EFR REVIEWS

FUN HOME   CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED, NATIONAL BESTSELLER  Time Magazine #1 Book of the Year  •  National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist  •  Winner of the Stonewall Book Award  •    Double finalist for the Lambda Book Award  • Nominated for the  GLAAD Media Award Alison Bechdel’s groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir that charts her fraught relationship with her late father.  Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the "Fun Home." It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.   In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and...

SMILE TRILOGY Smile The true story of how Raina severely injured her two front teeth when she was in the sixth grade, and the dental drama that followed! Sisters Raina can't wait to be a big sister. Amara is cute, but she's also cranky and mostly prefers to play by herself. Their relationship doesn't improve much over the years... can they figure out how to get along? Guts Raina has tummy trouble, and it seems to coincide with her worries about food, school, family, and changing friendships. A thoughtful, charming, and funny true story about growing up and gathering the courage to face -- and eventually conquer -- fear. ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ In this graphic memoir set in the early 90s in San Francisco, author Raina Telgemeier illustrates herself as a 6th grader who takes a bad fall (courtesy of a friend not paying attention) during a Girl Scouts meet-up one night. Raina ends up with two severely damaged front teeth. While her mom had been discussing the possibility of braces prior to t...

LOVE LETTERS   ** Female manga artist George Asakura uses this format to present short-story style romances, depicting couples who  come together under unique / unusual circumstances. Love Letters #1 Stories 1-5 #1 "Love Letters in the Library" -- Ririko Takase is a Liza Minelli-looking librarian who finds a love letter from a secret admirer left for her at the library's return desk.  #2 "To One Who Doesn't Know Me" -- Bad boy Mosumura Yasushi writes a letter to classmate Katase Rino confessing is admiration / attraction for her. But the letter is actually found by another girl, Ayako, who is moved by his sentiments. #3 "Flowers Blooming in the Snow" -- Lonely girl Miyashita Chiyuki, struggling with depression, finds friendship through letters exchanged with Kumashiro.  #4 "Love Letter Panic" -- Tomboy Hayakawa gets a letter from a secret admirer telling her she's cute, which inspires her to embrace her girly-girl side and start ...

Pluviophiles, unite! I tried to upload this on the EFR YT channel but surprise, surprise. It got blocked. Hopefully it'll work here.... Intro / middle song clips from "Floating" by Ad Dios: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAuUx... End Song = "Rain" by Hata Motohiro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN5KZ... Garden of Words movie: https://smile.amazon.com/Garden-Words... Garden of Words book: https://smile.amazon.com/Garden-Words...