The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act

Written by: Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

First line: And once again, we return to this.

Why you should read this book: Here's a world that almost exactly like ours, except that every ninety years, a pantheon of god come back, taking young people for their avatars, becoming music sensations who are both worshiped and despised, possessing the power to drive their audiences to ecstasy, and other powers as well, and then dying two years later. Above-average teen and superfan Laura has an interesting encounter with Lucifer ("You can call me Luci.") after an Amaterasu concert and finds herself immersed in the surprising and dangerous world of these powerful, short-lived gods. As Lucifer becomes reckless and erratic, Laura becomes desperate to save her from the world of men, but Lucifer may have different plans for herself...and her protégé. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You get the sense that the actual story doesn't really start until the next book.

Tales from the Crypt

Written by: Bernie Wrightson et. al. 

First line: That's it...sign and your children will have the money they so desperately need.

Why you should read this book: These are new and thoroughly modern tales in the spirit of the old Tales from the Crypt comics (along with two old reprints). People still die horribly, but the subtext of these comics acknowledges things like class inequality, and one story hinges on viral social media with a plot that understands the existence of racism and sizeism. Jolly good fun for people who like to see awful things happening, mostly to awful people. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's not the original stuff.

Tales from the Crypt: Volume 3 (issues 11-15)

Written by: I think writers were sort of embarrassed to have their names associated with these books.

First line: Heh heh! So you're back for more, eh?

Why you should read this book: This is a trade paperback quality reprint of the classic old Tales from the Crypt horror comics from the 1950s, comprising issues 11 through 15, including all the old ads and the fan mail. It's campy, gory stuff, most of which ends badly, especially for bad people who deserve it. Murder, monsters, cannibalism, corpses, sometimes realistic stories of accidental (but deserved) death, sometime fantastical stories of supernatural terror, this brand is often cheesy, but never ever pulls its punches: people are goes to die, horribly.

Why you shouldn't read this book: No stomach for it.

Year in Review, 2022

Not much to say about it this year. Reading "serious" things felt like a real chore and took forever. Mostly I stuck with graphic novels (some of which were "serious" and felt like a chore and took forever) and kids' novels. There's also a 500-page book I spend months getting halfway though and never finished. In addition, I reviewed some books I didn't like, because I was reviewing them for the school district and you just have to take what they send you. I guess there's also 2 new categories: middle grade nonfiction (bleh) and essay collection.

Picture books:                     17

Middle grade/YA novels:   15

Middle grade nonfiction:    1

Graphic novels:                  29

Memoir:                             3 

Novels:                              1

Poetry:                               1

Essay collections:             1   

Total:                                 74 

Kids Fight Climate Change

Written by: Martin Dorey and Tim Wesson

First line: Calling all future superheroes.

Why you should read this book: Despite the cartoony illustrations and accessible language, this book is not messing around in its mission to convince kids to become true environmental activists in the battle against climate change. It carefully lays out the case for the detrimental impact that human activity has had on the planet and why kids should make behavioral changes to protect their own legacy (and encourage adults around them to do the same). The bulk of the book lays out dozens of "two minute missions" suggesting multiple ways the kids can act now to fight climate change.

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you are opposed to being lectured by a child about climate change and environmental activism, you should not give this book to children.

The Sandman: The Dream Hunters

Written by: Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell

First line: I know not whether you came to me or I to you. 

Why you should read this book: This book is pretty much exactly the same as the first Dream Hunters book, except that it's done in the style of a traditional graphic novel, with comic panels and word bubbles, and there's less text than in the first one. It's still the story of the surprising love between a monk and a fox spirit, both of whom appeal to the Dream King and make the ultimate sacrifice for each other. Also, in this this volume, Gaiman admits that he wrote the story himself and didn't adapt it from an ancient Japanese text, which had apparently been confusing scholars for a while. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: I could say that it doesn't make sense out of the context of all the other Sandman books, but actually, it works fine as a stand-alone story.

The Sandman: The Dream Hunters

Written by: Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano

First line: A monk lived in solitude beside a temple on the side of a mountain.

Why you should read this book: This unusual, yet beautifully illustrated volume, which purports to be a translation of an ancient Japanese fairy tale, tells of the unlikely relationship between an ascetic monk and a beautiful fox spirit. The two neighbors fall in love with each other, and when the fox learns of a supernatural threat to the monk's life, she appeals to the Dream King for help and offers her own up in order to save him. The monk then appeals to the Dream King for help and offers up his own life to save her right back. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's not actually an ancient Japanese fairy tale.

One Candle

Written by: Eve Bunting and K. Wendy Popp

First line: This Hanukkah is like every other one.

Why you should read this book: A little girl tells about her family's Hanukkah celebration, including the story of why her aunt has brought one potato that doesn't get made into latkes. The older relatives explain how, during World War II, they survived the winter at Buchenwald, pilfering a single potato, a little margarine, and a piece of string, in order to made a candle to celebrate Hanukkah. With the inclusion of the extra potato in their celebration, they can remember their family history and honor their ancestors. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're very hungry.

FGTeeV: The Switcheroo Rescue!

Written by: FGTeeV and Miguel Diaz Rivas

Why you should read this book: This lightweight and primarily nonsensical graphic novel is basically a long advertisement for a real life family's gaming-based YouTube channels. What starts out as a Freaky-Friday type body-swap story morphs into a battle between giant gaming suits as the antagonist from a previous volume—an evil VR AI—seeks to escape the confines of the machine and take on an existence in the real world. The family, along with an annoying neighbor child, must work together to defeat the big boss before it completely ruins a game tournament and presumably goes on to take over every console on the planet. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Besides being an advertisement for a family's YouTube channels, it's clearly written by committee, there's not a single original idea in the entire thing, and a lot of the plot depends on pointless stereotypes.

Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good

Written by: Louie Stowell

Why you should read this book: This book is basically Diary of a Wimpy Kid if Greg Heffley came by his sense of entitlement and superiority honestly, by virtue of being an actual god. Here we have Loki, Norse god of mischief, sentenced to one month on Earth in the powerless body of a little boy, told that he must earn his return back to Asgard through the doing of good deeds, or else face the eternal torment of snake poison dripping on his face. Having very few redeeming qualities, he spends the first thirty days of his imprisonment being horrible to everyone around him, including the other gods—Thor, Heimdall, and Hyrrokkin—who, for some reason, must experience the punishment of posing as his normal human family, and then, on the thirty-first day, he does one decent thing for one person who wouldn't have needed his help in the first place if his presence on Earth hadn't put her in mortal danger, and gets a temporary reprieve from Odin, on the condition that he stay on Earth and continue trying not to be horrible.

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you didn't love Diary of a Wimpy Kid you probably won't get much out of this book.