To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, written by Moniquill Blackgoose, was given to me by NetGalley for an honest review. This is the first book in the Nampeshiweisit series, and was first published in May 2023.
Anequs lives on the island Masquapaug, a remote island where the Anglish conquerors of her land seldom visits. One day she finds a dragon egg. The egg hatches, and the baby dragon bonds with Anequs, and she becomes a Nampeshiweisits (someone who has a special relationship with a dragon). Her people are delighted, as it has been a very long time since the had any dragons or Nampeshiweisits.
Unfortunately, the Anglish has a very different idea of how dragons should be kept and how dragoneers should be schooled, and Anequs is sent to the mainland to attend a school to learn how to shape a dragon’s breath and become a dragoneers.
It is not easy for Anequs to attend an Anglish school. She knows that if she doesn’t manage to meet the Anglish’s requirements, her dragon will be killed. She is determined to learn what she needs to be able to keep her dragon alive.
I absolutely loved this book. Anequs is a strong character, and I fell in love with her. The language was absolutely beautiful, and I adored how lyrical and poetic it was.
I think the book’s themes are important, like basic human rights. In the Anglish world we see things that can easily be taken for granted in a modern Nordic country, like the right to be LGBTQIAP+. Just to mention one thing. Also, it touches on how we as white Europeans have treated indigenous people. Not just in North America, but also here in Europe.
For me it was a bonus that I am familiar with Nordic myths and lore, as I recognised it in the book. That being said, it is absolutely not a requirement to know them.
June is actually not that far away, and it’s time for the Queer Lit Readathon. I can’t believe it’s round 13! As usual, this is the readathon I’m most excited about through the year, and I hope I manage to cross off at least some of the squared of the bingo board.
Since I know people might be looking for some recommendations, I’m hoping to find the time to write some blog posts with mine. In this post, I’ll recommend some graphic LGBTQIAP+ graphic books. And to make it really simple, I’m going to use the publisher’s book description.
Us, by Sara Soler
Us is Sara and Diana’s love story, as well as the story of Diana’s gender transition. Full of humor, heartache, and the everyday triumphs and struggles of identity, this graphic memoir speaks to changing conceptions of the world as well as the self, at the same time revealing that some things don’t really have to change.
Written, drawn, and colored by Sara Soler, with English translation by Silvia Perea Labayen and letters by Joamette Gil.
Key words: Memoir, transgender, Spain
The Tea Dragon Society, by K. O’Neill
From the award-winning author of Princess Princess Ever After comes THE TEA DRAGON SOCIETY, the beloved and charming all-ages book that follows the story of Greta, a blacksmith apprentice, and the people she meets as she becomes entwined in the enchanting world of tea dragons. After discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, Greta learns about the dying art form of tea dragon care-taking from the kind tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik. As she befriends them and their shy ward, Minette, Greta sees how the craft enriches their lives—and eventually her own.
Key words: Magic, MtM, disability
Coming Back, by Jessi Zabarsky
Preet is magic.
Valissa is not.
Everyone in their village has magic in their bones, and Preet is the strongest of them all. Without any power of her own, how can Valissa ever be worthy of Preet’s love? When their home is attacked, Valissa has a chance to prove herself, but that means leaving Preet behind. On her own for the first time, Preet breaks the village’s most sacred laws and is rejected from the only home she’s ever known and sent into a new world.
Divided by different paths, insecurities, and distance, will Valissa and Preet be able to find their way back to each other?
Key words: Magic, sapphic
Heartstopper, by Alice Oseman
Vol. 1 – 5
Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they’ve never met … until one day when they’re made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance.
But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realised.
Key words: MtM, The UK
Cheer Up!: Love and Pompoms, by Crystal Frasier
Illustrated by Val Wise / Letterer Oscar O. Jupiter
Annie is a smart, antisocial lesbian starting her senior year of high school who’s under pressure to join the cheerleader squad to make friends and round out her college applications. Her former friend Bebe is a people-pleaser—a trans girl who must keep her parents happy with her grades and social life to keep their support of her transition. Through the rigors of squad training and amped up social pressures (not to mention micro aggressions and other queer youth problems), the two girls rekindle a friendship they thought they’d lost and discover there may be other, sweeter feelings springing up between them.
Key words: Transgender, sapphic, USA
Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe
In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.
Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
Key words: Non-binary, ace, memoir, the US
Paper Planes, by Jennie Wood
Illustrated by Dozerdraws
Former best friends Dylan Render and Leighton Worthington attempt to successfully navigate their way through a summer camp for troubled youth. They both need a good evaluation at the camp. Otherwise, they’ll be sent away, unable to attend high school with their friends. While participating in camp activities and chores, Dylan and Leighton rexamine the events that led up to the incident that sent them to camp, the incident that threatens their futures and their friendship with each other.
Key words: Ace, non-binary, the US
Bloom, by Kevin Panetta
Illustrated by Savanna Ganucheau
Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band—if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of bread, love is ready to bloom . . . that is, if Ari doesn’t ruin everything.
Key words: MtM, the US
Mooncakes, by Suzanne Walker
Illustrated by Wendy Xu
A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft. Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any townhome. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.
So a week ago, I was out weeding my flower beds in the front of the house, and as I went to get a bag for the weeds in the garage, I ran into one of our neighbours. She was kind enough to offer me a couple of tomato plants, and of course I accepted. It only took a couple of minutes to go inside and get two plants for me, ant they are currently growing in my windowsill, waiting to be big enough to be re-potted.
