Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power! is a young adult novel spun off from the popular comic series. It’s written by Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer, Supergirl: Being Super) with cover and occasional illustrations by Brooke A. Allen, co-creator of the Lumberjanes.

It’s aimed at ages 10-14 years old, and older readers may find the writing a little strained, as early on, the book attempts to work in as much background and trivia about the characters and concept as possible. I thought it sounded like it was writing down a few times at the beginning; I prefer books aimed at kids that don’t come this close to sounding like an adoring auntie saying “aren’t you cute? yes you are!” This gets better further into the story, though, once we get past the cover-promised elements, where the scouts meet a unicorn herd and climb a mountain.

I’m not going to spoil anything, but as in the comics, there are unexpected supernatural creatures and plenty of teamwork, caring, and friendship. I would have preferred a little more emphasis on the young women interacting with each other to distinguish their personalities and voices, a little less on “here’s another fantastic setting”, but I liked the overall theme, which deals with balancing achievement (stacking up badges, worrying about setting records) with what you learn while doing those things.

My quibbles aside, younger readers, particularly those who like the comics and want more with the characters, will enjoy this story. It is firmly part of the same universe, with much of the same appeal.

The exciting novel adaptation of the popular graphic novels!

…which, TBH, I had no idea was what I was getting into. I’d heard a lot about the Lumberjanes and how awesome the graphic novel was, saw this on NetGalley was was like, “Okay let’s go!” So, knowing nothing about the Lumberjanes, here’s my review.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Roanoke cabin girls discover that unicorns exist (but Edith Piaf are they smelly) and decide to climb a mysterious and magical mountain in order to earn their Extraordinary Explorers badge. Despite every set-back and throughout the fun, the girls remember the key to being a Lumberjane is FRIENDSHIP TO THE MAX.

Amazon.com says that the books are geared for fifth grade and up, but the writing seems a little juvenile (fair warning, Mariko Tamaki appears to have a fondness for comma overload, so be prepared to sit down and help your little one parse through some pause-eriffic sentences). I think that a mature third grader ready and willing to jump into longer chapter books would love this fast-paced adventure, particularly if they have been introduced to the graphic novels first. And bonus! There are pictures in this book, drawn by the same illustrator for the graphic novels.

Based on the popular graphic novel series, Lumberjanes has decided to take these hardcore ladies into novel format for another round of friendship to the max. The Roanoke Cabin is working on their plant badges. Having stumbled across a magical field of unicorns and a mysterious mountain, the girls are determined to climb and explore this new territory since April has decided that like Rosie, the fearless camp director, she wants to earn the Extraordinary Explorer medal. Of course, if you know these talented and intelligent ladies at all, you understand that they will find themselves trapped in one crazy and heartfelt adventure with cloud people, smelly unicorns, clingy vine, and disappearing mountains. With the dangers that come with being bold and their friendships and interests tested to the max, these ultra-femme scouts must figure out who they want to be while also escaping a cloudy future.

The Lumberjanes series usually resides in YA shelving but this title is more for the middle grades, especially with the sporadic illustrations. Like the artwork, Tamaki successfully maintains the cute, quirky plot of the graphic novels, and I would have sworn Ellis and Stevenson wrote this book—the voice is on point. The feminist appeal with Rosie the Riveter and famous women shouted out in expressions is inspiring. These girls represent a mix of fortes and weaknesses without the stereotypes. Their friendship is supportive and realistic. As with the graphic novels, there is appropriate diversity representing the LGBTQA+ community, with a gender binary character and scouts with two fathers. Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power is a fun and spunky fantastical read for any feminist-minded tween.

I would like to thank NetGalley and ABRAMS Kids/Amulet Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power is set to publish October 10, 2017

Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power (Lumberjanes #1) by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Brooke Allen (ABRAMS Kids, 2017)

I am a big fan of the Lumberjanes comics series. I was delighted by this chapter book entry into the series. While I did miss the artwork, I loved the pacing and story arc of this novel.

I'm a massive fan of the Lumberjanes comic (reading this actually inspired me to go back and catch up on the new editions, and I'm obsessed all over again!) and this is the perfect book version. It's always hard to transfer mediums, but this does a great job of capturing the unique humour and loveable style of the comics. I love all of these characters so much, and would happily read about their adventures for their entire lives!

