Zawa + the Belly of the Beast

To fashion tasty and nutritious meals for the patrons of their family’s bakery, siblings Thatcher and Bandit Blackbird regularly pilfer fresh ingredients from the despotic mayor’s mega-factory, the source of all processed, prepackaged food available in the island city of Mesa’s Boon. On their most recent food run, Bandit accidentally liberates Zawa, a mythologized humanoid guardian of the island’s mountain who was imprisoned within the factory, and whom Thatcher recruits to a resistance group intent on taking down the mayor. Unbeknownst to them, Zawa is beholden to her fellow Zawa, the many protectors of the land birthed from the island’s mountain itself, who vow vengeance against Mesa’s Boon for its continued oppression of the Zawa and the environment. Dialynas (the Wynd series) matches conspicuous critique of capitalistic overconsumption with distinctive character design and detailed, expressive worldbuilding, all of which is conveyed via compelling composition and coloring. Sitting somewhere between Moana and Princess Mononoke, this environmentalist tale offers hope of a more sustainable and harmonious relationship between the predominantly white humans, the Zawa, and the land that shelters them all. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)