Review of Bluffton, by Matt Phelan

Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel, Historical, Starred Review 0

Bluffton

by Matt Phelan

Candlewick Press, 2013. 223 pages.
Starred Review

Bluffton is a graphic novel about a fictional friend of Buster Keaton. When Buster Keaton was young, and already a vaudeville star, his family really did vacation at Bluffton, in Muskegon, Michigan, along with a whole group of vaudevillians, complete with an elephant and a zebra.

The book shows what it might have been like for an ordinary kid living in Muskegon, getting to play with Buster Keaton during the summers.

This graphic novel catches the lazy fun of summer, as well as Buster Keaton’s tendency to pranks and tricks. And it imagines what he would have been like to play with. Henry, the ordinary boy in the story, dreams of having an act like Buster.

This book has a lot of heart, and a nice factual foundation. Matt Phelan writes that he has been a Buster Keaton fan since he was a small boy, and his affection comes out in his work.

candlewick.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/bluffton.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Earthling! by Mark Fearing

Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel, Science Fiction 0

Earthling!

by Mark Fearing

Chronicle Books, San Francisco. 245 pages.

Earthling! is a children’s graphic novel that’s a lot of fun. Bud and his father move to a new home next to his father’s new job at the Von Lunar Telescope Lab. The next morning, Bud gets on the wrong bus — and ends up on a bus to Cosmos Academy, the best in the galaxy. Fortunately, a friendly alien helps him out right at the start, and warns him not to tell anyone he’s an earthling. Earthlings are feared and hated.

So Bud has all the challenges of fitting in at a new school where he is truly an alien from another planet. But at the same time, he must figure out how to get home. He has to learn how to play ZeroBall, make friends and be a team player — in a very different environment. He must avoid suspension and expulsion — because it would be suspension for eternity in molecular binding gel or being expelled into deep space to die.

The art in this book is excellent, and naturally the aliens are easy to tell apart. (Though come to think of it, the bullies look a lot alike. Is that species prejudice?) The story is fun, with Earthlings clearly seen through a distorted lens. The plot is engaging — Bud just wants to get home, but there are many paths he must take to try to get there. The pages are bright, colorful, and action-packed. This is one book that will be easy to put into kids’ hands.

markfearing.com
chroniclekids.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/earthling.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Fangbone! Third-Grade Barbarian

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Science Fiction 0

Fangbone!
Third-Grade Barbarian

by Michael Rex

G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2012. 120 pages.

Fangbone! Third-Grade Barbarian is straight-up silly fun. I do not expect to see it sitting on the shelves for long, or, well, ever.

Fangbone the Barbarian has been sent by his clan to our world to protect the Big Toe of Drool.

Here Fangbone explains the back story to his new third grade class:

Five hundred winters ago, the greatest evil that ever lived ruled over Skullbania. Venomous Drool was his name. He built an army that swept through the lands and almost wiped out the clans.

Many battles were fought, and many great warriors died to keep his evil from spreading.

Finally, Drool was defeated, and cut into many small pieces. . .

The pieces were separated and taken to different lands so that Venomous Drool could never rule again.

But since my birth, a new army of Drool worshipers has been moving through Skullbania, collecting the pieces one by one, and rebuilding Drool.

The only piece that they do not have is his big toe! My clan was put in charge of protecting the big toe because it is the most evil, cursed, wretched part of his body.

I was given the toe and sent into your world. Venomous Drool and his army will never find me here. He will never get his big toe back.

For I am FANGBONE! Protector of the Big Toe of Drool!

Of course, the situation of Fangbone in a normal (well, klutzy) third grade class has all sorts of opportunities for hilarity. I love the way the teacher tells the kids, “Class? Class! Please relax. Fangbone comes from a faraway place. People are different all over the world. We must respect his culture.”

The story of the book? Fangbone helps his class defeat the bullies in the school’s beanball tournament. And his new class helps Fangbone defeat the monstrous creatures the Drool worshipers send against him.

