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Review: Super Boba Cafe

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Super Boba Café
By Nidhi Chanani
New York: Amulet Books, 2023. Comics. 215 pages.

14-year-old Aria is excited to spend her summer in San Francisco getting quality time with her Nainai. She loves helping at her grandmother's Super Boba Café. But she can't help but notice that her grandmother is acting strange and secretive. She refuses to let Aria into the kitchen at all and she disappears at the same time each night without telling Aria where she goes. Meanwhile, Aria is eager to drum up more business for Super Boba Café. She gets a major windfall when the shop cat, Bao, surprises them by having kittens, and Aria realizes this is a major social media opportunity. She knows this will help Nainai's shop, but she is apprehensive to get back on social media after a terrible cyberbullying experience she had back home. As the shop starts to get busier, Nainai is more and more anxious about her secret project. This prompts Aria to investigate with help from her Nainai's neighbor Jay. What they discover is wilder than they could have ever imagined.

This graphic novel has a lot going on, but it ties the different threads together nicely.  An ambiguous ending sets up for a series and readers will be excited to see what happens next. The visuals in this graphic novel are very kawaii and work nicely for the story with lots of pastels and cute, chubby kittens. This book is charming, refreshing, and unique -- with plenty of boba to boot.
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