Kirkus Creator of an astonishingly successful webcomicor a nonentity of a high school senior?Eliza Mirk is an anxiety-plagued weirdo, shuffling silently through the corridors of her Indiana high school without a single friend. She's also beloved LadyConstellation, creator of the comic Monstrous Sea, "a combination of the Final Fantasy video games and the Faust Legend." On the Monstrous Sea forums, she's the queen to millions of passionate fans; in school she's "Creepy Don't-Touch-Her-You'll-Get-Rabies Eliza." Eliza's parents, athletes with no understanding of the internet age, mishandle their belovedbut frighteningly bafflingdaughter. Though terrified by human interaction, Eliza finds her voice long enough to defend a new student who's being mocked for writing Monstrous Sea fanfiction. Wallace and Eliza develop an intense, if unusual, friendship: Wallace's selective mutism means the majority of their conversations are carried on in writing. Eliza, meanwhile, wonders if she can reveal her online identity to Wallace, one of the most well-known fans of Monstrous Sea, without destroying his feelings for her. The deepening relationship of these two white teens, interspersed with pages from the comic and Wallace's fanfiction prose retelling of it, exposes the raw, self-absorbed pain of mental illness amid the helplessness many high schoolers experience. A wrenching depiction of depression and anxiety, respectful to fandom, online-only friendships, and the benefits and dangers of internet fame. (Fiction. 13-17) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book Socially inept high-school senior Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of a super-popular fantasy webcomic. New kid Wallace is a fan. The two begin a tentative friendship, and soon they're more than friends. Eliza agonizes over how to confess that she's not just a fellow fan but actually the comic's creator. Interspersed with Eliza's often funny first-person narrative are chat logs, text messages, art, and snippets of Wallace's prose. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Eliza Mirk, 18, has a secret-one that only her immediate family knows: she is LadyConstellation, the creator of the hugely popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza's plan is to quietly finish high school (and the comic), then head off to college where she won't be known as the weird, friendless girl. Things don't go as planned after she meets Wallace, a diehard fan of Monstrous Sea and an equally broken fan fiction writer. Zappia (Made You Up) uses her own illustrated Monstrous Sea panels to punctuate elements of the narrative and to show how Eliza and Wallace find solace in fandom. LadyConstellation is eventually outed, painfully and publicly, causing Eliza to spiral into depression, self-harm, and thoughts of suicide. Zappia's lighter approach to these topics doesn't diminish the strength of this sensitive and compassionate story or the message mirrored in the themes of the webcomic: there are monsters in the world, both real and imaginary, and without support systems, those monsters can cause great harm. Ages 14-up. Agent: Louise Fury, Bent Agency. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Gr 9 Up-Eliza's parents have no understanding of her online life, from her friendships to the scope of the world she created. As a result, Eliza feels like an outsider, unless she's talking with her cyberfriends or working on her popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Wallace, a new boy at school, has been the first person to bring her out of her shell in ages. As their friendship grows, he confides his chilling secret, but Eliza still can't bring herself to share her web identity with him. When the truth comes out, will this secret shatter their relationship? Told in a series of letters, instant messages, comics, and prose, this book focuses on relationships and identity. It tackles social anxiety and asks serious questions: What makes a relationship valid in this era of social media? Are online interactions as meaningful as those in real life? Zappia's work will resonate with teens who write, create art, and love fandoms. Introverted readers will connect with the protagonist. VERDICT A must-have for all YA collections, especially where geek culture is celebrated.-Jennifer Rummel, Cragin Library, Colchester, CT © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list *Starred Review* Eliza's eponymous monsters are twofold: they are the stars of her viral webcomic, but they are also the anxiety and depression that keep her identity as the webcomic's creator shielded behind a wall of anonymity. As LadyConstellation, she has written and illustrated Monstrous Sea, inspiring a devoted online fandom worldwide. At school, however, she's just cripplingly shy Eliza Mirk: an average student who prefers a digital social life to a real one. She meets her match when Monstrous Sea fan-fiction writer Wallace transfers to her school and is too shy to even speak out loud. Through simple, tender notes passed back and forth, the two form a fast bond. But Eliza keeps her identity as LadyConstellation a secret even from Wallace, a decision that could cost her his trust forever. In her sophomore novel, Zappia (Made You Up, 2015) gracefully examines Eliza's complicated struggle with anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts, as she recognizes, The thought is still there, but the seriousness of it comes and goes. In addition to a vibrant fictional fandom akin to the Simon Snow following in Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl (2013), this is peppered with detailed illustrations from Eliza's webcomic, drawn by Zappia herself. A fervent celebration of online fandom, sure to leave readers craving an actual Monstrous Sea comic.--Kling, Caitlin Copyright 2017 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Book list In 1900, a girl learned a hymn written by her school principal, James Weldon Johnson, and she sang it as part of a 500-member choir: Lift Every Voice and Sing. She later sang it to her husband as they moved from Florida to Pennsylvania, since it was a part of her she wanted to pass on. Later, she shared it with her son through the years. Growing up, he sang it in choirs, when facing discrimination as a soldier returning from WWII, and after becoming a father. Tracing the history of Black Americans since 1900 through five generations of one family, this creative book also connects events and cultural shifts with particular lines in the song, underscoring their relevance during certain times, ending with the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. With clarity and warmth, the illustrations sensitively capture the changing characters, emotions, and eras as time passes. This well-structured, original story will resonate most intensely with readers and listeners who are familiar with this stirring hymn, but others will sense its power as well. Dovetailing nicely with the books that introduce the song itself, this moving picture book celebrates it as a symbol of faith, brilliance, resistance, and resilience. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Kirkus "Before you were born, a girl learned a song"so begins the story of how "Lift Every Voice" takes root in a young African American girl's heart and becomes a source of fortitude for her and her descendants, who continue learning, singing, and passing the song along. Readers learn that the hymn was written by the fictional protagonist's principal, James Weldon Johnson, and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, to be sung during a celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1900. As she grows and passes the song down through generations, significant events in the lives of African Americans unspool, including the Great Migration and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and culminating with the ringing of "the freedom bell" at the opening ceremony of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Lyons writes with rhythmic warmth, weaving the lyrics into her story. Full of faith and hope, they were the foundation of the civil rights movement and continue to be a source of encouragement and pride. Mallett's artwork charmingly illumines the faces of the singers in the book, revealing their passion and often joy in singing what's become cherished as the African American national anthem. An author's note reveals that the story spread after Johnson's students took it for their own and shared it.A beautiful celebration of a song that continues to give life to African Americans. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly Through the lens of a family handing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” down through several generations, Lyons (Hope’s Gift) delivers the history of a song that has inspired generations of African-Americans to persist and resist in the face of racism and systemic oppression. The creators start with the song’s beginnings in 1900, when it was penned by siblings James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamund Johnson to commemorate President Lincoln’s birthday. In vibrant, realistic illustrations and painstaking facial detail, Mallett portrays a girl practicing, then singing—“back straight, head high,/ heart and mouth open”—at the song’s first choir performance before eventually teaching it to her son (“It was a part of her she wanted to pass on”). Bold colors lend emotion to scenes of hope and adversity as one child becomes a WWII veteran facing discrimination and subsequent generations witness other moments in history: the killing of Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights protests, and, in 2016, the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. All the while, each generation passes the lyrics along, and a final page urges readers to “keep singing... keep on keeping on.” A heartfelt history of a historic anthem. Ages 5–8. (Aug.)

