Beautiful illustrations accompanied by a quick, simple fantastical tale. I wish stopping war was that easy. I was so expecting Clia's mom to use military force anyway.

[rating from personal enjoyment] ( )

Randomly saw this on Amazon and then bought it at a bookstore when I looked inside. The artwork is really well done, very Little Nemo-esque. I liked the story to this a lot. I love the fact it's talks about singe parents and grandparents with dementia. My grandmother had dementia and it's not easy so this book somewhat gets you ready what you might expect, but in a less dramatic way.

Mainly got this book because it's based on a Baum book that I've read before. Baum's story not as well known as his Oz books, but they connect with Oz. This book is a modern adaption and removes the Oz connections which I think is better. It does have several homages to the Oz books though. One thing I noticed right away is Trot's ballroom dress looks exactly like Ozma, all intentional too.

Overall, this was a fun little comic and glad to see this isn't the last one. ( )

Stunning art that melds art nouveau style with hyper-realistic faces. A modern undersea adventure with mermaids and coral snakes and fanciful repurposed trash balloons and a cat who enjoys surfing. Very imaginative, love that it calls back to L. Frank Baum, but that it's also grounded in a modern kid with a scurrilous cat and a forgetful grandfather. Neat! ( )

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/3UKOVa1QZbI

Enjoy! ( )

diverse middlegrade graphic novel (Vietnamese American with grandfather suffering from dementia/forgetfulness has underwater adventure/dream after a surfing accident with her sidekick cat with one good eye, Cap'n Bill)

absolutely beautiful illustrations; love the flowy blouses/dresses and the rest of the siren costumes. Love the representation of minority and differently abled characters, love the strong personality of the cat.
Though the main character is in middle school, this book would also be appropriate for younger kids (2nd grade or even younger, if they can read it/have it read to them, especially if they have aging grandparents) ( )