The Ancient Underwater City (Peculiar Woods #1)

A mysteriously flooded town and inanimate objects suddenly coming to life set the tone for Colmenares’s gently eerie graphic novel series opener. Moving can be stressful enough, but for nine-year-old white-cued Iggie, it comes with the added pressure of living with his mother for the first time after being raised by an aunt. Iggie is excited to get to know his mom and explore his new home, but strange challenges present themselves when, on his first night, Iggie notices a flooded town at the edge of the woods; is rescued from a late-night forest excursion by a walking refrigerator; scolded by a yoga-loving chair; and frightened by his blanket, which is carried away in a storm. At school, Iggie confronts bullies, converses with talking chess pieces, and befriends a girl, depicted with brown skin, who keeps a journal filled with unflattering descriptions of her surroundings before a jerky series of events leads Iggie and several animated objects into the woods to uncover the secrets regarding the mysterious flooded town. While the jumbled plot often sacrifices momentum for snappy one-liners, softly rounded illustrations rendered in an autumnal palette depict Iggie’s loneliness and struggle to fit in, and personify the objects’ bizarre personalities, to deliver a cozy adventure. Ages 7–11. (May)