When Stars Are Scattered - Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

When Stars Are Scattered - Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

Omar (whose real-life story this is) and his developmentally delayed brother Hassan live in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya, with thousands of other Somali refugees.  His days are filled with playing soccer with a ball of waded-up plastic bags, avoiding trouble from the kids from neighboring blocks, and taking care of Hassan.  When a community leader suggests school, Omar is hesitant, but finds that his brain thirsts for knowledge.  Education brings with it the one-in-a-million miracle chance that he might be selected for resettlement in America or another country, so he continues his education.  The story covers several years, as Omar goes through desperate hopes to bitter disappointment to acceptance.  His friends who are girls have it worse, as many Somalis feel education is wasted on girls, and one of them is married off and pregnant very young, dashing her hopes of emigrating and becoming a doctor.  This is a poignant and deeply resonant story of survival, loss, and hope.  Jameison, of Roller Girl fame, does a superb job of conveying Omar's struggles with disappointment and guilt.  It's extraordinarily well executed, just a perfect graphic novel that should be required reading in schools and universities.  [5]

Jukebox - Nidhi Chanani

Jukebox - Nidhi Chanani

Shaheen, a teen girl familiar with the kind of knowledge and appreciation of classic music (think Bessie Coleman, Marvin Gaye) that exists only in the young people of fiction, has a failing out with her father, who goes missing.  She and her cousin Tannaz look for him at the hip record shop, where they discover a magical jukebox that sends people back in time.  Specifically, to the release day of whatever record is playing.  It's an interesting idea, but one that didn't click for me.  I found the art sketchy and unappealing, but that's just my taste.  The real problem here is in the writing.  Everyone acts and talks in a bizarre, alien way.  Shahi's mother is unconcerned with her husband's disappearance; the record store owner is weirdly angry about his records despite owning a literal time machine; both girls take the time machine in stride; the people in the historical eras act stilted and clichéd.  On top of all that, outside of the famous James Brown concert after MLK's assassination, there is little interesting historical information or anecdotes.  I found all of these authorial choices off-putting.  [2.5]

Pests and Pets - Andy Warner

Pests and Pets - Andy Warner

An anecdotal history of the animals associated with humans, organized into three broad categories: Creatures We Find Cute, Creatures We Find Useful, and Creatures That Find Us Useful (the pests).  The emphasis is on the history of domestication of each animal, if applicable, but there are many fascinating bits of trivia along the way, from how a memoir about a baby raccoon led to Japan's raccoon population to how a hamster breeding pyramid scheme was sold to kids out of comic books.  The tone is airy but erudite, with some clever running jokes and advanced vocabulary.  Absolutely delightful and indispensable for anyone who's interested in animals.  [5]

Ham Helsing - Rich Moyer

Ham Helsing - Rich Moyer

1. Vampire Hunter - Ham, a hapless pig who comes from a long line of rather clueless, impetuous adventurers who died early, moves to Mud Valley to fight vampires.  After the town's richest man is found dead, he sets ff to rid the village of evil, accompanied by a couple of greedy but useless rats and a not very scary werewolf who thinks he's at summer camp.  But not all is as it seems, for there is more than one monster and more than one secret lair in the woods.  This is a very funny parody of the monster trope as well as a terrific lesson for kids on judging people on what they do rathr than what they are.  Hilarious and well crafted.  [5]