Stack Overflow: Recent Reads

Today I’ve got a few comic books, plus a novel I just finished—there’s not really a connecting thread, but it’s what I’ve been up to lately.

Pepper Page Saves the Universe! by Landry Q. Walker, Eric Jones, Michael Drake, Patrick Brosseau

In the distant future, Pepper Page loves reading her Supernova comic books (on paper! How old-fashioned!), and isn’t as interested in school or sports. Her two friends try to shield her a bit from bullies, but they don’t always get her, either. But when she tries to rescue a kitten from her science teacher’s quantum field experiment, she finds herself thrown into a strange world—and discovers that she has some strange ties to these old comic book stories she knows so well.

The story includes some time travel elements, a dash of Shazam, and a talking cat. The story itself is sort of a superhero origin story so it feels like there should be some further adventures, though I’m not sure if there are any other books in the works currently.

Cat’s Cradle: The Golden Twine by Jo Rioux

Suri is an orphan girl who travels along with a band of merchants, though not all of them are happy to have her tag along. She fancies herself a monster expert and wants to learn to tame them, though she doesn’t always recognize what’s right in front of her. A strange little clanking man arrives to their camp with something large and mysterious in his covered wagon—could it be a monster? Meanwhile, Suri ends up finding a ball of golden twine that she doesn’t realize has real powers, which puts her in the sights of the caitsiths, cat-like monsters who can take human form.

It’s a fun, adventurous story with a lot of surprises. Suri is a fun character—a bit impulsive, but confident and good-hearted, and that leads her to some interesting places. This book is the first in a planned series, so I’m excited for more. It was originally published back in 2012 by Kids Can Press (you can see an excerpt here), but this new edition from First Second actually has newly done artwork.

Miss Quinces by Kat Fajardo

Sue is not interested in having a quinceñera—what she really wants to do is go to a summer camp with her friends, but her overprotective mom would never agree. And then, on a family trip to Honduras (with no internet!) her mom has a surprise for her: she’s invited all her extended family and friends to her quinceñera! Now Sue is expected to go through all the rituals: the big colorful dress, a speech in her imperfect Spanish, and more.

The story is about expectations, cross-cultural differences, and family. Sue’s grandma helps both Sue and her mother see these traditions in a different light, and they both learn to make some compromises. Kat Fajardo draws from her own experiences to create an authentic Latine-American teen, one who often feels “too American for [her] family, and too Latine for Americans.”

Button Pusher by Tyler Page

Tyler grew up in the ’80s, at a time before ADHD was a household term. All his parents and teachers know is that he acts up in school and has trouble staying on task. When he finally sees a specialist and is diagnosed with ADHD, he’s never even told his diagnosis or what these pills are for—but they do have an impact on his behavior and his ability to focus.

This comic book is an autobiographical account of growing up with ADHD. It also deals with some family trauma. His dad likely had undiagnosed ADHD and easily lost his temper, which often caused a lot of strife at home, and Tyler started seeing some of his own tendencies reflected back at him in a negative light. The comic has some interludes that explain a bit more how the ADHD brain works, kind of like a mini Science Comics lesson.

It’s a condensed version of the story, compressing about eight years of Tyler’s life down to book length, and so the “plot” sometimes jumps a bit in places, but it’s a very good overall impression of what it was like inside Tyler’s head. I think it could be a valuable book for parents to provide insight into the ADHD brain, but could also help kids understand a bit about what’s going on with their brains, though parents may want to preview it because of the family dynamics so they can talk to their kids about it afterward.

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

I arrived a bit late to Blake Crouch’s books—I read Dark Matter in December and Recursion in January and enjoyed them both, so I was excited to dig into his latest, Upgrade. This one is all about genetic modification: it takes place decades after a gene-modification experiment went awry and led to the Great Starvation, killing millions of people across the globe. Since then, the Gene Protection Agency was formed and genetic research has become heavily regulated, with much of it banned outright.

Logan Ramsay, whose mother was responsible for the Great Starvation, has been trying to pay back this immeasurable debt as a GPA agent, tracking down and arresting genetic scientists. He gets set up while chasing down a suspect and trips a strange bomb that ends up hacking his genome—after he recovers from the initial injury, he starts to notice that his memory is much better, his thinking is faster, and his body is stronger. And that’s when the GPA comes after him, thinking that he may be secretly working with his mother—presumed dead for two decades.

The plot involves a sweeping plan to “upgrade” humanity in an attempt to save it, and Logan’s decision about whether to help it along or try to stop it. It’s one of those stories where the “villain” of the story makes some really good points about people and how short-sighted we are, and yet the proposed solution feels horrendous. Is it the right way to go, though?

Although I did zip through this book pretty quickly, it didn’t grab me in quite the same way as Crouch’s previous two books, perhaps in part because even if the genetic science pushes the boundaries of reality, it’s not quite as mind-bogglingly far out as the multiverses or time travel hijinks of the first two books.

And I do have to share one nitpicky thing that made me laugh out loud: in a section where they’re testing Logan’s heightened intelligence in various subjects, he’s asked to fill in the next few numbers in a sequence—he does it easily, not because he figured it out, but because his improved memory lets him recall learning it in college. The sequence in question is the Fibonacci sequence, which, uh, my third grader recognizes. Compared to the ability to recall the definition of an obscure word he saw once over a decade ago, or regaining fluency in French by remembering his high school classes, the mathematical examples were laughable.

But, that detail aside, Crouch does set up an exciting cat-and-mouse thriller. There weren’t a lot of surprising plot twists, but it did get into some philosophical pondering about what makes us human, and what’s worth saving.

My Current Stack

I’m still reading This Place That Place (mentioned last week), and I also just picked up a stack of Phoebe and Her Unicorn books that we were missing from our collection, so I’ll probably dip into those this week as well.

Disclosure: I received review copies of the books in this column. Affiliate links to Bookshop.org help support my writing and independent booksellers!