Dealing with grief and healing, fishing, sea pollution and family, this graphic novel is also a lovely work of art.

Set on a seaside town, the community and beach setting made me think of a book I read recently, Summer of Salt, and I love that I was able to read these two during summer. The young protagonist’s struggle with grief was heart breaking, but it was nice to see her so well surrounded and learning about the magic and respect of the sea.

Like in The Tea Dragon Society, we get to see how an adult in the young protagonist life met their beloved. Here, her well-muscled fisher aunt seems to be in a tender relationship of mutual respect with a magical creature of the sea. Their relationship is never defined but their love is definitely easy to notice.

Aquicorn Cove is the third book I read by Katie O’Neill and she keeps on amazing me with her gorgeous art, soft colours and magical tone.

I feel the same about this as I did about Katie O’Neill’s first book, The Tea Dragon Society: super-cute, gorgeous art, good representation, but flimsy and kind of preachy story.

The artwork is so appealing to me - the colour palettes are so soft and gorgeous, all those pinks and greens. The character design is lovely too, and I like that there’s a variety of race and body types (especially Mae, with her chunky body and muscular arms). Also a subtly implied lesbian human/sea-creature romance, which was cute.

It’s an environmental fairytale, and it did feel quite preachy, but I don’t imagine anyone reading this book would think ‘nah, fuck it, let’s just destroy the coral reefs’, so I suppose it’s preaching to the converted. No harm in reminding kids about environmental issues, I guess. The plot is flimsy with no real sense of tension or grappling with serious issues.

Overall, I liked this and found it really sweet. I read it on a hot summer day while having my morning coffee, and it made for a gentle and uplifting start to the day. If you’re looking for something meaty or satisfying, this probably won’t do the job. But if you like pretty pastel artwork and gentle tales, this won’t disappoint.

I can't get over the art style and how gorgeous it was. I'm a sucker for a cute graphic novel that also tells an important tale.

This was such a cute light hearted inspirational read. The aquicorns are so stinking cute I could scream. I also really appreciate the diversity in the cast and design of the characters. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick feel good story that they can gobble up in one sitting.

I was a big fan of The Tea Dragon Society, so to have a chance to read and review this title as well was big. I was beyond hyped and it did live up to it.

Lana and her father go to visit her Aunt Mae on a small island after a storm. It just happens that Lana's mother was killed in a similar storm, bringing up a lot of emotions for the three of them. Lana finds a seahorse like creature that's injured and decides to nurse it back to health. By doing this, she gets visited by grown Aquicorns who bring her lost items. Including an item that her Aunt Mae had thrown into the ocean.

Basically, this story is about protecting the waters and the life in it by doing away with plastic nets that hurt the coral reefs and other parts 0f the ocean. Which brings bigger and more dangerous storms. But it's done in a magical way, with a person who looks after the sea and is basically Mae's girlfriend. She talks about the importants of not over fishing and fights for the right of the sea creatures. Mae of course plays the part of most of society of needing food and money to survive. Lana is the reason that bridges in between and gets Mae to realize that her stance is wrong.

Basically, the art and story is adorable. Is it more of a piece about protecting the ocean? Yes. But we NEED books like this if we want our planet to survive for the future generations to come. Highly recommend.

OMG, this graphic novel is gorgeous! I love the art and the story behind it. This book is precious and it needs to be read by everybody. The enviroment message and female/female relationship is an amazing plus. I felt like all the characters were my friends and I really care and worried about them. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley for this e-arc.

I enjoyed reading this middle grade graphic novel almost TOO MUCH. Going into this, I didn't know too much besides the existence of the Aquicorns (unicorn + seahorse creatures). I love stories about the sea and this took it a step further talking about environmentalism and taking care of our oceans and the coral reef's. The art style was amazing, it reminded me a lot of Noelle Stevenson's style with the muscular Aunt Mae and the fantastical undersea castle. I truly loved everything about this graphic novel. I had chills in the beginning from excitement, then I teared up around the end because I was so sad it was over. The main character Lana is suffering from the loss of her mother, and the village reminds Lana of her, so she doesn't want to leave at the beginning. Coincidentally, she finds a baby Aquicorn who is sick, so she nurses them back to health. I love how Lana and the Aquicorn are both in need of healing, so it makes sense that they heal together. I also adored the subtle f/f relationship in here, it was everything I could have wanted from it.

Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend this graphic novel, its such a short read and it contains beautiful messages within it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2462226725?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

this was so cute! i've wanted to read katie o'neill's previous book for ages, but haven't been able to get my hands on a copy so I was thrilled to be able to get this early. this is a short little story with one of my favorite art styles. lana, our main character, is the most adorable little human. similar to an animated short, there are characters and context and a bit of magic, but the takeaway isn't any of those things. the takeaway is the environmentalist message that this story puts out. also similar to an animated short, i actually started tearing up at one point.

This book was beyond precious!! It's like a Disney movie in a graphic novel because of its lighthearted, magical vibe yet undertones of sorrow and meaning. There's loss, there's reunion, there's messages about environmentalism, there's mythical creatures, and there's even a subtle f/f romance. The art was so gorgeous and this book was very easy to follow and a quick read that definitely got me teary-eyed. I can't wait to get a copy of this for my shelf!

Hmm, I was slightly let down with Aquicorn Cove after O'Neill's Tea Dragons, but all in all Aquicorn Cove still works nicely. It's about a little girl, Lana, who's mother drowned and now she lives with her father. They come back to their seaside hometown where they lost their everything and Lana remembers how she misses the ocean. She finds a lonely Aquicorn, a magical seahorse of sorts, and saves it. Her Auntie Mae has some relations to the sea and Lana will also get to experience the underwater world only to learn to save the seas from pollution. Aquicorn Cove is about saving the planet from plastic and saving the seas. It's a wonderful comic for kids and it has LGBTQ vibe to it, but nothing too obvious. The plot is slightly weak and it's more about preaching, which kind of felt cheap in a sense. The comic is actually in the end more about Mae than Lana and the shift feels odd.

The art is magnificent! No doubt about that. O'Neill's art is perfection and every panel could be an art piece on its own. The autumn color world works well and compliments the softness of the pictures and the lack of black line art makes this bright and cute. I do love the style, really. It's easy to follow and offers something new all the time. It's very timeless too. Thus, a good comic, even if not amazing.

Katie O’Niell is an automatic buy for me and my family. Her art style is highly imaginative with a dreamy yet intricate quality that I could pore over for hours. (In fact, my daughters did just that with The Tea Dragon Society). Her stories are sweet but contain a solid core of relevant and powerful themes. However, perhaps my favorite thing about her books is that she always includes a diverse cast of characters, settings, and situations. This story was no different.

When Lana returns to the island of her childhood, she finds that things have changed. A powerful hurricane has just ripped through many of the trees and homes, leaving destruction in its wake. Thankfully, her warm, formidable aunt seems determined to bring the village back together. However, when Lana discovers an adorable unidentified species struggling in a cove, she begins to uncover the hidden story of her aunt’s past, the trauma that led her father to leave the island years ago, and the truth behind the increasingly frequent and more destructive storms that ravage what once was paradise.

Infused with grief, this charming story is also a powerful call to action. Lana and her village must make tough decisions to save their island – decisions that many of our children will face in their lifetimes. Highly recommended!

Beautiful illustrations, touching story. Will look for more works by this artist in future.

I received a free copy trough netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is just absolutely lovely; a heart-warming story about a little girl who goes to stay with her aunt and helps their village realise the environmental damage that they are having in the local part of the ocean. It's got a great message about not taking more than you need to prevent damaging local eco-systems, an LGBT-romance that is never the focus but is just matter of fact (as it should be), and is beautifully illustrated in what I think must be cell-shading like I've always loved since Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

I'd love to share this book far and wide when it comes out!

Okay, I have to fully admit that I was initially only interested in this one because of the cover. But come on! It's gorgeous! I am glad I shamefully judged a book by it's cover, because the art in this little comic was amazing! It was super colorful, and would have different panels using really bright pastels, and then the next using really saturated darker colors. The artwork really knew how to work the story and make you have all the feels. Seriously, I blew through this one because the art was amazing to look at. I definitely want to see what other stuff O'Neill has done, because I loved this one.