As a fan of the Lumberjanes comics and of Mariko Tamaki, I was excited to read this first novelization of the middle grade series. I was disappointed only in the sense that I wished that this story had been an entry in the comic series! While the book is fun and Tamaki captures the Lumberjanes' quirky voices and positive personalities (mostly through dialogue), it lacks the vivid joy of the comic books merely because the reader gains so much by SEEING the characters in action. Plus, much of the humor is niche, anyway, and I think it helps young readers to have a visual. This is a credit to the creators of the graphic novels more than it is a criticism of Tamaki's work here. Libraries should only purchase this volume if the Lumberjanes comics are popular. Otherwise, it is fine to skip.

Recommend to: readers in grades 3-7 who are fans of the comics

Friendship to the Max!

If you're not already familar, Lumberjanes is a series of graphic novels that details the stories of five friends at an unusual camp for girls. The stories focus on positive, female friendships, smart campers, and fun adventures. This is the first in a series of novels inspired by the graphic novels for middle-grade readers.

While working to earn their LIVING THE PLANT LIFE badge, the five scouts of Roanoke--April, Jo, Mal, Molly, and Ripley--stumble upon a unicorn! The unicorn leads them to a herd of unicorns, where April discovers the tallest mountain she's ever seen. Determined to earn her Extraordinary Explorers medal, she convinces her friends to hike the mountain with her, but they unexpectedly find themselves in the land of Cloud People. The girls must figure out their way to get back to camp or spend the rest of lives drinking tea and discussing weather with the Cloud People.

The story also introduces a new character, Barney, who identifies with "they/them" pronouns, who will hopefully have a more prominent role in later books.

The story fully captures the spirit of Lumberjanes and is certain to find new readers whose messages of girl power, kindness, and friendship are sure to resonate.

(WILL BE GOING UP ON BLOG SEPTEMBER 14th, closer to it's release. and then cross posted to goodreads)

Title(s): Lumberjanes, Unicorn Power! (Lumberjanes #1)
Author: Mariko Tamaki, Brooke Allen (Illustrator)
Genre: Adventure, Urban Fantasy (Middle Grade)
Rating: 3.5 stars
Page Count: 256
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017

Plot:
This is an original story staring the five main characters of the BOOM! published comic series Lumberjanes - created by Noelle Stevenson. And I'm a huge fan of it. We don't get exact ages for the girls but I'd say between ten and thirteen? They seem older sometimes, for various reasons, but the comics, and this book, are marketed for a younger middle grade audience.

This one starts off with them trying to earn the Living the Plant Life badge when they see a unicorn and Ripley takes off after it because, well, unicorn. And the adventure takes off from there with classic Lumberjanes shenanigans and mystery.

(If you haven't read the comic, you can read this book no problem but the comic is amazing)

Review:
I enjoyed this book a lot, but I did have problems with it. We're going to start with the problems, because there's only a few - and all of them are pretty minor, considering - but then we can end on a high note. My first problem with it was the fact that it was younger middle grade - which is fine, in itself, but my problem with that was the way it talked down to the reader. Explaining when a bigger word was used, kind of thing. Kids are smart, if they're confused by a word they can - figure out the meaning, look it up, or ask. It drove me a little crazy, and it would of as a kid, too.

So, obviously, I am not the age range this book is targeted but besides that I found it really cute and sweet. I forget, sometimes, the comic is all ages just because I don't think about it. However, I'd recommend both for, like it says, all ages.

The way the pacing of this book is, is a little weird. We meet the unicorns right away, and then it just felt a little weird the in between moments? Besides that, though, I just plain loved it. I might be biased because of my established love for the comics, I've read all the current out volumes and normally rate then 4/5 stars.

The girls are, of course, my favorite. They're so strong/good together, and it makes me so happy to see such great friendships shown between girls. Who aren't talking about guys all the time. I mean, sure, they're young and they also go to a camp for hardcore lady types but still, most others would of probably added that in since there is a boys camp near by.

Speaking of gender! We get a nonbinary or genderqueer character in this book - it's not specified which in the text just says they prefer they/them pronouns. And, actually, they're a character that we've seen in the comics that use to go to the boys camp and is adorable and amazing, and apparently makes really good cookies? So that was cool, even though we don't see them much in this book, hopefully they'll pop up more in future ones.

