows what she believes in her heart: that she should have the right of self-expression. Surrounded by beating and bombings, disappearances and death, Marjane enters adolescence with an increasing understanding of politics and extremism coupled with a fierce love for her family, her friends, and her own independence.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You strongly believe that a man's sex drive is akin to a shark's drive to eat things, and that if a man sees a woman's hair he is literally incapable of not raping her.