Artemis: Wild Goddess of the Hunt by George O’Connor

“I am wild, untamed, unattached, unfettered.”  O’Connor does not disappoint when he finally allows us to hear Artemis’ voice, but he takes a while to get there, permitting several other voices to narrate Artemis’ story.  While the transitions do not always go smoothly, it is a small price to pay for the overall effect of O’Connor’s manner of weaving together multiple storylines to present an Artemis with a rare emotional complexity and challenging family situation.  The quality of care and creativity displayed in the storytelling and artwork is surprisingly paralleled in the front- and backmatter, which includes a very helpful family tree, character pages, discussion questions, annotated bibliography, and notes.  The latter two do an admirable job conveying the author’s humorous and playful attitude toward his seriously well-done research and thus conveys the persona of a researcher/writer/artist in a context generally skipped over by casual young readers.  Artemis is a valuable teaching text students will be motivated to read independently.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

O’Connor, George.  Artemis:  Wild Goddess of the Hunt.  New York: First Second, 2017. 

Buddha by Osama Tezuka

This compelling manga series takes readers on a journey of enlightenment across 8 volumes.  It begins before Siddartha, the Buddha, is born.  Book one starts by explaining the different social castes in Kapilavastu, India.  Siddartha who is born a prince sacrifices his riches and family in order to search for the meaning of life.  This journey is what makes the series such an amazing read.  A Throughout the series we learn about a multitude of characters, that change their lives as they interact with Siddartha.  In turn they also force the future Buddha to rethink the purpose of his journey.  This manga series offers an accessible entry point to classic works on the buddha, such as Hermann Hesse’s Siddartha. The first volume in the series can be helpful to introduce students to the concepts of social classes and segregation and to world religions, perhaps in Global Studies.  Students looking for drama or that have read titles like The Alchemist would likely enjoy the series. -- Claudio Leon