We still have Mal/Molly happening, like in the comics, which I kind of want more of because they're so dang cute. They seem to be living in this summer forever - it's even mentioned in one of the comics, time seems to run weird - but I'm hoping we do get to see them get older, and also at home, what it's like when they aren't at camp. And I feel like these books might be better suited then comics for that, because we can be shown/told how they're feeling easier through a novel then through a comic.

So I'll definitely be picking up my own copy of this when it comes out in October, and am excited that it seems to be planned to be the first in a novelized series. I'd recommend this for anyone who likes hardcore lady types, adventure, and magical realism/portal fantasy? The magic is weird, follows it's own rules, and I love it.

I've only read the first volume of the Lumberjanes graphic novels but I absolutely adored it so when I heard that this new MG series was coming out I knew that I had to pick it up. Overall, the story was just adorable. It was lovely to be able to revisit these characters and join them on their latest adventure. One thing that I particularly loved was how diverse it was; there's mention of Jo having 2 dads and the inclusion of Barney who is non-binary (and was one of my favourite characters!) The acceptance and understanding that the other characters had for Barney was really great and I think was very important, especially for a MG novel which will be being picked up by readers a lot younger than myself. The message of putting acceptance and friendship above everything else really shone through (FRIENDSHIP TO THE MAX!) The illustrations (although unfinished in my copy as it's an arc) also seem like they're going to be cute and add another layer of charm to the story. I'd definitely recommend this if you're a fan of the comics or if you just want to read a fun story which has adventure and friendship at the very heart of it. If there are more Lumberjanes books to come I'll definitely be picking them up!

Fun transition from graphic novel format to chapter book, this first installment will have kids of all ages enthralled with the magic of friendship.

Unicorn Power was my first experience of the Lumberjane world and I was definitely impressed! This book is definitely a must read particularly for young girls who want to find themselves in books.

Unicorn power's main characters are a group of girls who are so different from each other yet work so well together, showing that everyone has a different skill or interest that makes them important.

The adventure itself was fun whilst also building on the strong female friendship and addressing questions such as what to do if your interests are changing from the rest of your friends. The story was heart warming and funny throughout.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for a quick fun adventure story with quirky characters.

*ARC received from netgalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review*

I'm just getting into graphic novels, and this is one reason why- The Lumberjanes. With this MG/Ya novel, they branch out into book books. I think you have to read at least one of the graphic novels first as there isn't much introduction to who's who. Other than that I enjoyed this new adventure.

I really wanted to love this because so many people are into Lumberjanes these days, but overall, it was very "meh" for me. Maybe I overhyped it in my mind.

My main critique is that this doesn't read the first in a series -- the reader is dropped into the middle of the setting with several characters as if we should already know who they are. The characters never developed for me, and I doubt the attention span of your average 10 year old is much better.

I mean, it's not bad -- if it seems like your bag, go for it -- but it's just didn't do it for me.

