 Hi everyone, my name is Steph. This is Kid Lit Joy and welcome or welcome back to my channel. Today I'm here to talk to you about four middle grade graphic novels that I have read recently and I'm really excited to share them with you. The first one I'm going to mention is Skelanor, the decomposer by Emily Echlinger and this was a graphic novel that I received in a subscription service. So there is a really fantastic children's bookstore here called The Little Bookroom. They do quarterly, I think it is subscriptions. One of them is a graphic novel subscription. This was the one that I kept of the three books that I received and it was a really interesting little one and I kept it because it is so interesting. Also it has a skeleton and I have a feeling that there are going to be a couple of kids who want some skeleton stories. So Skelanor is a skeleton and she loves to make music and there is a local festival in town and she wants to join in except every time she goes to play music in the town as sort of a trial, she scares people off and she thinks it's because she's a skeleton and there is a wonderful woman who sees beyond what's going on and as it turns out Skelanor has been playing with broken instruments that sound horribly out of tune and horrible when played and that that is the cause of people running away, not the fact that she is a skeleton or not just the fact that she's a skeleton. So it is really fun, really gorgeous, it's not very long, beautiful bright colored illustrations and panels and it is a celebration of music and a passion for things that you care about and following through on the dreams that you have. I also read book two in the Lightfall series. This one is Shadow of the Bird, it's by Tim Probert and this is a continuation of the first graphic novel in that we have Bee and Cad. So Bee and Cad, Cad who is the last of the girl durians and in the first book they were trying to find Bee's grandfather who was a wizard who has gone missing and in this one they find the grandfather and then set out to actually stop a mythical bird from destroying their world by eating the suns, suns as in suns in the sky and along the way they begin to learn more and more about Kest who is the mythical bird that's kind of their enemy but Bee begins to realize that maybe there is actually more to this story and that Cad's determination to destroy Kest might be rooted sort of in their past without understanding the truth of what went on and their actions at the end of this book have very big consequences for the rest of the world. So I'm very intrigued to see where book three or volume three goes because this has been so intriguing so far. Again, fantastic colours, gorgeous illustrations, I'm loving all of the different characters that we're meeting in this series. There are some really intriguing plot lines going on so I'm really looking forward to book three. And then I'm so glad I finally picked up this little duology. It is Garlic and the Vampire and Garlic and the Witch by Bre Polson. I think this may be one of my new favourites. To me this reminds me very much of the feelings I got when I read the Tea Dragon Society by Kay O'Neill the first time. It's just very wholesome and very sweet. If you have not read the series Garlic is a garlic who is alive and she works on a little farm with Witch Agnes and the other vegetable people and they just tend to the garden. They grow vegetables, they sell them at the markets and they have a really beautiful little life. Garlic is quite scared of most things and so when some of her brothers and sisters notice that there is smoke coming out of the castle that is sort of within eyesight of their little home, they begin to theorise about who's living there and they find out that it's a vampire which freaks all of them out and they decide that they need to send someone to go and check it out and see if they can get rid of the vampire. And of course they send garlic because she's garlic and apparently garlic repels vampires, right? But she really doesn't want it. Like she's terrified of going. She's so nervous and so scared and it is about her bravery and courage in getting through with it and actually meeting the vampire and becoming friends with him and seeing beyond fear. It was just absolutely gorgeous and then garlic and the witch takes place after that story. You could read this on its own but I think it's important to read both stories to get the context of it because the vampire plays a part in this story but it is about garlic waking up and fearing that she's slowly turning into a human and of course that freaks her out. It's change. It's different. She doesn't, we know she doesn't like change and so it is about her understanding more about herself, about witch agnes, about coming to grips with her life and what may or may not happen. It's a great analogy for growing up and you know being afraid of things that you're not sure about. Like these are just such gorgeous books. There is magic. There is coziness. Like it's absolutely gorgeous and one of my favourite graphic novel series now. I kind of wish there were more stories but I'm also kind of glad that they're almost these little self-contained books that don't need more story either. So I'm going to have to investigate to see if Brie Poulsen has anything else out or whether she's got anything else coming out because I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed these books. And so that is my little graphic novel update. I will leave links to all of those down below so if you want to find out more information you absolutely can. In the comments I'd love to know have you got any other middle grade graphic novel recommendations for me? I do have at least one other video on graphic novels. I'll leave it linked on the screen for you if you'd like to check it out. Otherwise feel free to leave me a garlic emoji down below to let me know that you're here. I hope the reviewer on the world just staying safe and healthy and I will see you in my next video. Bye everyone.