February 2, 2018

First Friday 5: Soul Searching

The five books in this month's First Friday 5 all feature characters who are learning a lot about themselves. Whether that means discovering they can see ghosts, realizing they're IN LOVE with ghosts, or leaving home to set a new identity, all of these characters come to some strong realizations about themselves and what their fates hold for them.


Written Nick Tapalansky and Anissa Espinosa and illustrated byAlex Eckman-Lawn

Greg is different than everyone else in his small town: he was born without a shadow. Despite the fact that everything else in his life is seemingly normal, Greg still can't help but constantly feel different than everyone else around him. So when he finds someone else who's different it's hard not to immediately fall in love with her. There's just one problem: her version of "different" is that she's a ghost. And their budding relationship threatens to turn the history of the town upside down as they fight for each other and the past.
Caveboy Dave: More Scrawny Than Brawny
Written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Phil McAndrew

It's not easy being the descendent of literally the greatest inventors of all time. And Dave Unga-Bunga has a lot to live up to: his grandpa invented fire and his dad invented the wheel, so how will Caveboy Dave leave his mark? And how will he make a mark when he's, well, more scrawny than brawny? Dave better figure out fast, because he's turning twelve, and that's the age where all young cave-people are set out to fend for themselves and solidify their roles in the cave-person community.

Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo: The Road to Epoli
Written by Ben Costa and illustrated by James Parks

Rickety Stitch is a one of a kind guy. He's the only skeleton who seems to have retained a soul, and no one knows why. But he isn't particularly special, either. He's loud and he drinks and sings all day, and it seems as though his existence is pretty directionless. The only memories of his past that Rickety can access are the tiny snippets of past he sees in his dreams, which tell the epic tale of a bard's journey to a place called Epoli. Essentially at rock bottom, Rickety and Goo set out to figure out who they're meant to be in this world and what fate will befall them.



Soupy Leaves Home
Written by Cecil Castellucci and illustrated by Jose Pimienta

Set in 1932, Pearl "Soupy" Plankette is a runaway on a mission to discover who she is. Pearl desires to get her education, but her abusive father refuses to support her in her goals, so one day she decides to disguise herself as a boy and run away from home. She meets a hobo named Remy "Ramshackle" Smith. and together they train hop from the east coast to California, learning about themselves and wrestling with many demons along the way.



Surfside Girls: The Secret of Danger Point
Written and illustrated by Kim Dwinell

Samantha can't wait for a nice long summer break, surfing and hanging out with her best friend Jade, but it seems as though her dream summer, what with her best friend falling into giggle fits all the time over boys, a change that's less than welcome for Sam. When Sam goes swimming one day and finds a secret cave, though, things get significantly stranger: she starts seeing impossible things like mystical creatures and ghosts, and it doesn't take long for her to learn that there's something more sinister in the air and that she might be the only person to stop it.


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