I have to admit the story was not exactly what I thought it was going to be, but I ended up really liking in nonetheless. Our main character Lana is visiting her Aunt Mae with her dad to help clean up after a particularly bad storm on the ocean village they grew up on. Having recently lost her mother, Lana is having a little bit of a hard time, but she keeps up finding things from the ocean that used to belong to the townspeople with help from the mystical Aquicorns. It's here she starts to unravel the story of her Aunt Mae and how she also interacted with the Aquicorns before Lana was born. The story also heavily talks about the effect of fishing and plastic on the ecosystem and it's a big source of the conflict. I wasn't expecting the environmental aspect of the story, but I really feel strongly about how we as humans are effecting the environment that I loved that this was included.

There is also a scene early on in the comic of how Lana has been feeling since her mother's death. From the panels it really seems like Lana might be suffering from a little bit of depression. I really like that this depicted how grief can effect a child and how for Lana she has a hard time understanding what her feelings mean. I think that is really important to show kids that it is okay to feel that way.

I also really like how the women were drawn in this comic. Aunt Mae, and Lana's mom Melody are depicted as these really muscular women. I loved that! Because fishing can be hard work, so it totally makes sense for them to have a lot of physical strength, but I feel like we never see women depicted like this.

This was such a sweet story, that I definitely want to get my hands on anything else O'Neill has done. I would recommend this one for the beautiful artwork alone, but I also think it has a great message behind the story.

*I received a free egalley copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

*~~*ARC kindly provided to me for an honest review *~~*

- Review to come

Review originally posted on my blog with added content on Mikku-chan / A world full of words

Katie O'Neill has made a name for herself writing and drawing sumptuous, cute, diverse comics (The Tea Dragon Society, Princess Princess Ever After) and she continues the trend in Aquicorn Cove.

Lana returns to her childhood home after a recent natural disaster to help the small fishing village get back on its feet. When she rescues an injured seahorse-like creature a chain of events unfold that reveal secrets from the past... and maybe a way to save the future.

With imaginative fantasy elements, effortlessly diverse characters and a strong environmental message, Aquicorn is a quick, fun, beautiful read.

This is a beautiful story about a girl coping with grief and growing up. Lana lost her mother in a tragic accident when she was young. Her father moved them to the city, away from Aunt Mae and the ocean they both loved. She and her father return several years later. She comes across a colony of Aquicorns, magical seahorse creatures that live in the coral reef, while exploring the beach. She discovers more about herself, her family, and the ocean along the way.

I loved The Tea Dragon Society, so I knew I had to read Katie O'Neill's newest book. With her signature adorable art and and gentle, heartfelt storytelling, she weaves the tale of a young girl who finds magical friends and the courage to do what is right and protect the coral reef at Aquicorn Cove, upholding the balance needed for her aunt's fishing village to survive.

Katie O'Neill's work is nothing new for me, having enjoyed <i>The Tea Dragon Society</i>. However, where that one focused more so on the friendship developed between the two younger characters, <i>Aquicorn Cove</i> had a nice balance of learning about Lana and her relationship with her mom along with the relationship between her aunt, Mae, and the mysterious cove guardian, Aure. This is why I feel that both younger and older readers will really appreciate the lessons shown in the story.

Alongside this, one cannot forget O'Neill's beautiful artwork depicting these charming characters. Backgrounds, ocean, and sea creatures, including the aquicorns, all are created in her unique style that has a sense of calm despite the sometimes stormy and troubling atmosphere. Readers get a sense that things will turn out all right in the end, and that's where her story truly shines. I would highly recommend <i>Aquicorn Cove</i> for any library's Middle Grade colleciton.

Aquicorn Cove is about a girl returning to her village after a storm has hit. It is a story about loss and coping, but it also has an environmental message that has a lot of impact.

Both the art and story were beautiful and even though it is short it has a lot of meaning. The characters were unique and loved how strong the women are.