LUMBERJANES #1! Unicorn Power by Mariko Tamaki
5/5 this book is so important for so many reasons.
****disclaimer I am a huge fan of Lumberjanes*****
So for this review I’m going to be sort of hoping that you already know something about Lumberjanes. On the off chance that you don’t I am going to give a really quick background which will help to explain hopefully why I feel the way I feel about this. Lumberjanes is a monthly comic/graphic novel that is made by females, marketed towards females. It stars 5 girls, Molly, Jo, Ripley, Mal, and April and follows them through some pretty magical adventures at their summer camp. The cool thing about this comic is that there is a ton of diversity, you have different races, backgrounds, sexual orientations, and some talks about gender. Even though at first glance this seems to be a comic marketed towards females it is really for anyone, the storytelling and heart of the characters is really something that everyone can relate too.
When I was going through NetGalley looking for my next great read I almost dropped my phone when I saw that Unicorn Power was available, I wanted to read it I wanted to review it. As a fan of Lumberjanes from the start, I was first really excited to see that they made a novel for this, since I knew it was already being optioned for a movie I figured it would only be a matter of time until more things started showing up. I was really worried when I noticed that the person writing this book was someone who wasn’t associated with the comic, I was scared that they would change small details or that they would not understand how cool it was that it is a story about 5 girls with distinct personalities. Would this new person decide that she was more of a Molly or an April and really only like to write them instead of giving us a fair share of Ripley, Jo and Mal? I admit to being very much a Ripley and would be horrified if she didn’t get her fair share of time.
Luckily that wasn’t the case at all, Mariko did an amazing job at keeping to the heart of characters while also making them her own. She kept very the details that mattered, Mal and Molly are in a beautiful relationship and everything is beautiful, April and Jo are still the best of best friends and depend on that friendship to stay grounded, and Ripley is still amazing and hyper and loves too much. Reading this book was the same magical journey that reading the comics is that it was perfect.
Now to explain why this book is great, first it is broken into clear and distinct parts. After finishing the first part you can easily put the book down feeling a sense of completion, this might not sound like an amazing thing to you but when you remember that this book is marketed as a middle grade book. So you can power through and read all of the book at once if you wanted or you can break it down into parts so even the earliest of readers can enjoy reading this without it feeling overly daunting. It would be great for bedtime reading to have that clear ending for each part so it isn’t such a thing of “But mom I need to know how it ends.”
Like I mentioned the book has 3 distinct parts, the first where the girls stumble upon a unicorn and go on a great unicorn adventure, the second where they decide to clime an uncharted mountain that they discovered while on the previous adventure so they can get a badge, and the third where they find themselves stuck in the clouds because the mountain wasn’t a mountain and they have to find out a way back to camp.
Each of the 3 adventures is fun, exciting, and sneaks in some great life lessons. Some of the lessons include sometimes things aren’t quite as you imagined but are still good (why must the unicorns smell so bad?), or that being the best isn’t always the most important thing. It also touches on being true to you and knowing that your friends will support you (Mal has a very interesting storyline where she decides to join an accordion group with girls from a different cabin), and how to deal with situations when things go bad (Looking at you April). But one of the best things that this book does is it allows the girls to use their intellect to get out of the situations they get into. They don’t sit around waiting for someone to explain what to do they join heads and work towards coming up with a solution (or deicide they can be a great asset to a cloud community either way).
The girls themselves are so accepting and loving of everyone for their differences. There was mention in the comics that Jo might be transgendered at no point in time does this ever come between her and her friends, they made a friend, Barney, at the camp of boys but they didn’t feel comfortable over there so now they are at the Lumberjanes camp, in this book they explain that Barney uses the They/them pronouns and explains a bit about how they are at Lumberjanes now and are accepted. That is a huge thing, kids need to be able to see this sort of diversity in media that they consume. It won’t be such a foreign concept to them they see it represented and accepted. So seeing an example of pronoun acceptance and a same sex relationship in a middle grade novel is an amazing start to a conversation about how diverse the world is.

Another great thing about this book is that there are a lot of kids out there who don’t want to read, there are a lot of those kids who don’t want to read that will read comics. So a novel based off of a comic could be a really good starting point to get them to expand their reading. This is not at all bashing or saying they shouldn’t read comics or that your child should be reading novels instead of comics, I am just saying that maybe a kid can make a leap to not only reading comics but also checking out novels also because let’s face it there are so many awesome kids books out there that it would be a shame if they missed out on them. It is also cool for the kids whose parents won’t buy them a comic, I’ve seen it enough times where a kid asks for a comic or graphic novel and have been shut down by whoever because they don’t see it as a real form of reading (they are wrong but not my place). A kid who wanted to read Lumberjanes but was denied can now still experience story because it is now a book. Or a kid who never thought about reading a comic but might now because the Lumberjanes novel was so good they want more.
There are so many good things about this franchise that I could go on about it for at least months and I encourage people to go out and buy this book and support everyone involved in it. This book is coming out in October so it is going to be out for the holiday season. Think about picking it up for anyone you know to become the coolest person they know.

This review is less about the story, trust me the story is great, and more from the perspective of a parent or other type of adult. As an adult who has LIMITED interaction with children who would read middle grade books I imagine this is the type of story that would appeal to them, it would have appealed to me at that age. The story kept me engaged throughout the read and I asked a few people who have more interactions with kids to read a couple chapters and they agreed it was well written and kids would like it. This book is the exact type of book that I would want to buy for the kids in my life, I want them to have diverse stories that showcase things that are important. Stories that feature use of intelligence, and friendship, and other lessons that will help get through life are important.

