"Spades aren't dangerous in the usual way."

After all, a spade is a tool, meant for digging vegetable patches and sowing seeds. A spade is not something sheep should have worry about the way they worry about calcium tablet day or the butcher. So when their shepherd is found with a spade through his belly in their meadow, it becomes the only thing George Glenn's sheep can think about. Why a spade? Why their George? Who did it? Why did they do it?

The flock know they need to find the answers to all these questions, because there must be a wolf still lurking in the village of Glennkill. The story itself is a serious page-turner, with the sheep starring in all their woolly, innocent glory. But even the world-weary Othello, veteran of the zoo and circus circuit, and Miss Maple, the cleverest sheep in all the world, don't have answers to their questions. Not yet.

In Three Bags Full, Leonie Swann's sheep wrestle to grasp the human concepts of morality, belonging, interiority, faith, and yearning, all through their uniquely sheepy point of view. George used to read to them and explain the big words so they could understand, but without his guidance, they'll have to figure it out on their own. In the process, Swann gives the flock their own unique philosphies and sense of ethics, and they use these combined what George taught them to unravel the mystery of his death before his killer can escape justice.

I really enjoyed the pacing of this novel and the balance of show-and-tell through the sheep's perspectives. The reader is left with a deep satisfaction by the mystery's resolution, reading in between the lines of the conversations the sheep manage to eavesdrop on, but also amusement at the flock's unusual interpretations of everyday human affairs. There are times where the story is bittersweet or poignant, but even at its darkest, the prose still has a grim humour in its delivery.

I plan on seeking out the sequel, Big Bad Wool, very soon.

V: "Why do you think we get along?" W: "Well, you let me be me."

Fangs by Sarah Andersen is a sweet anthology of single-page comics about a vampire and a werewolf in love. There's no real plot to the book, but there is a light overarching continuity as Vamp Elsie and Werewolf Jimmy meet, date, and live their lives together through the panels. They first run into one another at the Odditorium bar, but soon they're taking long walks together in the park, and sharing evenings at home on the sofa. Elsie struggles with all the usual things that trouble a vampire (like mirrors and sunlight), and Jimmy's wild spirit turns menace to their couch cushions on a full moon. Together, they overcome issues mundane and supernatural (including heat waves and the mailman).

Each short comic highlights some intimate moment or absurd reality of their monstrous co-existences, and Andersen's writing is often quick, sometimes campy, but always funny. The squirrel comic will crack you up, and the illustrations she inserts in between the comics will charm you.

This is the kind of book you read over and over and over again.