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Mabuhay

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JJ and Althea Bulan, the children of Filipino immigrants, are trying to figure out where they fit in. Self-conscious JJ cares how others see him, while Althea won’t change for anyone and wants people to accept that. At school, people mispronounce their surname, JJ gets bullied for being unathletic, and kids make racist comments about Althea’s Filipino lunches. Fitting in is even harder when they spend their free time helping out at the Beautiful Pig, the family food truck—JJ has to dress up in a pig costume while Althea hands out samples. Then Tito Arvin, their dad’s flaky younger brother, unexpectedly shows up with a warning that the family is in danger. After sharing the same creepy nightmare and being attacked by witches and a monster, the siblings uncover secrets their parents have been hiding: Their mother has magical powers, and the witches who raised her are pursuing them. To save the day, JJ and Althea must learn to embrace who they are and the culture they come from. Full of Filipino folklore and mythology, this humorous coming-of-age graphic novel is an exciting combination of fantasy and relatable middle school issues. The fun, heartwarming story with its bright, expressive illustrations celebrates family, food, and culture. Tagalog words are woven into the dialogue, with pronunciations and definitions provided in the footnotes.
An engaging tribute to family, food, and finding yourself. (recipe, author's note, glossary) (Graphic adventure. 8-12)

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023

ISBN: 9781338738605

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

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GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS (CHILDREN FICTION)

WRECKING BALL
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WRECKING BALL
From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 14

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.

The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.

When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Amulet/Abrams

Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
Categories:

GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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Detail Information

Series Title

-

Call Number

823 STE m

Publisher

: .,

Collation

-

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781338738643

Classification

823

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

Ed.1

Subject(s)

Fiction
Children

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

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