Audacity Book Club: January Read

By Nic Daniels

Happy New Year, Audacious Readers! 

Not gonna lie, 2021 was long. I’m tired of introspection and I want to have fun. Last month, we got all the feels in Tokyo with Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. This month, we are diving into the DC Universe with the graphic novel, Teen Titans: Beast Boy (yes, that Beast Boy) by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo.

Young Garfield Logan is in his last year of high school where he’s spent his life being unnoticed in his small Georgia town. Gar has always been a late bloomer and wants nothing more than to find a way to stand out beyond the odd green streak in his hair. Wanting to leave his mark before it’s too late, Gar accepts a wild dare from one of the popular kids that’s sure to cause him immense humiliation...until it doesn’t.

Overnight, Gar’s popularity skyrockets—but that’s not the only change he experiences. Suddenly, he’s taller, stronger, and faster in ways that allow him to follow through with dares that keep getting bigger, wilder, and illegal. While his best friends, Stella and Tank, worry if they’ll lose their funny, pizza-loving friend, Gar discovers the changes he thought were normal have a beastly side to them. With the consequences of his actions closing in, Gar will have to face the reality of his newfound powers before it’s too late.

Teen Titans: Beast Boy is a fun, coming-of-age superhero story that’s a nice update on a Teen Titans fan favorite. This book is available wherever all books are sold, comic shops, and your local library. Hope you have fun with it, and I will see you at the end of the month for our first review of 2022!

Until then, don’t forget to read audaciously!