Andrews McMeel Upcoming Releases and (some that I already my reviewed)

Peaches:

4 stars

We are a family of gamers (we use them for family time and do things together, usually co-op), so we love this one. Plus… It’s super cute. Kawaiii.

Not too many pages, under 100, and with sweet illustrations and less text than a heavy graphic novel.

Missing old friends, new friendships, connections, contemporary and modern themes. I love the Brawl-mania chapters where they all come together as a team. It’s important to keep communication going to avoid misunderstandings.

This volume includes an extra bonus comic. I love Francine!!! I want to be her: cute giraffe.

The volume of Pocket Peaches at the fair is also super cute.

Haru

4 stars

Can’t believe Haru 3 is here already. A wonderful fantasy adventure with animal characters. It started with Spring, and now, in Fall, the team is larger than it was. This was my favorite volume of the three. About 300 pages, this conclusion to the series with large panels and easy-to-read text, brings us eerie scenes (but cute characters), adventure, great action, and great fantasy quest tropes. Great to introduce graphic novels to young readers. Epic.

T. S. Hullabaloo

4.5

What a great concept. Hullabaloos appear when you least expect and want. Yes, this one creates mayhem, and it will take a journey for him to accept it as part of himself. I wonder what kind mine is and what they look like? I relate to the main character a lot, so I know mine would be triggered a lot with anger. Jabberwocky is a great rainbow one. Dani wears it as a hat ahah.

 They are not imaginary; everyone can see them, and some are pretty cool.

 This is fun, brings a lot of angst to the main character, but… he manages it slowly with his journey. Acceptance is the key.

Middle grade school theme dealing with preteen anxieties and uncontrolled emotions. Fun.

The Scarlet Ship

5

About 115 pages, this beautiful graphic novel has a lot of cool fantasy steampunk elements, mechanical pigeons, flying elevators… flying ships and PIRATES.

His grandmother’s painting was stolen from the museum. Not just that, they are taken by a ship full of artists… pirates. Grandmother is in. She is super adventurous and brave, while her grandson lacks confidence. But… only he can see Cyane. Oh, no… There is danger on the ship, and it’s up to Malo and Cyane now. This is so inspiring because Malo brings to life what he draws. With a bit of imagination, we can too.  Great homage to painters, artists, and color. The villain is scary! AAHA! Thank you, author, for that ending.

Love the artwork.

Why Dogs

5

This book teaches us so much, from the origins of our relationship to dogs to the specific races and where they come from. From helpers to companions. Great design format, artwork, and font as well. Breeding led to more different shapes and colors. The advance of technology led them to become family members more than working buddies. I love how simple the timeline is, and each chapter is dedicated to a skill from some breeds. Example: hunting.

We didn’t know the first dog to be cloned was an Afghan Hound named Snuppy. This happened in Korea in 2025. Waa, this is a great book to learn more about puppies and for dog lovers, no doubt. Marmaduke, Scooby-Doo are Great Danes, and Lassie is a Collie. There are sweet characters that we will remember for like. Presented as a graphic novel, each page goes into details about each bread all over the world. This will be on my gift list for friends and family. Has tons of information, historical and cultural.

Socks ahah

5

I love how the author explains in a subtle way where we are and why there are many socks for those who started this series, reading this volume. Very well designed, easy to follow from panel to panel. Whimsical and dynamic artwork. Fun story. Pinky toe kingdom is the best with queen Polly-Esther. We love these silly fantasy graphic novels. Great quest in search of the Pacifier to the iron mountains, but there are other teams competing too. Very fun. This is about 250 pages of adventure and humor.

Folk

5

Japanese legends and mythology? I’m in. About 244 pages with a dark autumn but soft color scheme. Great for all ages. Maple is all for the modern world, electricity, and cities. She doesn’t believe in Yokais. Learning about her ancestors’ medicine journals and stories, she is willing to let that magic be within her, too. Still, trying to prove to her mother that yokais don’t exist, she ends up releasing the one in the lantern. They go on an adventure. Some panels are hilarious.

 From the art, we as readers seem to realize something that Maple doesn’t. Who to trust and who NOT to trust. We learn about some of the most famous yokais.

Wow…. Great ending with a major surprise for book 2.

Detective

4.5

This will be my favorite Fall graphic novel, I already know it. From the story to the art, character design, and colors. It starts with the characters recording, bloopers and all. Ahaha. Fun to set the mood at the beginning. Unlike volume one, this volume includes 33 short stories (like instances of webcomic episodes) and about 210 pages. Plus, with commentary from the characters about them. Very cute. Detective School was my top favorite one. I love both formats, the one long episode graphic novel, and this one as an anthology with a lot of episodes.

Holes is... 4 Easy to read, with line work kind of illustrations, simple and fun to draw as well, just by looking at them. The line art drawings make us want to color them with crayons.

Hilarious poems, under 200 pages.  Very relatable themes to young readers, and their daily lives, and sometimes niche things like belly buttons, or how birds puke lunch into their kids’ mouths ahahah. Sports, animals, actions, body odors/parts, the art of begging, annoying things, knows it all, creativity, magic… very fun one.

Tuck and Tina

5

This is a great series with amazing illustrations and not crowded with text per page. Each page design is filled with vibrant, fun illustrations on a notebook paper background. These make a great combination for young future bookworm readers and reluctant ones, too. Young mouse loses his house and finds his way in a fun sort of disguise to a new school.

Each day explores a panoply of educational content. Great to explore colors, days of the week, the first day of school, sizes, and diversity. One of my favorite pages is the top view of the classroom, which makes a great exercise for kids to draw their own or imagine one and all that they wish they had in theirs. We could also do a direction game, from the fishtank to the cabinet, what is the closet path... Each page offers a lot of possibilities to explore with the kids.  As well as introductions and associating fun objects and animals with everyone. (This was just Monday, there is so much more to explore, and all themes are introduced in a fun, storytelling, adventurous, and also subtle way.)