“Katya!”

From Jared Cullum’s Kodi.

A small girl named Katya is spending the summer with her Meema in a small town surrounded by forest land.  Katya hasn’t been able to make many friends this summer, partly because she’d rather stay inside reading comic books and partly because the kids make fun of her large ears.  One day, Meema gets tired of Katya staying inside and forces her to go get snacks from the not-too-distant gas station.  The snack trip is uneventful until a surprise thunderstorm sends Katya racing home in the rain, but along the way she falls into a ravine with an injured large bear.  Katya is terrified at first, but when she realizes that the bear is gentle, she races to get Meema’s help freeing the bear.  Since the bear is unable to walk, Katya and Meema bring him home to heal in safety and Katya names him Kodi.  Katya and Kodi form an instant friendship with the young girl buying salmon to feed the sweet bear, but when Katya has to return to Seattle early, she is heartbroken to leave Kodi. However, when Kodi decides to head into the city to find Katya, it leads him to an injured sailor named Joshua and an adventure bigger than he ever expected to find on the way back to his friend.

Cullum’s graphic novel is equal parts sweetly funny story and mesmerizingly beautiful watercolor paintings.  The characters are unique, both in appearances and attitudes, which helps the main characters feel genuine and relatable.  While younger readers will find Kodi to be an enchanting read, older readers will appreciate the impressive artwork that forms that story’s foundation.