Rick Riordan Presents

In early 2017, acclaimed author Rick Riordan, of Percy Jackson fame, announced he would be leading an imprint from Disney, with the goal of publishing “great books by middle grade authors from underrepresented cultures and backgrounds, to let them tell their own stories inspired by the mythology and folklore of their own heritage.”

He had been constantly asked by fans of Percy Jackson or the Kane Chronicles, “Will you ever write about Hindu mythology? What about Native American? What about Chinese?” Riordan could have easily written books about those topics, but instead decided to use his privilege to lift up the voices of those he could have just as easily overshadowed. Rick Riordan Presents leverages his position and experience to help put a spotlight on writers “who are actually from those cultures and know the mythologies better than I do. Let them tell their own stories, and I would do whatever I could to help those books find a wide audience.”

Thus far, two books have been released:

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

Twelve-year-old Aru Shah lives with her archaeologist mom at the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture in Atlanta. She hangs out in Spider-Man pjs, dreams of spending more time with her always-traveling mom, and really wants to impress her private school classmates. After lighting a supposedly cursed lamp in the museum, Aru frees an ancient demon whose job is to awaken the God of Destruction. People start freezing in place, and things don’t look great for Aru. Clearly in over her head, Aru must locate the other reincarnations of the legendary Pandava brothers, journey into the Kingdom of Death (& Costco), acquire some magical weapons, and eventually save the world!

Audiobook Narrator Spotlight: Robin Miles

Actor, audiobook director and performer Robin Miles has narrated hundreds of audiobooks. Miles has the ability to convincingly recreate a huge range of speech patterns and accents, conveying more about a character than comes across through their words alone. After an experience narrating the horror book The Good House by Tananarive Due, she realized she could leverage this ability to take on more audiobook work in the sci-fi, horror, and fantasy genres, whose stories typically require more range to portray a large diversity of character-types and voices. Robin Miles is now an industry legend, and a recent inductee of the Audible Narrator Hall of Fame. Here are a few titles read by Miles in the collection:

Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston

In 1927 and 1931, author Zora Neale Hurston met and interviewed Cudjo Lewis, the last person alive who had been enslaved and transported from Africa as part of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. A Peak Pick!

Eisner Awards for Comics 2018

The nominations for the 2018 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were announced on April 26th, with the awards to be presented July 20th at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The awards, presented annually since 1988, after the discontinuation of the Jack Kirby Award, are the most well-known honor in American comics. The nominations span 31 categories in 2018, from best writer, artist, inker, and colorist to best archival collection, publication for early readers (up to age 8), and comics-related book. Here are just a few of the nominees available at the Seattle Public Library.

Arthur and the Golden Rope by Joe Todd-Stanton

Nominated for Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 8), this adventure story, drawn in a style reminiscent of Kate Beaton or Noelle Stevenson, with rich colors, follows Icelandic boy Arthur as he is drawn into Norse myth in attempts to stop the great wolf Fenrir from destroying the world as part of Ragnarok.

#BookBingoNW2018: Graphic Novels

It’s summertime, which nowadays essentially means Marvel™ movies season! Not looking for more Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, or the Avengers? Then check out these lesser-known, but equally Marvel™-ous graphic novels:

Black Bolt vol. 1 Hard Time by Saladin Ahmed & Christian Ward
Blackagar Boltagon (yes, really), the silent king of the Inhumans, finds himself imprisoned. Where is this prison? Who could be powerful enough to hold Black Bolt captive? This mesmerizing character study, with surreal, vibrant artwork, is part prison break, part buddy movie.

The Seattle Public Library Zine Collections

Central Library Zine Collection

A zine is a self-published work of original or appropriated and remixed materials, including photographs, drawings, poetry, and prose. Typically limited in print number, zines are most often stapled-together paper reproduced on a photocopier, and distributed locally.

While zines are closely associated with music scenes such as punk or riot grrrl, they have existed in their modern form as a part of a variety of artistic movements since the early 20^th century, including Dadaist leaflets and early science fiction fan magazines (aka fanzines aka zines).

The Central Library’s Teen Center zine collection, launched with the goal of promoting the voices and creative expression of teens and young adults, especially those living in the Pacific Northwest, includes over a hundred zines and mini-comics, with topics ranging from self-perception to parrotfish to paper airplanes. All zines in this collection are uncatalogued, but may be borrowed and returned to the library when finished.