Cirrus@Austlit

'Heartstopper meets vampires in this blood-sipping-turned-romance graphic novel from the Prime Minister's Literary Award-winning and CBCA short-listed creator of The Greatest Thing.

'Summer holidays are over. Perley and Amandine should be busy with their school's knitting club and hockey, but instead they're struggling with major life changes.

'Perley has been diagnosed with diabetes and is trying to get his head around sugar levels and insulin shots. Amandine, part of a respected vampire family, has been turned much younger than she expected after a near-fatal car accident. Bonding over hospital trips and new diets, the two teens form a fast friendship. And Amandine's ability to taste blood sugar levels is a helpful perk for Perley that also provides her an ethical source of sustenance (essential for a vegan-turned-vampire).

'But as the year passes, Perley and Amandine begin to realise that their coping strategies – and their blood-sipping-turned-romance – may not be as healthy as they first thought. Will they be able to get their lives back to normal? And when so much has changed, what does 'normal' even mean?

'A sweet YA graphic novel full of fantasy, friendship and first love, from the award-winning creator of The Greatest Thing.'  (Publication summary)

'There’s this funny thing that happens when you reveal yourself to the people you love and they accept you with their whole hearts. See, without that, I would’ve sought wholeness in other ways. Maybe I could have learned to be content. But without the burden of fear…my mind was now open to possibilities I had never dared dream before.

'Follow one person's journey to ease the Ache in their chest. They find themself chasing an elusive fluttering lightness that seems to be pulling them up into the mountains, through a fantastical landscape toward the sunrise.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'This tender YA comic is perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier's Drama and Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham's Real Friends who are ready to graduate to their first teen graphic novel.

'It's the first day of Grade Ten, and Winifred is going to reinvent herself. Now that her two best (and only) friends have transferred to a private school, Win must navigate high school on her own. Luckily, she isn't alone for long. In art class, she meets Oscar and April. They don't look or act like the typical teenagers in her town: they're creative, a little rebellious and seem comfortable in their own skin in a way that Win can only dream of.

'But even though Winifred is breaking out of her shell, there's one secret she can't bear to admit to April and Oscar, or even to herself - and this lie threatens everything. Win needs to face her own truths, but she doesn't need to do it alone. Through the healing power of clandestine sleepovers, op-shopping and zine publishing, Win finds and accepts what it means to be herself.' (Publication summary)

'Patience, a kindhearted country girl, ekes out a living in Edwardian England, as tremors of social change rock the world around her. But when she begins her employment in formal service on the grounds of an opulent country manor, she has no idea that her own personal revolution is about to begin.

'Selfless, dutiful, and just a touch naive, she takes to both her place as a parlor maid and to her new roommate, the bookish and progressive lady's maid, Esther.

'In another time, the two women would have been happy to quietly keep in one another's company forever in their little attic bedroom, living out their days in the employ of a lord. But it's the dawn of a new age. The expanding empire has brought their country not only plundered wealth, but worldliness and new ideas.

'Patience and Esther come to realize the world is wider and full of more adventure and opportunity than they ever imagined . . . so long as they find the will to seize it.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'In a world of swords and sorcery, Talgard is a barbarian whose brain is a greater weapon than his brawn, with wit as sharp as his blade.

'A collection of short comic stories from the world of Talgard, each illustrated by an emerging or established Australian comics storyteller.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Harriet Flores struggles with boredom and an unrequited crush while learning to manage her chronic illness through a long, hot, 1990s summer in Chicago. She uses her imagination to cope, which sometimes gets her into trouble, as she makes up fantastical fibs and wonders if there are ghosts upstairs. One neighbor, Pearl, encourages Harriet to read and write, leading Harriet to have a breakthrough and discover the power of storytelling.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.