Best of all? This is a graphic novel with pictures that match the silly fun of the words. There are already three volumes in the series and I already anticipate having kids come to the Information Desk again and again asking if we have the next volume (because someone snatches each volume up just as soon as it gets turned in). Everything about this book says kid appeal. Michael Rex is the author of such stellar parodies as Good Night, Goon and Furious George. He put all that clever and insightful humor into this graphic novel series. A win all the way around.

mikerexbooks.blogspot.com/

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/fangbone.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Drama, by Raina Telgemeier

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel 0

Drama

by Raina Telgemeier

Graphix (Scholastic), 2012. 233 pages.
2013 Stonewall Award Honor Book

I think this light-hearted graphic novel about middle school drama is going to be hugely popular. Raina Telgemeier has already won legions of fans with her graphic memoir about her own middle school experience, Smile.

Callie is in charge of sets for their middle school drama production. This graphic novel conveys all the fun and camaraderie of a group of kids who are into drama. And there are crushes on the wrong people and plenty of drama in the romance department as well.

Toward the start of the book, Callie meets twin boys new to the school and convinces them to get involved in the production. I did have a little trouble keeping them straight, but that’s probably appropriate. Justin, who is gay, is outgoing and auditions for the lead role. Jesse, who is more reserved, signs up for stage crew and ends up being Callie’s good friend. She’d like a bit more, but there are some surprises — and drama — ahead.

This is a quick read, and I don’t think it’s going to sit on the library shelves very much at all. Kids will be snapping this up. I think despite the crushes in the story, boys won’t disdain to read it since it is, after all, a graphic novel. (Am I assigning stereotypes there? I just think this book will have wide appeal.)

goRaina.com
scholastic.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/drama.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Maya Makes a Mess, by Rutu Modan

Delightfully Silly, Easy Readers, Graphic Novel, Picture Book Review 0

Maya Makes a Mess

by Rutu Modan

A Toon Book (Candlewick Press), 2012. 32 pages.

This book simply makes me laugh. It’s a Toon Book — a graphic novel for beginning readers. In fact, it’s specifically a Level Two Easy-to-Read Comic for Emerging Readers in grades 1-2. The series contains some excellent tips at the back for reading comics with kids.

But the story is why I enjoy it. Maya is a messy eater. And the reason that makes me laugh? Well, she eats spaghetti exactly like my son did — with bare hands. I completely understand the parents’ frustration in saying to Maya — “What if you were eating dinner with the Queen?”

So then the Queen invites Maya to dinner.

Maya is very polite. She remembers to say Please when she asks for pasta with ketchup. But when she doesn’t know which fork to use and is told to eat it the way she does at home — well, the entire dining room notices.

But this is a happy and silly story — so eventually all the dressed-up grown-ups decide to eat like Maya does. Hilarity ensues.

This book will get a kid’s focus off the laborious details of decoding words and have them enjoying the outrageously delightful story.

toon-books.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/maya_makes_a_mess.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Lost & Found, by Shaun Tan

Graphic Novel, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Lost & Found

by Shaun Tan

Arthur A. Levine Books, 2011.
Starred Review
2011 Sonderbooks Stand-outs: #5 Other Teen Fiction

Lost & Found is a collection of three short books originally published in Australia. I find myself wishing they were still separate, because each story is powerful by itself. But I am glad I got to read all three.

Like The Arrival, and Tales from Outer Suburbia, these stories all have a surreal element. The artwork is amazingly detailed, and includes many alien-looking creatures.

The first story, “The Red Tree,” published alone would make an encouraging Oh, the Places You’ll Go!-type gift book, though not as cheery. A girl is having a dark and dreary day, which is vividly expressed with surreal images. But the story ends with a red tree growing in her bedroom, a smile of hope, and these words:

“but suddenly there it is right in front of you bright and vivid quietly waiting just as you imagined it would be.”

I think I can get away with telling the words at the end of the story, because the power to this story lies in the images. You definitely still need to read it yourself to understand the way that final image turns the dreariness around and gives life and hope.

