Just how far are you willing to go for a bet? Would you kiss a cute stranger on the subway? I have followed this comic for so so long and I’m elated to see it in print! Team subway boy all the way!
The Kiss Bet Volume One by Ingrid Ochoa, (List Price: $18.99, WEBTOON Unscrolled, 9781998341146, February 2025)
Reviewed by Lana Repic, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia
The Kiss Bet Volume One by Ingrid Ochoa Read More »
What we all wouldn’t give to resurrect a lost one, even to spend just a few days with them? In Damian’s world you can, but one small hiccup is he ends up bringing back not his mom but a young dead girl. This story is all about the unexpected ways life gives us the answers we need. Themes of belonging, loss, guilt and abandonment and yet so much hope in the messiness. Perfect for fall and Studio Ghibli fans!
Ditching Saskia by John Moore, (List Price: $19.99, Flying Eye Books, 9781838741556, October 2024)
Reviewed by Morgan DePerno, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Ditching Saskia by John Moore Read More »
You don’t see teen mothers in YA much, and I am so grateful Acevedo has introduced us to Emoni, a seventeen-year-old who is a loving mother, a devoted granddaughter, and an amazing cook. Readers will warm immediately to her story of juggling school, family, romance, and her culinary passion. Sprinkled with magical realism and brimming with heart, With the Fire on High is a dish everyone should dig into!
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, (List Price: $15.99, Quill Tree Books, 9780062662842, March 2021)
Reviewed by Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo Read More »
I loved everything about this story! This touched on typical dancer struggles, like eating disorders, cruel instructors, and envy among the students but it was done in a way that I feel lots of people who aren’t in dance can relate to. But much more than just a story about dancers, we are following Ana, who is struggling with her identity, her relationships, being queer, and her struggle to figure herself out. I also really appreciated the color pallet that was chosen for this story and the times when the artist utilized other brighter colors as part of the storytelling.
Leap by Simina Popescu, (List Price: $17.99, Roaring Brook Press, 9781250838308, November 2024)
Reviewed by Sarah Blackwell, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Leap by Simina Popescu Read More »
The Sapling Cage ushers in a strong transfeminine voice to the witch fantasy subgenre! As the reader follows the journey of Lorel, a trans girl who swaps places with her childhood best friend to join a witch coven, they are introduced to a rich fantasy world full of antagonistic knights, vicious monsters, and sinister magical rituals. The author, Killjoy, does a great job at balancing the immense conflict between the witches and their surroundings with Lorel’s personal conflict with her body and identity. This book is a rewarding read due to its captivating cast of characters, introspection on queerness, and exploration of themes such as the hoarding of wealth and power.
The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy, (List Price: $17.95, The Feminist Press at CUNY, 9781558613317, September 2024)
Reviewed by Catherine Pabalate, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy Read More »
What Jonathan Evison has done in Lawn Boy is give us an unlikely hero in Mike Muñoz, who tells it like it is and just wants a fair shake. Only twenty-two but already beaten down, Mike knows what it means to go hungry, to share a house with too many people, to never get ahead. Lawn Boy covers issues like racism, immigrant rights, and homophobia in the same breath as dating misadventures, Mike’s fledgling topiary carving artistry, and the pretentious writing MFA candidates produce. It is just this type of book (relatable, funny, entertaining) that could get us talking about social justice.
Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison, (List Price: $17.99, Algonquin Books, 9781616209230, March 2019)
Reviewed by Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia
Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison Read More »
Juliet is Puerto Rican, lesbian, and mostly just trying to figure herself out. She hopes that an internship with Harlowe Brisbane, renowned feminist author, will help. In a new city, all the way across the country from everything and everyone she knows, Juliet has a chance to learn about herself. Her inner thoughts are snarky and amusing, but also honest and relatable. Juliet Takes a Breath is a wonderful coming-of-age story for the modern era.
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera, (List Price: $12, Dial Books, 9780593108192, May 2021)
Reviewed by Wendy, Flyleaf Books in , North Carolina
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera Read More »
Since childhood, reading has been more than just a hobby for me. You might say that I can’t find meaning in life without books. Since becoming a writer, I’ve had more occasion to read for work than for my own enjoyment, but I can’t say that has caused me any distress at all. Even if a book isn’t suited to my personal taste, there is always something to be gained by reading it, always some light that it will shed on my life from an unexpected angle.
