Aquicorn Cove

“Aquicorn Cove,” by K. O’Neill. Copyright 2018, Oni Press Publication (90 pages, $13.00).

Content Warning: Death of parent, Grief, Death.

This graphic novel about a young girl, Lana, and her return to her hometown with her father to help clean up the town after a storm is a lovely, touching, heartfelt story about protecting one’s own happiness. Without giving too much away, Lana befriends the magical Aquicorns while exploring the town and the reef and realizes that the decline of the Aquicorns and the fate of the town are intertwined.

Lana has a lot going on now though. Not only is she learning new things about her home town and how to save it but she is still processing the grief of her mother’s passing. I really like that O’Neill illustrates this and that the grief and darkness can coexist side-by-side with the prospect of new things and finding one’s happiness. O’Neill also illustrates how important it is for a young person to grow into their own guardian and advocate when those older than us fall short sometimes.

O’Neill’s illustrative style is so lovely; they’re able to showcase mood, movement, and the importance of the environment though their story, lines, and color pallets. It’s a “natural-pastel” like dreamscape that the reader is going to want to fall right into.

Kayleigh Dyer is a Library Technical Processing Assistant at May Memorial Library. Contact her at kdyer@alamancelibraries.org.