The second story is “The Lost Thing.” A kid finds a strange and large lost creature, not like anything you’ve ever seen before, and needs to find it a home. This requires quite a journey, and there’s some philosophizing about things that don’t quite fit in. Once again, the power is in the pictures and Shaun Tan’s incredible imagination.

The final story, “The Rabbits,” is a sad one, with words by John Marsden and drawings by Shaun Tan. It’s a simple story of the devastation to the native plants and animals when colonists brought rabbits. The rabbits are drawn wearing clothes and acting like the human invaders did. The devastation they brought is bleak and clear, but the ending is open-ended. Perhaps the creatures can be saved.

Shaun Tan’s work, as always, is breathtaking. With this one, you definitely should see for yourself.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/lost_and_found.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of Page by Paige, by Laura Lee Gulledge

Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Page by Paige

by Laura Lee Gulledge

Amulet Books, New York, 2011.
Starred Review
2011 Cybils Finalist
2011 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #3 Other Teen Fiction

I’m not usually a big graphic novel fan, but I loved this one enough to list it as my #3 Sonderbooks Stand-out in Other Teen Fiction.

Page by Paige tells that old story of a high school girl in a new town — in this case, New York City — but Paige Turner (Her parents are both writers.) is an artist. This book is Paige’s sketchbook, and she draws about her experiences.

Paige’s art is what makes the book outstanding. She draws expressionistic abstract images that beautifully express how it feels to be an outsider in a new place, or feeling at odds with your parents, or afraid to show anyone your sketchbook.

I also really love the part where Paige falls for someone. Now this is first love how I remember it — feeling thrilled when your knees touch under the table, for example. It’s innocent and beautiful and joyous.

Paige and her friends also conduct some performance art as “Agents of Whimsy.” This reminded me of the story in The Plain Janes. In Page by Paige, there are no negative repercussions, though; it just adds to Paige’s experience of art.

Another thing I love about this book is that it fully uses the graphic novel form. I’m not a big graphic novel fan, but this book could not be written any other way, and the drawings add so much to the experience of the book. Laura Lee Gulledge so perfectly captures feelings with her expressionist drawings.

This is a happy book, and an uplifting one, but it’s definitely not fluff.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/page_by_paige.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of Zita the Spacegirl, by Ben Hatke

Adventure, Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel, Science Fiction 0

Zita the Spacegirl

Book One: Far From Home

by Ben Hatke

First Second, 2010. 184 pages.

This is a fun graphic novel that will appeal to a wide variety of kids. We have adventure, humor, strange space creatures, robots, deathly peril, and lots of action.

Zita’s adventures begin when she and her friend Joseph discover a crater with a smoking meteorite. Zita investigates and finds poking out of it a little device with a big red button.

Joseph knows the obvious: If you push a big red button, you are asking for certain doom. Zita, however, cannot resist. She pushes the big red button — and tentacles appear and pull Joseph into a vortex, calling out to Zita for help.

Well, Zita can’t just abandon Joseph when she was the one who pushed the button. She pushes the button again and gets sucked in herself.

She finds herself on a distant planet — a planet that is going to be destroyed by an asteroid in three days. She sees Joseph taken away in a spaceship, and learns that he’s being held by the dread Scriptorians.

So: Zita’s quest is to rescue Joseph and get back to earth before the planet explodes. Along the way she gains some strange companions — space creatures, robots, and others — all with their own quirks.

I like the artwork — colorful, full of variety, and clear in what’s happening. (I don’t know much about art, but this is pleasing to the eye.)

I’m not a big graphic novel fan, but I liked this one enough that I will keep my eyes open for Zita’s further adventures. I like her determination, her loyalty, and her spunk.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/zita_the_spacegirl.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, by Barry Deutsch

Children's Fiction Review, Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

Hereville

How Mirka Got Her Sword

by Barry Deutsch

Amulet Books, New York, 2010.
2011 Eisner Award Nominee
Starred Review

Here’s one more review of a book from School Library Journal’s Battle of the Kids’ Books. I hope I’ve convinced my readers to follow the Battle next year!

