In the tradition of the Susan Cooper books, and other such fantasy children's classics, a pair of siblings are dropped off at the mysterious old house of a distant relative for the summer. The children are Seth and Kendra, the place is Fablehaven, and yes, it is full of magic. Unbeknownst to them, Seth and Kendra's grandparents custodian a preserves of enchanted creatures, some benevolent, some malign. Seth is wild to discover all he can and in the process breaks some terrible fairy rules that place the whole family in mortal danger. It is up to tentative Kendra to brave the dangerous woods- or lose all the people she loves.

Louis Penny's debut murder mystery is set in a small village in rural Canada with spotty cell reception, Three Pines. In it's tiny main street a used and new bookstore rubs shoulders with the bistro/antique shop, the old school house and the tiny market. People in this village know their neighbors by name and don't lock their doors at night. But Jane Neal, a retired teacher and painter, is shot in the woods and killed. A hunting accident? Or something more sinister? It's up to Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Québec to find out.

Jose Munoz and Carlos Sampayo tell a bold but fragmented tale of Billie Holiday juxtaposing some of her finest moments with some of her darkest ones. A reporter writing a story on the 30 year anniversary of her death digs through notes and remembrances, finding her lovers, her addition, her genius. The heavy black and white give the whole book a noir feel, with lyrics interspersed in a sharp spiky text.

Bitch Planet is a very smart, heavy, dystopian science fiction comic packaged with a provocative title and deliberately pulpy covers. The initial set up seems to beg for comparisons (Hunger Games meets Orange is the New Black, or perhaps 1984 meets Feed) but hiding under this familiar beginning is a delightfully horrible new world in which characters of integrity are rare gems. The first five issues are a quick and addictive read but only just begin to scratch the surface of a larger plot. I'm very curious what twists this story will take in later volumes.

This is the second book in the graphic novel biography of Congressman John Lewis (Ga-5), and it is even more gripping than the first volume. The story cuts back and forth between brief scenes of President Obama's swearing in as the President of the United States and Lewis's experiences as the leader of the SNCC (the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) in the early 1960s. Lewis participated in the Freedom Ride to test the desegregation of the bus system that lead to devastating violence in Birmingham, Alabama. The contrast of seeing Lewis being beaten and jailed in the South, then invited to meetings at the White House and personally acknowledged by Robert Kennedy, is astonishing. Lewis was one of the six speakers on the Washington DC March on August 28th, 1963, and his speech to this day is moving and necessary. Nate Powell's expressive, detailed and historically accurate drawings keep this book humming with energy.

A beautifully drawn but very slim story, heavily riffing on Batman.