The tomato plants are of the type Tiny Tim, a sort of cocktail tomatoes. The plants normally doesn’t get more than maybe half a meter high. I must admit I first thought about having them outside in the garden, but after reading about them, I think they’ll be better off on the balcony.
This year I’m very behind on growing anything, so I’m hoping maybe next year, I’ll be able to sow more stuff. I really need to read and learn more about it. This year I need to focus on what’s already there, though, as well as renovating the room I’m making into a library…
The day before the first snow arrived in late October last year, I planted some bulbs that I had actually bought on sale. I didn’t really pay much attention to what types they were (it was a mix), and I didn’t really know how well it would work, knowing I had bought them on sale, and planing them so late. To my delight, in early March I could see the first flowers peek up.
Unfortunately, we had a new snowfall on 4 and 5 April, and that was something the crocuses didn’t quite like. They looked a bit sad when I got home after spending the following weekend in Oslo. Also, some deer had decided that my tulips were so delicious, so they had munched on them. To be fair, though, they don’t know any better, and I don’t mind it that much. Deer are cute, and now I know there’s not really any point in planting tulips.
A week after the snowfall other flowers decided to bloom, and there were some cute daffodils and some wood squills.
As we moved into this house in August 2023, I don’t really know what will pop up in my flowerbed. I am excited to see what I have, and to plant some new bulbs come autumn.
For the fist Mid Month Book Bash of 2024, I read the book Skogen : om trær folk og 25 000 andre arter, by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson. The Mid Month Book Bash (MMBB for short) takes place Friday to Monday the second weekend of the month, and was started by Doris from all D books on YouTube. The purpose for MMBB is to get the reading going, end even though I don’t feel like I really need it, it’s fun to take part. Here’s my MMBB vlog for January 2024:
People who know me know that I have been dreaming of going to India for a very long time. For years, I’ve been saving money for a trip. Originally the plan was to arrange everything myself, and travel by myself, but as things are now, I don’t feel safe enough to do so. While I still will be travelling without anyone I know, I will be travelling with others – on an arrange trip by Vilja Reiser, a travel agency that do organised tours for women.
We’ll be leaving Norway 17 October 2024, and arrive in New Delhi the next day. The plan is to rest before lunch, and then head to see India Gate, the parliament building, and Rashtrapati Bhawan. On the 19th we head to Jaipur, and then on the 21st we are to visit the Ranthambore national park. We head to Agra on the 23rd, one of the most visited cities in India, and home to Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. Taj Mahal is our stop the next morning, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it! On 25 October we will be in Varanasi, where we will attend a Ganga Aarti ceremony by the river Ganges at night. In the morning the next day there will be a boat trip on the river to watch the sunrise. Then on the 27th we head back to Norway.
I have taken three weeks off work for this trip, so that I have time to prepare, as well as get over the jet lag. Needless to say, I’m very excited to go!
Have you ever been to India? When did you go, and what did you see?
First of all: Representation matters. I think it’s very important for kids to read books where they can see themselves, no matter what age. I’m really happy there are now more middle grade books with more diversity around, and I’ll hopefully get around to read more at some point. That being said, in this blog post I will recommend three English language middlegrade books with LGBTQIAP+ representation. (There definitivle exist some Norwegian ones, but there could have been more).
This books tells the story of Bug, a kid who lives in a haunted house, and tries to understand a message a ghost is trying to send. Even though it may sound a bit scary, it wasn’t scary at all, but really cute. I don’t really want to give too much away, as it could spoil the reading experience.
We meet Sam, who is very in touch with their own queer identity. They’re nonbinary, and their best friend, TJ, is nonbinary too. Sam’s family accepts them for who they are, they still need to do chores, do their homework, and try not to antagonize their teachers too much. Showing the teacher respect can be hard, especially when it comes to their hostory teacher. Their teacher seems to believe that only Dead Straight Cis White Men are responsible for history. So when Sam’s home borough of Staten Island opens up a contest for a new statue, Sam finds the perfect non-DSCWM subject: photographer Alice Austen, whose house has been turned into a museum, and who lived with a female partner for decades. It doesn’t take long before the project becomes more than just winning the contest. Sam discovers a rich queer history, one that they’re a part of: A queer history that no longer needs to be quiet, as long as there are kids like Sam and TJ to stand up for it.
This is truly a feel good read, with lots of diversity.
Aster is 13 years old, and in his family, all the girls are raised to be witches, while boys grow up to be shapeshifters. If you dare to cross that line, you will be exiled. Unfortunately for Aster, he still hasn’t shifted. To top that off, he’s really fascinated by witchery. When something is threatening Aster’s family, he knows he can help – by using witchcraft. By the help by a new, and very non-magical friend, he is encouraged to practise his skills, and must find the courage to save his family.
This is a a sweet graphic novel, and the first in a series. I still haven’t gotten around to read more that the first.
I went to Ireland 5 – 10 October 2023, as I was going to attend Octocon. I also went to Kilkenny for a day to meet up with a good friend of mine, and did a bit of book shopping.
I went to Gothenburg in Sweden for a weekend 22 – 24 September 2023. Here’s my reading and travel vlog, including going to bookshops, attending a BookCrossing meetup, and walking in the botanical gardens.