I don’t read a lot of graphic novels, but when I saw the caption on the cover of Hereville, I knew I had to try it: “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl.” I’m sorry, but that’s one caption I can’t possibly resist.

Hereville gained high praise from Judge Susan Patron in Round One of the Battle:

“Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, a graphic novel by Barry Deutsch, must be the only book ever whose outside front cover made me laugh. “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl,” it proclaims. Thick, shiny, paper painted in shades of coral, brown, black and white—changing to deep purples and grays in the scary night scenes—feel silky to the touch. Every page is vibrant with energetic pictures, dialogue, sound effects—and extremely minimal exposition.

“The story plays with genres, tilting them on their sides; using incongruity, it skewers conventions. Seemingly we are in the middle of a Hansel and Gretel pastiche, a fairy tale, in which the characters sprinkle their dialogue with Yiddish words, “A klog iz mir: Woe is me!” as well as expressions like “Yaaaah!” ”Mumph!” and “Aaak!” Mirka, one daughter in a large family of sibs and step-sibs, rebels against the traditional role expected of her in the Orthodox Jewish community of Hereville. Rather than learning such “womanly arts” as knitting, she wants to fight dragons. There is lots of very clever stuff here: visual jokes such as an illustration contained within an exclamation point, table legs morphing into trees, and a deliciously horrid troll.

“Wit and irony also abound in the text: a monster pig eats Mirka’s homework, Mirka and her clever, loving stepmother engage in wonderfully funny debates, and some Orthodox traditions are gently poked fun at (“preparing for all that non-working [on Shabbos] takes a lot of work!” and “In Hereville, kids aren’t allowed to have non-Jewish books. So Mirka keeps hers hidden”). I was hugely entertained, even as one tender scene brought tears to my eyes.”

I don’t read a lot of graphic novels, but I know that I will want to read absolutely anything Barry Deutsch writes about Mirka. The setting is utterly unlike any other book I’ve read (a small orthodox Jewish community in the country), but I can relate to Mirka’s fairytale dreams. I love the prosaic nature of her first nemesis — the giant talking pig. You can see she has the heart to fight a troll as well.

This book is funny, magical, insightful, and a joy to read. I can’t wait to find out what Mirka will do with her sword.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/hereville.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of I, Librarian: Rex Libris, Volume I, by James Turner

Adventure, Fiction Review, Graphic Novel, Science Fiction 0

I, Librarian
Rex Libris, Volume 1

by James Turner

SLG Publishing, 2007.

I apologize to my readers, but I do have a soft spot for Super-Hero Librarians. And that’s what Rex Libris is all about!

This is a graphic novel of the adventures of the amazing Rex Libris, who travels through the galaxies if someone doesn’t return a book. It’s incredibly silly, but quite clever, and definitely diverting fun.

The caption at the beginning will give you the idea:

“Welcome, adventurous reader, to the first issue of Rex Libris, Public Librarian. Here you will find, for the first time in print ever, the tumultuous tales of the public library system and its unending battle against the forces of evil. This struggle is not just confined to our terrestrial sphere but extends out into the farthest reaches of the cosmos… and beyond! The librarian has faced patrons so terrible, so horrific, that they cannot be described here without the risk of driving readers mad. But enough prattle and preamble! Settle back with a cup of coffee and a donut (or other pastry if you prefer), and prepare to enter the secret world of…

REX LIBRIS.”

The other librarians at the Middleton Public Library are quite interesting, too. I love it when Circe explains to her co-worker:

“Oh, we all mellow with age, dear.

“I’m over 2000 years old. My trouble-making days are long behind me. Wreaking havoc and seducing adventuring heroes is for young people. These days I like to curl up with a good book and a hot cup of tea.”

Meanwhile, Rex is taking on space beings in an effort to get back a copy of Principia Mathematica.

Like I said, it’s all very silly, but we librarians need to be aware of how we are portrayed in literature, don’t we?

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/rex_libris.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.