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Publishers Weekly Immigration lawyer Burden traces the exhilarating start and excruciating dissolution of her two-decade marriage in this bruising debut. Dividing the narrative into five acts, Burden recounts how, during the Covid pandemic, her husband of 20 years abruptly walked out on her and their three children without explanation. After he left, Burden desperately searched for answers, blaming herself and relitigating their idyllic courtship, looking for signs of his unhappiness in his occasional coldness and passing moments of rigidity. As her husband’s communication grew less frequent and he refused to see their children, she came to accept that she may have never truly known him. Then he initiated vicious divorce proceedings, transforming from “a benign stranger wandering out of my life” to “an adversary, determined to win.” After the divorce was finalized, Burden published a “Modern Love” essay in the New York Times, breaking an emotional dam within her and allowing her to finally move on from her recursive cycle of self-blame. With unsparing emotional clarity, Burden examines the often-baffling ways relationships can fall apart, and charts a path for people looking to reassemble their own lives. It’s a gut punch. Agent: Bretne Bloom, Book Group. (Jan.)

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Book list Burden’s debut memoir explores the emotional journey she embarked upon after her husband of two decades unexpectedly left her. Born into wealth and privilege, Burden’s charmed life seemed even more perfect after she met her future husband, James. The couple and their three children lived in a luxury Tribeca apartment and summered on Martha’s Vineyard, attending endless parties and joining an exclusive tennis club. But their idyllic life suddenly falls apart when Burden finds out that James is having an affair in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic; shortly after, he announces he is leaving her. Left to pick up the pieces, she struggles to comprehend what went wrong and if she could be to blame. She no longer recognizes the man she bound her life to; he suddenly seems like a stranger. This detailed narrative of what happens after the end of a marriage recounts the many pathways Burden traveled to understand what happened and to begin building a new life.

From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Kirkus The story of a woman’s surprising divorce and her attempt to build anew. After Burden’s husband of 20 years walked out during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, her stepmother tried to explain the checkered response of their wealthy community: “There is no script for divorce, especially one as dramatic as yours.” The author’s debut expands and fine-tunes the piece she submitted to “Modern Love,” theNew York Times column, tracing her ex-husband James’ transformation from reliable partner to detached stranger to legal adversary. This more complete narrative reveals the amplified stakes surrounding the collapse of Burden’s marriage: financial, familial, and societal. The latter half of Burden’s book, which describes grappling with the logistics of disentangling from James and finding new independence, strength, and compassion, lacks some of the raw emotional vulnerability that marked herTimes contribution. But these chapters do expose the reaction of her wider circle, both the cold comments and the surprisingly supportive ones, and the expectations of women of her social status. (The author is a descendant of the Vanderbilts, with media founders, international style icons, and hedge fund executives scattered through her family tree.) It is difficult to completely erase all hints of society-page voyeurism—this is, after all, the world of keyed beach access passed down through generations, where private club membership is an item negotiated in marital separation. However, if Burden’s privilege remains in the frame, so does its attendant social elegance. In reclaiming her voice and story, Burden refuses to keep the silence and make the excuses as implicitly expected by society and explicitly demanded by her ex, and she remains charitable and gracious even when she does not have to be. This balance imbues her story with a certain power as both the missing script for would-be commenters and a radical extension of kindness toward herself. A measured, empathetic, and modern response to an enraging callousness. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.