GINSENG ROOTS is ostensibly about Craig Thompson's unusual childhood job: For ten summers, forty hours a week, he, along with his brother, sister, and mom, harvested ginseng in their small town of Marathon, Wisconsin. China, Korea, and many other Asian countries prize …more ginseng root for its medicinal properties, and on the surface, ginseng is the star of this gorgeously illustrated sequential-art memoir.

But sadly, this book as a whole isn't a star. Thompson is a scattered writer, constantly veering away from memoir. Unable to decide what to share and what to leave out, he shared it ALL. Crammed into this book are numerous story lines and little details that are unrelated to ginseng, along with too many snoozy ginseng facts and transcribed interviews. This frenetic mix kind of works in the sense that GINSENG ROOTS offers something for every reader, and if one part is boring that boredom doesn't last long; a shift is around the corner. Thompson's goal isn't obvious, though, and it feels like he himself didn't know the goal and was figuring things out as he went along.

Nevertheless, GINSENG ROOTS is undeniably an achievement that shows off Thompson's artistic talent and dedication. The time commitment alone was a feat. Each page is a minutely detailed artistic wonder, and Thompson sank all the way down into his subject, spending three weeks in China and Korea getting into the nitty-gritty of ginseng and interviewing numerous people all over the place, both in those places and in Wisconsin. In a cute touch, Thompson had his brother, Phil, illustrate some panels, and it's fun to compare their artistic styles. But still, a clear through-line and tight organization is always better, as is understanding what readers genuinely want to know.

I haven't yet read Thompson's earlier memoir, BLANKETS, but it sounds like its subject matter naturally provided an organized plot line. That's what GINSENG ROOTS needed. As strange as Thompson's summer job was, there's barely a story in it. And ginseng doesn't easily open storytelling doors. Certain cultures have valued it for hundreds of years, and it has medicinal properties—like so much else in the natural world. Nothing Thompson tells readers about ginseng makes it obviously deserving of a book. Thompson admitted he had trouble figuring out what to write about for this second memoir. It sounds like the time has come for him to stop mining his life for stories and instead focus on fiction or even just on illustration alone. (less)

Meet Pony. Once owned and beloved by Penny, Pony got sold without warning when Penny was twelve. More than two decades later, he's still bitter about it and one day runs away to find Penny and confront her.Christina Lynch's PONY CONFIDENTIAL is a funny and sometimes wry …more murder mystery told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of this likable pony and the equally likable Penny.

Although Lynch's book is cute, it avoids cutesiness thanks to its tone of occasional cynicism from Pony and plentiful sarcastic asides from a pessimistic goat friend. In Penny's chapters this fluff book loses a little fluff as Lynch highlighted some of what's unfair about the criminal-justice system. She used Pony's chapters to (nongraphically) highlight animal mistreatment. Nevertheless, Lynch kept heavy observations minimal to ensure her light read stayed light, and here her definition of "light" means a winning combination of whimsy, charming animals, ridiculousness, and a dash of tang to prevent it all from becoming saccharine. Lynch created something strongly heartwarming and easy to like, even by readers who normally prefer deep, serious mysteries. (less)

Given the premise, Patsy should have been more emotionally resonant. Nicole Dennis-Benn wrote about a Jamaican immigrant's experience in America after she leaves her young daughter behind in Jamaica. The relationship between the two isn't established strongly, so I didn't …more feel the sadness Dennis-Benn wanted me to feel. The main character's struggle to understand and accept her sexual identity feels similarly distant. What redeems Patsy is Dennis-Benn's writing, which is literary and contemplative without ever being fussy. (less)