Once upon a time I heard of a book called The Dog Knight by Jeremy Whitley. At first I did not realize it was to be the first book in a series, but later I saw Volume one after the words The Dog Knight. And I should have realized that it was a series as it ends on an open but also “end of this chapter of the story” note.
The author is that of the graphic novel series School for Extraterrestrial Girls. I was not aware of this, because of two main things: the illustrations of Bre Indigo (and Melissa Capriglione is the colorist) are nothing like Whitley’s other graphic novel series illustrations and the story has very few things in common with School. Yet, there are a few themes repeating.
The biggest one is finding where you belong when you learn you are different from the “norm.” In School we have a young girl who finds out she is an alien, and here we have our protagonist realizing their non-binary status and that they have been chosen to be the Dog Knight to help keep the balance of man and dog and good vs. evil. And while School has humor it is darker than The Dog Knight and less realistic (even if there are talking dogs and magical helmets so you can hear said dog, and the dog bone is actually a magical sword). This time we have a cute story about a young kid finding their place at home, in school, and the universe. Their non-binary status is not the main focus, but is good for representation without being pushy. The illustrations are bold, bright, colorful, bubbly, simple (not simplistic) and support things so you can focus on the story, but there are small details that you need to read in the art.
Currently available, but read via an online reader copy.
