Zawa and the belly of the beast by michael dialynas

On the remote island of Mesa's Boon, Bandit and Thatcher run an underground kitchen providing fresh meals to locals using recipes their dad taught them. But, if only they had more ingredients, which are usually hoarded by a greedy company that squanders resources on the island. In an ill-conceived attempt to sneak in and stockpile fresh foods, the siblings find much more -- Zawa, a creature of myth, but also of cookies? She's been trapped below the surface, feeding on garbage and industrial waste, but she also could be the Spirit of the Mountain, and she also loves Bandit's cookies he fashioned to look like the Spirit. After an escape and some helpings of fresh food, Zawa's temperament completely changes, though her appetite is still ravenous! There's much more going on behind the company's door than shackling spirits and hoarding resources, including what Bandit and Thatcher's mom has been up to at work, and it all shakes the very foundation of the town, forcing the citizens to question the relationship they have with the natural world around them.​

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What started as a sweet story about taming a monster through the power of food turned into a story asking readers to question environmental sustainability, resource depletion, and our responsibility as humans on this planet. But, where some stories fail by doing this in an obvious, obnoxious way, Dialynas wove these concepts in with adorable spirits, cats, and delicious food. At the end, there is a sense of hope, but it's going to take some work to get there. Readers are probably going to want some Spirt-of-the-Mountain-shaped cookies afterwards, so this could have some culinary tie-ins to inspire a few junior bakers.

​Dialynas' art is beautiful and vibrant as always. If readers love the lands outside the walls of Pipetown in Wynd, there's more where that came from in Zawa with the bright colors of Mesa's Boon village and the wilderness that surrounds it.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 5-12

Publisher: BOOM! Box
Publication Date: October 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781637969427 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: Elementary School, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Comicbooks, Action Adventure, Family, Folklore, ​BOOM! Studios