Queen Kodiak

Gr 8 Up–Teenaged Joey helps her white mom clean houses in Seattle as together they plan a dream vacation to Glacier National Park. When her mother unexpectedly dies, Joey’s absent Native Alaskan father takes Joey with him to his law enforcement station up north, a situation she finds irritating. However, exploring the wilderness with her camera proves revelatory, even before she’s rescued from a snowy accident by a seemingly enchanted bear cub. Discovery, death, and dreaming are eloquently woven through expressive, beautifully hued imagery by artist Faccini and colorist Kelly in this tightly plotted graphic novel by Greenslate. The characters range from parents, to hunting tourists, to the mythical kaiju grizzly. Locations from Seattle to the Alaskan wilderness come to life—even when the enraged kaiju, Queen Kodiak, turns King Kong destructive in the story’s climax.