Lumberjackula

In an earnest graphic novel about embracing one’s true self, 11-and-a-half-year-old Lumberjackula, who has teal skin and sports a red flannel, agonizes about choosing between a perceived either/or around his half-lumberjack, half-vampire heritage. Lumberjacks and vampires peacefully coexist in Hollow Tree, but they largely lead separate lives. After finishing their combined early schooling, flannel-clad lumberjack children of various skin tones attend Mighty Log Lumberjack Prep to learn wood splitting and logrolling, while cloaked, blue-skinned vampires study hypnosis and flight at Sorrow’s Gloom Vampire Academy. Though Jack’s supportive parents say that the choice of school is up to him, he’s aware of both family legacies and doesn’t feel like he fits in at either place. When an enthusiastic performer from nearby Branchborough sees Jack dance, and encourages him to enroll at Tip Tap Twinkle Toes Dance Academy, the idea opens up new anxieties—and refreshing options. In rounded lines and subdued colors, Owen’s cartoon art renders the friendly world with winning details, including dance-party interstitials that show Jack working through his feelings. Heagerty (Martian Ghost Centaur) keeps the conflict focused on Jack’s internal insecurities in this good-natured slice-of-life story that wields familiar tropes to laud embracing myriad intersections of identity. Ages 8–12. (July)