Capstone Box Time

About a month ago I got a pile of books from our semi-regular box of donations/review copies form Capstone and its related imprints that will be going on the shelf. This time around, the graphic novels were:

Clues in the Attic by Cari Meister (My 1st Graphic Novel series, 978-1-4342-1889-6)
Short, sweet, and I thought the twist at the end was cute. Most of the text is in the form of narration, and actually describes the action in the pictures.

Princess Candy: The Green Queen of Mean by Michael Dahl & Scott Nickel (978-1-4342-1893-3)
I know I reviewed a Princess Candy book sometime last year. This is more of the same.

Pecos Bill, Colossal Cowboy, retold by Sean Tulien (978-1-4342-1896-4)
This is a good, simple retelling of the Pecos Bill legend.

Point-Blank Paintball by Scott Ciencin (978-1-4342-1914-5)
This is part of a line called "Sports Illustrated Kids Graphic Novels". It's laid out like a screen from ESPN or another sports channel for the opening and end parts, though the bulk is standard graphics (which aren't bad). The story's message is a little heavy-handed, but the action is good.

Bike Rider: Wheels of Justice by Donnie Lemke (978-1-4342-1892-6)
This is, for those people old enough to remember it, a complete take-off on the old TV series Knight Rider, down to calling the title "tonight's episode", a main character called Michael Cycle, and an AI in the bike call C.A.T.T. I just couldn't get more than a few pages into it. It's one of those "going on the shelf because it's free and I think there's an audience even if I don't like it". I do wish I could articulate why I don't like it better.

In addition to the graphic novels, there were three fiction books worth mentioning: A Superman title, a Batman title, and a Wonder Woman title. Stone Arch has got some nice series going that put these characters into text to encourage new/reluctant readers. I know we already owned some Superman and Batman books, and when I checked, none were on the shelf (a good sign!).
Batman: Robin's First Flight (978-1-4342-1879-7)
Superman: Deep Space Hijack(978-1-4342-1880-3)
Wonder Woman: Trial of the Amazons (978-1-4342-1883-4)