The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson

This animal fantasy book contains all the elements of a traditional fantasy—it begins when a young protagonist who feels ill-equipped for greatness is chosen for a seemingly impossible task. Aldwyn the alley cat is selected by a young wizard-in-training to be his familiar. Aldwyn is assumed to be telekinetic and will be the boy's companion and protector. He meets two other familiars, a frog and a bird, and they soon must rescue their "loyals" from almost certain death at the hands of an evil queen. The band of three familiars sets off on a pretty predictable quest to save their loyals and along the way they run from spies and fend off an eight-headed dragon. This is a good introduction to fantasy for readers who may not yet have read widely. While is loved by third and fourth graders at my school, the middle school readers mainly thought it just didn't break any new ground for them. I had trouble getting through it also, but I am admittedly not a fan of animal fantasy.

March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

I thought this graphic novel was fantastic. It tells the story of one of my heroes, civil rights activist John Lewis. It begins on a bridge in Selma then moves to his congressional office on the day of Obama's inauguration. The story then flashes back to Lewis's childhood on a farm raising chickens. We see him make it to college (a remarkable accomplishment at the time) and decide to join in the movement to desegregate lunch counters. This is Book One so we must wait for future books to hear about the Freedom Rides and the March on Washington. It's a great story with fine artwork and I hope it introduces many new young people to John Lewis's contributions to the Civil Rights Movement.