Welcome to Litsy!

So happy to add to my rainbow the next two days with some middle grade graphic novels, I love seeing more queer rep at this age level and all of these were fabulous reads!

I enjoyed elements of this graphic novel, like the character of the music teacher and some of the evocative yellow-brown-black illustrations, but overall it felt disjointed to me. The way that the characters related to each other felt confusing and the story didn‘t really focus on anything for long enough. If you‘re a huge music person you might love it, though it‘s not actually all that much about opera.

I know I've raved about this beautiful graphic novel several times, but I won't let that stop me from continuing to fawn over it! I looooove this sweet story of Charlie discovering her love for opera, and the larger meditation on how music shapes us and what it can mean to us. Charlie recognizes that everyone has their own #SongOfLove- and that hers is sung by Maria Callas! ❤️ #FlyHighJuly
@Eggs

I loved this book. It‘s exactly who I was in highschool🙈 and I love the portrayal of Opera. Such a heart warming and deeply personal connection I had with this!!!

This is a graphic novel about 8th graders with a music teacher who asks them to find “their song”, the one that speaks to them. A song that takes them into their past, into their future, and makes them feel at home. He introduces them to all genres and the main character discovers an opera singer.

The panels in this book are incredible. The way the main character is drawn to reflect her feelings is unbelievable. ⭐️❤️

A teacher asks his Grade 8 students to “choose a song for this moment in your life & write about it” as their final assignment. The visual language in this #graphicnovel is as powerful as the words. It‘s a wonderful story about isolation & belonging, about discovering self identity, & about the confusing emotions that tweens start learning to navigate as they enter puberty. #LGBTQ #CanadianAuthor

“All the boys who acted like they didn‘t care about anything saw him singing like he cared about everything. (Embarrassing.)”

[And to top it all, Luka was obviously singing to another boy in his class.]

It‘s great to see Patti Smith as a role model for middle schoolers. The epigraph is also by Smith: “When I was a teenager, I dreamed of being an opera singer like Maria Callas.” #LGBTQ role models

If you like music and beautiful illustrations, this is the GN for you! I really liked learning more about some of the different music genres and people that are well known in them. Plus, it definitely made me think of my song and how it‘s the perfect tune for me (makes me dance every time I hear it).
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This has to be one of my favorite graphic novels for 2019. The illustrations are hands down amazing! Beautiful simply beautiful. It's a story about a girl in middle school who loves a boy and misses another boy who stopped going to school. She is trying to find her song and finds it with Maria Callas (who has an amazing voice!). We learn the history of Maria Callas and everything seems to flow just perfectly. 5 stars.

I fell head over heels for this story and devoured it in one sitting! This lovely graphic novel centers on a middle school girl discovering a love of opera, but also the ways that music defines us, teaches us, and shows us who we are. With simple, clear language and gorgeous imagery, this is the best graphic novel I've read in years. #operatic #SeeMoreOpera

Autographed copy!

Kyo and Byron just stopped by the Owl‘s Nest. They are both lovely people and a pleasure to chat books and opera with.

A lovely unexpected gem of a graphic novel.

Found out today that Kyo Maclear and Byron Eggenschwiler (#yycillustrator #acadgrad) have been booked in Calgary by Wordfest...and Owl‘s Nest gets to be the bookseller. I immediately called dibs on working the event so I can get my copy signed!

Check out wordfest.com for info and tickets. (It‘s not listed yet, but will hopefully be up soon.)

#yycbooks

Loved this book!

Such a pitch perfect story of how music influences our coming of age. It doesn‘t hurt that our protagonist falls in love with Maria Callas! (Opera fan, here.)

I love how Byron Eggenschwiler (who is from Calgary) illustrates both the feelings behind the different styles of music and the transportive power of “our” genre/artist/song. #yycillustrator #yycbooks

Many thank to Groundwood Books and Ampersand Inc for the sample copy.