My son Dante is starting to get in manga. He's a very strong reader, and reads books too (I wonder where he got THOSE genes from?!?), but he's developing a real love for manga, which I'm delighted about, being a lifelong lover of comics myself.

We've bought him a few manga, but since he flies through them so quickly, we've been renting most of his volumes from our local library. (Hey, I'm not MADE of money!!) It's reminded me of just what a fantastic resource libraries are. I've visited many of them over the years during the course of my touring, and have always been wowed by how knowledgable and enthusiastic the best librarians can be, but it's been a while since I last frequented any, having cut back massively on my touring over the last several years.

Libraries are often having to fight for their existence, at the mercy of cruel budget cuts and uncaring politicians. It's easy to forget how important they are if you don't use one regularly, but it's important to keep standing up for them, because even if you've fallen out of the habit of popping in to use their services and borrow some books (as, I must admit, I have over the decades), your children might one day have need of them -- and if not YOUR children, then somebody else's children. Libraries are there for ALL of us, and WE need to be there for THEM the next time a cynical politician is suggesting trimming their budget -- or cutting them down completely -- in order to save a bit of money and win some votes.

Now, having given our libraries an all-too-well-earned shout-out, can I also take this opportunity to ask any manga-heads out there if you have any tips on what Dante should look out for next?!? He's into Dragon Ball Z and Assassination Classroom, and we're shortly going to get him started on Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (based on a suggestion I got from a fan here). But what else should we be on the look out for? Any advice????