― Yoko Ogawa, Interview, The New York Times
What booksellers are saying about Mina’s Matchbox
About Yoko Ogawa
Yoko Ogawa has won every major Japanese literary award. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, A Public Space, and Zoetrope: All-Story. Her works include The Memory Police, The Diving Pool, a collection of three novellas; The Housekeeper and the Professor; Hotel Iris; and Revenge. She lives in Ashiya, Japan.
Spotlight On: Mina’s Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa Read More »
I am just in love with this book. I spent a lot of time debating whether or not to feature this as a queer book. I realized I was thinking about it too hard. 14-year-old Josh struggles to live up to his parents’ puritanical Southern Baptist standards. As he slogs his way to high school, he falls in love, obsesses over David Bowie, and makes his own thongs, stumbling through a puberty that is cringingly realistic. This book is painfully funny. As Josh and his friends realize maybe even the adults don’t have it figured out, they discover there is room just to be themselves.
Our Bodies Electric by Zackary Vernon, (List Price: $18.95, Fitzroy Books, 9781646034574, June 2024)
Reviewed by Kelly Justice, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia
Our Bodies Electric by Zackary Vernon Read More »
This is one of those graphic novels that I think everyone can relate to! Ready or Not follows a group of high school graduates as they are trying to spend one last summer together before their next journey’s begin whether it’s together or apart. It also touches on intense anxiety about the future and the pressures that young adults face with deciding what to do after they graduate school.
Ready or Not by Andi Porretta, (List Price: $14.99, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 9781665907026, July 2024)
Reviewed by Juliana Reyes, Bookmarks in Savannah, North Carolina
Ready or Not by Andi Porretta Read More »
Absolutely adored this book!I could relate so much to the main character and how friends grow apart but since you don’t know what you want to do with life, they end up growing away from you. Thank god for the happy ending though. I loved the art style and am so excited to see it when it\’s published in full color.I really felt like I was a part of the group while reading the book, and honestly, was quite sad when it ended. To be honest, when I finished it I just had to sit there and adjust to being back in real life, I was glued the entire time. 10/10 must read
Ready or Not by Andi Porretta, (List Price: $14.99, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 9781665907026, July 2024)
Reviewed by Stephanie St. John, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia
Ready or Not by Andi Porretta Read More »
For my generation, your coming out story was huge. Right, like when did you come out and how did it go?, and I’m sure that’s still a part of many people’s narratives, but I do have the feeling that things have shifted. The fluidity of both Cam and Shae’s sexuality and the conversations or sometimes lack of conversations around it felt very real to my sister in terms of the conversations she has had with her teenagers, and I was glad that came across as being real.
― Mesha Maren, Southern Review of Books
What booksellers are saying about Shae
About Mesha Maren
Mesha Maren is the author of the novels Sugar Run and Perpetual West (Algonquin Books). Her short stories and essays can be read in Tin House, The Oxford American, The Guardian, Crazyhorse, Triquarterly, The Southern Review, Ecotone, Sou’wester, Hobart, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, and elsewhere. She was the recipient of the 2015 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, a 2014 Elizabeth George Foundation grant, an Appalachian Writing Fellowship from Lincoln Memorial University, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation. She was the 2018-2019 Kenan Visiting Writer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is an Associate Professor of the Practice of English at Duke University.
Spotlight On: Shae by Mesha Maren Read More »
This was such a beautiful graphic novel. The ending was so bittersweet. Authors Samuel Tear and Mar Julia ripped my heart out and put it back together with this story of a daughter not knowing who her family is and spending a summer learning, growing, and watching her new life.
Brownstone by Samuel Teer, Mar Julia (Illus.), (List Price: $18.99, Versify, 9780358394747, June 2024)
Reviewed by Sarah Dimaria, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana
Brownstone by Samuel Teer, Mar Julia (Illus.) Read More »
I didn’t think it was possible to read a book and feel both completely hopeless and hopeful at the end but leave it up to Octavia Butler to write the impossible.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler, (List Price: $16.99, Grand Central Publishing, 9781538732182, April 2019)
Reviewed by Ndobe Foletia, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler Read More »
This book was a fun read. I really like the dynamic between Jack (the jock) and Viola (the nerd). The reader gets to see their personality and relationship grow as the book progresses and they end up spending more time with each other outside of school. The book has a few twists on the traditional opposites-attract you wouldn’t expect.
Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth, (List Price: $19.99, Tor Teen, 9781250884893, May 2024)
Reviewed by Doloris Vest, Book No Further in Roanoke, Virginia
Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth Read More »
