Graphic Novels

Review: Drawing from Memory by Allen Say

| Tasha

drawing from memory

Drawing from Memory by Allen Say

Released September 1, 2011.

This is a captivating look at the life of Allen Say and his journey to become an illustrator.  It begins with his childhood in Yokohama, Japan which he had to flee when the bombings started in 1941.  As a child, his mother kept him safe at home and not out playing near the water.  He learned to read early and fell in love with comics, deciding at a young age to become an artist.  His father dismissed his dreams, wanting him to follow a more respectable path.  Say lived with his grandmother while he went to school until at age 12, he moved and lived alone in a rented apartment in Tokyo.  Following his dream, he approached the famous cartoonist, Noro Shinpei in the hopes of becoming his student.  Say found his sensei and a new father figure in his life.  Readers will discover the long hours, hard work, and talent that made Say the artist he is.

Say weaves photographs, drawings and paintings together into an extraordinary look at his life.  The text blends humor  with  brutal honesty about his family’s lack of support for his endeavors.  Always the book is optimistic, exploring the dedication that it takes to attain greatness.  It will serve as inspiration for young artists who may themselves be being ridiculed for their dreams.

More than a graphic novel, this is an autobiography told in images and words that is surprising, moving and luminous.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

Also reviewed by

Review: Bake Sale by Sara Varon

| Tasha

bake sale

Bake Sale by Sara Varon

Cupcake owns a bakery and his life has a certain routine to it.  Wake up at 6:30 am, head to the bakery, bake, and then open the shop at 9:00 am, work until 4:00 pm, then spend time with his friend, Eggplant.  Eggplant is planning a trip to Turkey to visit his family, who happen to know the very famous chef, Turkish Delight.  When Eggplant invites Cupcake to join him on the trip, Cupcake has to work hard to make more money and pay for it.  As he tries new things, his delight in baking returns.  Perhaps the solution to his struggles is closer to home than he thought!

Varon is the author of the very successful, Robot Dreams.  While this graphic novel doesn’t have the power of that book, it is still a great read that children will respond to.  The book also includes seven recipes for food that Cupcake makes in the book.  All of Varon’s books have a winning quirkiness to them.  Here you have Cupcake who creates cupcakes for other people to eat.  A bit strange, but that’s what makes Varon’s worlds so intriguing.

Her illustrations are just as clear and charming as always.   The characters are expressive, funny and interesting. The text is fanciful and fun, often meandering a bit rather than driving the story forward.  It reads and seems as if readers are really looking at Cupcake’s life.

A whimsical graphic novel that is not too sugary at all.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Also reviewed by

Book Review: Sidekicks by Dan Santat

| Tasha

sidekicks

Sidekicks by Dad Santat

Captain Amazing is so busy saving the world from evil villains that he doesn’t have time for his pets back at home.  But Captain Amazing is also getting older, so he decides he needs a sidekick to help out.  His dog, hamster, lizard and even his lost cat decide to audition for the position.  As they vie for the position, rifts develop between them.  But when Captain Amazing finds himself in true peril, his pets must rise to the occasion and put their differences aside.  It will take all of their new skills, fantastic abilities, and their teamwork to save the day.

This graphic novel is inventive and great fun.  It is an appealing mix of superhero, animals and friendship stories.  Santat’s art (which I look forward to seeing in full color, rather than the partial color I got to see in the ARC) is engaging and modern.  Yet it plays directly back to traditional comic books with the battle scenes in particular.  Santat’s story is well paced and even controlled despite the wild antics of its characters and the vibrant action scenes.

Get this in the hands of young graphic novel readers and you will be a superhero too!  Appropriate for ages 7-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Arthur A. Levine Books.

Check out the trailer:

Also reviewed by 100 Scope Notes and Fuse #8.

Book Review – Lost & Found: A Graphic Novel Wonderland

| Tasha

lostfoundtan

Lost & Found by Shaun Tan

This collection of three stories by Tan which were previously published in Australia as separate stories combine to create an incredible experience.  Tan wrote two of the stories himself and did the art for all three.  The three stories are unique and different, though they are all about loneliness, discovering what is right in front of us, and unexpected beauty. 

The Red Tree tells the story of a woman trapped in darkness, though if you look closely you will see a sign of hope that continues through the images.  The illustrations are filled with large urban buildings, strange mechanical beings, and empty curving landscapes.  Until finally, the red tree is found where you least expect it. 

The Lost Thing is the story of a man who discovers something strange on the beach.  It was something odd, unusual and completely out of place.  The man searches for where the lost thing belongs, eventually taking it home with him and figuring out what it eats.  But this is not a story of a lost and new pet.  It is a story of secret places, unusual beings, and discovering what you were once blind to.

The Rabbits is a story written by John Marsden, who is also from Australia.  The story takes a look at the colonization of Australia through the story of the rabbits entering and taking over the continent.  Marsden and Tan create a story that tells the tale of take over, theft and oppression through animals, at once making it a story that can be told clearly and coolly but also one that echoes with tragedy on a larger scale.  For me, this was the story in the book that resonated and continues to linger.

Tan pays close attention to details throughout the book.  The transitional pages between the stories create a unified feel to the book, tying the stories together as if they are hand-in-hand.  The effect of the three stories is one of uniqueness and universal themes. 

Beautifully created, these stories are a treasure for graphic novel fans who will find out that graphic novels can be artistic, deep, compassionate and amazing.  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from copy received from Scholastic.

Also reviewed by:

Booklist’s Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth

| Tasha

Booklist has a list of their top picks for 2011 Graphic Novels for Youth selected from those reviewed in the past 12 months.