This review is going to be short and sweet, just like this book. Lumberjanes, if you don’t know already, is a graphic novel series created by a bunch of awesome ladies about a group of awesome girls who spend their summers earning badges for doing outrageously fun things. For example, finding unicorns, or deep sea diving with mermaids. There are already five+ graphic novels in the series, and Unicorn Power is the first middle grade novel to be added to the series that takes the essence of the artwork and puts it in prose form.

The great thing about this book was how authentic it was to the already established Lumberjanes brand. The girls all act exactly how they would, and we even learn more about them in different situations because full prose allows for me background info than a graphic novel would.

As the cover suggests, April is definitely the central character of the story, so if she’s your fave, this one’s for you – but each girl gets a moment to shine.

There are also small illustrations that accompany the text and chapter headings, as well as the classic badge descriptions at the beginning of each part. Just like a GN, there are four different badges to focus on.

My favourite part of the story, though, was the introduction of Barney, who identifies with ‘they/them’ pronouns and only just became a Lumberjane after being part of the male equivalent group. This representation is so important, especially in a middle grade novel, and I hope Barney is more prominent in the next books.

Overall, this is perfect for Lumberjanes fans looking for a fun and quick read, but also does wonders to introduce an established world to new audiences. Hurrah for hard-core lady types!

This was SO CUTE! Fans of the Lumberjanes comics should enjoy this and I think it can be just as enjoyable for those new to the series - I haven't read them in a while and this provided some background info on all the girls/their adventures so I was easily able to reconnect. The illustrations are adorable and I can't wait to see the finished version! This has all the things the comics have, such as FRIENDSHIP (TO THE MAX), fun adventures, diversity, and cuteness, just with more words. It was such a quick read and I really enjoyed it, I hope there are more!

I received an egalley from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a bit to warm up to this, probably because I'm used to reading the monthlies of the comic. The comics are all ages and while they're fun and light while dealing with friendship, crushes, gender identity and the writing of the comics feel very different from the writing of the this novel.

And for anyone who might be wondering, this is a novel. There are illustrations (some of mine looked unfinished, but that's not unusual for galleys), but it is not a graphic novel. It is definitely written like a middle grade/kids fiction (as it should be since the comic's target audience is kids and middle schoolers). And it is a brand new story with no plot-line overlap from the comics, so it's great for comic readers too.

It's familiar, typical Lumberjanes adventures and mayhem. A simple trip to earn a badge turns into finding unicorns turns into climbing a mountain not on any map April can find turn into... well, turns in a fantastic Lumberjanes adventure I can't spoil.

Readers don't have to be fans of the comics to start this. It will help if you are, but there's enough of an introduction to the girls and the camp that no prior knowledge is necessary. It's face-paced and sure to delight readers. Bonus points for major Molly & Mal feels.

Overall, it's a delightful, fast-paced, quick read good for anyone wanting an adventure store.

I really like the Lumberjanes comics and so do our readers at school so I really wanted to enjoy this novelisation. Sadly I'm not convinced that the quirky, at times arch humour transferred as well to the longer textual format. At times the story was laboured and the book definitely dragged in the middle. The plot itself (finding some smelly unicorns and a mythical mountain) wasn't exciting enough to sustain my interest, let alone a younger reader's and although I did enjoy the deeper exploration of some of the characters' personalities I still feel that this is done neater and with more lightness of touch in the comics.

LUMBERJANE NOVELS TO THE MAX


Perfectly captures everything we love about the Lumberjanes adventures but in a book! The story is great and an almost perfect transition from comic to book. Part of me did miss seeing the characters but there are plenty of illustrations throughout to make the transition a little easier.

I might have squealed in excitement when I saw this book at ALA. Could there really be anything better than a Lumberjanes novel? If so, I don't know what it would be!

So Unicorn Power! basically takes place in the universe of the Lumberjanes graphic novels. If you haven't read the graphic novels you may be a little lost as there is very little catch up here. We are thrown right into a new adventure with April, Jo, Mal, Molly and Riply. This adventure involves unicorns that smell like sweat sock soup, a mountain that disappears while you are climbing it, and cloud people. In other words, just a regular day for our intrepid hard core lady types.

Tamaki has perfectly captured the essence of the Lumberjanes, you can tell she had to have been a fan to start with. I adored the story and the illustrations. We do get a little more information about the girls, but mostly it is adventure and Friendship to the Max!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this book.