   

Crogan’s March by Chris Schweizer

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and Joann Sfar

The Meeting by Brigitte Luciani

The Odyssey by Homer and Gareth Hinds

  

Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann

Scary Godmother by Jill Thompson

Set to Sea by Drew Weing

  

Trickster: Native American Tales ed. by Matt Dembicki

The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke

Owly & Wormy: Friends All Aflutter

| Tasha

owlyandwormy

Owly & Wormy: Friends All Aflutter by Andy Runton

The popular Owly graphic novels make their picture book debut with this colorful new story.  Owly and his best friend Wormy want to make friends with some butterflies.  So they plant a milkweed plant, hoping to attract some.  All they manage to attract are some bugs that are definitely not butterflies and that are munching on the milkweed leaves.  Owly and Wormy make friends with the bugs instead until one day the bugs have to leave.  Now Owly and Wormy are left alone.  They wait and wait for their friends to return.  When they eventually do come back though, Owly and Wormy don’t recognize them!

Runton’s friendly and funny Owly graphic novels are some of my go-to graphic novels for younger children.  This new book makes the Owly stories available to even younger readers.  With the wordless format, this is a book that will appeal to children just about to become readers themselves. 

Add the bright colors to the illustrations and you have a very appealing book that is about friendship and metamorphosis.  The cartoon-like illustrations filled with smiling faces large and small are very friendly themselves.  The illustrations run from two-page spreads to smaller more graphic-novel-like images that read as panels.

This book takes graphic novels to the youngest readers and introduces them to a friend that they can share adventures with for years to come.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Zita the Spacegirl: A Girl-Powered Graphic Novel

| Tasha

zita_frontcover

Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

This is a great graphic novel for elementary readers who will enjoy the action and the science fiction setting.  Zita and her friend Joseph see a meteoroid fall to earth.  When Zita looks closely, she sees that there is something embedded in the meteoroid.  It looks like a red button and despite her friend’s protests, she presses it.  Immediately, a rift opens and sucks Joseph through it.  After some moments of panic, Zita presses the button again and heads through the rift to rescue her friend.  On the other side of the rift, Joseph is being dragged away by a strange multi-armed alien who flies off with him in a space ship.  Now Zita is left alone in a strange world filled with amazing creatures.  Unfortunately, it’s a world about to be destroyed by a giant asteroid.   How is Zita going to be able to save her friend before the planet is demolished?

Hatke is a great storyteller.  Zita is a friendly, determined and strong girl character, who remains solidly the heroine of her story.  Through his friendly illustrations Hatke has created a world that makes one feel at home despite its strangeness.  The adventure here is thrilling, dangerous and great fun.  As Zita adventures through the world, readers will enjoy the humor of different characters.  Hatke embraces nuanced characters as well, which is a treat in a graphic novel for children.

The illustrations here have an anime appeal to them.  Young fans of Pokemon will feel right at home with the variety of creatures that Zita meets. 

This is one of those great graphic novels that belongs in every library collection.  Sure to check out and be very popular, just face this one out and watch it check out of the library.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

To get a sense of the illustrations, you can view the video below:

Zita the Spacegirl Trailer

Reviewed from copy received from First Second.

Also reviewed by:

The Literate Mother

Little Lamb Books

Perpetual Learner

2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens

| Tasha

Another fabulous list for collection building at libraries!  The 2011 Great Graphic Novels list has 63 titles on it.  Here are the Top Ten Titles.

  

Brain Camp by Susan Kim

Chew V.1. : Taster’s Choice by John Layman and Rob Guillory

Ghostopolis by Doug TenNapel

  

Green Monk by Brandon Dayton

Meanwhile: Pick Any Path by Jason Shiga (my review)

Saturn Apartments V. 1.  by Hisae Iwaoka

   

Set to Sea by Drew Weing

Smile by Raina Telgemeier (my review)

Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri and Randy Duburke (my review)

The Zabime Sisters by Aristophane and Matt Madden

Binky to the Rescue: A Second Silly Adventure

| Tasha

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Binky to the Rescue by Ashley Spires

This sequel to Binky the Space Cat continues Binky’s adventures as a cat who believes he lives in outer space.  The graphic novel format is an ideal way to showcase the wry humor of the story.  In this latest adventure, Binky is busily battling his enemies, the insects that he considers aliens.  But when he pushes too hard on a window screen, he falls out the window and into the backyard, or outer space!  Luckily, Binky thinks quickly and finds a oxygen source (the garden hose) and ties himself down securely to keep from floating off (on a garden gnome.)  He takes notes on alien activity and as he is doing that notices that his co-pilot Ted has also fallen into outer space.  But before he can rescue Ted, he is attacked by wasps and then taken inside by his human.  Now Binky must launch a brave rescue of Ted by re-entering the vastness of outer space.

Spires’ illustrations are very funny, showing the truth of Binky’s situation clearly to the reader.  Much of the humor is physical and vaudevillian, playing out in the illustrations themselves.  The use of graphic novel format will make this series one that children, especially reluctant readers, will pick up and enjoy.  Even better, Spires is not afraid of using some fart humor every now and then.  Perfect for the target age.

The text is just as funny as the illustrations, taking a wonderful tone that will immediately have readers connecting it with science fiction films.  Nicely, the narration plays entirely into Binky’s fantasy, so readers themselves have to get the joke of the books.  And they definitely will.

A great sequel to the first book, this book should be added to elementary school graphic novel collections and children’s collections in public libraries.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Kids Can Press.

Also reviewed by: