3 Books I Just Read

Yeah, I know, boring title. Deal.

Anyway, I got two books on inter-library loan, and one off the shelf here. The two ILL books were to see if they were work buying (or should be teen titles) based on a great core collection list from the Good Comics for Kids people.

Long Tail Kitty by Lark Pien (978-1-934706-44-2) is great, and is going on my "must-buy" lists. Short, sweet, and entirely age-appropriate for younger readers.

Dragon Drive, vol. 1, by Ken-ichi Saura (978-1-4215-1187-0) is a manga based on a video game (and probably an anime, but I'm not sure). I'm afraid this is the kind of thing that makes me avoid manga. It bored me. The characters did not interest me, I really don't like graphic novels where most of the story is taken up by the fighting action, and even the "mystery" part of the plot doesn't inspire me to seek out the rest and read them. On the other hand, the violence contained no obvious bloodshed (it's all fighting-by-proxy) and there weren't even any "pantie shots" that I could see (though the one adult female wore some rather tight and/or short outfits). I'll put it on the "if I have money at the end of October" list and get the first few in the series. I just hope the violence doesn't accelerate.

The off-the-shelf book was just for fun. I finally read a version of Neil Gaimen's Coraline, this one the graphic adaptation by P. Craig Russell (978-0-06-082543-0). Good story. I was expecting creepy at points (this is Gaimen, after all), so I enjoyed it. I suspect this was, at least for me, much better than seeing the movie, since the people (at least, the ones who are really people) are draw more realistically than I've seen in the commercials for the movie.

Kit Feeny: On the Move

Kit Feeny: On the Move by Michael Townsend (978-0-375-85614-3)

This was on a recent list of recommended books, so I signed off on it when it came up on the ordering list for last month. I didn't realize it had actually come in until recently. Quick summary of the plot: Kit Feeny's family moves, and he misses his best friend greatly. This book reminds me a lot of a boy-oriented version of Babymouse, especially with all the art being in black, white, and orange (like Babymouse's signature pink) and the book being of a similar size. The humor is a bit cruder, but again, that seems to give it more boy appeal. I'm sure it will do well on our shelves.

One Last Book from the Box and Jack Is Back

Recon Academy: Mixed Signals by Chris Everheart (978-1-4342-1915-2)
Tolerable. I can't figure out what motivates the bad guy, or why the main characters all run around in jumpsuits, however. There was unintentional humor in the use of the phrase "After them, you fools!" on page 53--so cliche I couldn't believe it was being used. The technology aspect was interesting. (I know, no real plot summary, but I can't find the energy).

Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale (978-1-59990-076-6)
From the pages of Rapunzel's Revenge come the story of Jack, as he and Rapunzel head to the city to make up for some of his past mistakes. He's looking to see his mother again, and discovers things have gone from bad to worse in the time he's been gone. A giant has conned his way into control of the city--the same giant Jack tried to rob some time ago. It was that botched theft that sent him on the run to the West. Rapunzel's influence has caused a desire to reform in Jack, and now he has to make good on his promises... YES!

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)

Quick Follow-up to Last Week

Well, my girls gobbled up Babymouse Burns Rubber that night. They already want the next one. I love having readers in my family. My husband is still enjoying Muppet Robin Hood, though one of the girls commented that the art looked funny (something about Gonzo not looking like Gonzo). I pointed out that these aren't photographs, but artistic interpretation. She seemed happy with that answer.

I've got so much stuff on my desk I still haven't gotten to Missile Mouse, but I want to. The Manga Math Mystery was well done. I should get more of them. Sticky Burr was straight-up cute. I will also be looking for more of those, if there are any.

I got the cataloging issue for the Max Finder Mysteries cleared up, with a great deal of help from the Technical Services people. I love those ladies. I glanced at them. They're cute, but not something I want to read all the way through. Still, I hope they do well.

Now, I've got the semi-annual pile of Stone Arch graphic novels to work though. More on those later, since I'm almost out of time right now.

On my desk to read for fun: Chibi Vampire, vol. 9-11. I've read the other 8, and I'm enjoying the series so far. (I've been trying to broaden my horizons in manga, using recommendation from other online sources.)

The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook

The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook by Eleanor Davis 978-1-59990-142-8

This was a fun book to read. The main character, Julian, is a classic nerd--when his family moves to a new area, he's so desperate to fit in that he reads books to understand the behavior of his "peers". What he finds, though is that the classic jock and bad girl are more than they seem when they invite him to their secret clubhouse to join them in scientific tinkering. Together, the three of them form the eponymous alliance, dedicated mostly to bringing the ideas in their Invention Notebook to life, but also to getting (gentle) revenge on the bullies at school (like putting blue dye in the chocolate milk Julian knew a bully would predictably steal). The Copycat Crook, in contrast, is an adult scientist with a bad attitude and a severe lack of imagination. How the Alliance defeats him is brilliant--and not something I want to spoil.

I loved all the little details in the illustration. For example, scenes set in the clubhouse are often accompanied by little labels like "peanut butter" "corn chips" and "motor oil" which are all sitting on a counter to be tested by a machine. There are cutaway views of many of the inventions, with the kind of details anyone who's ever enjoyed cutaway illustrations, or DK-style books, from nonfiction would love.

I hope Ms. Davis is planning to write more about these characters. I really want to know what else they get into (and if Ben ever overcomes his testing problem). I also loved the hardcover format--it looks like it will hold up for many circulations, which is good, since I plan on handing it to anyone who seems remotely interested (maybe those too young for Artemis Fowl, but interested in something similar).

Benny and Penny and Swans in Space

My library got two new titles in today.

Benny and Penny in the Big No-No by Geoffrey Hayes 978-0-9799238-9-0
This is one of the Toon line of books, with a very nice hardcover binding. Benny and Penny are a pair of mouse siblings who play (and bicker) in a realistic way. The "no-no" of the title is going over the fence into a new neighbor's yard without permission. The art has nice details without being too busy. The action is easy to follow. This would be a great book for an advanced kindergartner or first-grader to read on their own. (I'll test that later, once the book has been processed, by handing it to my own first-grader.) The vocabulary is simple without being condescending, and the moral at the end isn't hammered home.

Swans in Space by Lun Lun Yamamoto 978-1-897376-93-5
Finally! After months of trying to get my hands on this book, it arrived. It's a full-color manga that seems to be aimed at girls. I've just started reading it, but so far I'm enjoying. The binding is paper, but it seems like a slightly tougher paper than whatever Viz uses for Pokemon. This is another one I'll run by my daughters once it's processed for circulation. (I'll try to post a plot summary then, too.)

New Books! (Grown-Ups Are Dumb, Sonic, Binky, Robin Hood, Little Mouse)

I had to do the ordering from our review lists for October, and got several graphic novels as a result:

Grown-Ups Are Dumb (No Offense) by Alexa Kitchen 978-142311331-7
She's billed as the world's youngest cartoonist. It's a cute book, although paperback. I don't get a lot of the humor, but this is by a kid for kids so I hope it goes well.

Sonic Select: Book One, various authors compiled by Archie Comics 978-1-879794-29-0
I got this one to add to the various Sonic titles requested. It's all old stuff from the 80s. This art looks more "cleaned up" than other volumes, in that it doesn't look like it was scanned straight out of the comic itself, but re-colored for this book.

Binky, the Space Cat by Ashley Spires 978-1-55453-309-1
I love this. The text, though minimal, is very matter-of-fact that Binky can, in fact, be training in secret to fight aliens (aka, household bugs) and fly off into space. There is litter-box humor, but nothing too gross (what do you expect? He's a cat.)

Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood by Tony Lee 978-076364399-7
This is definitely for older kids. People die, and one character has his eyes put out. The art is very dark. I almost gave it to the Teen Librarian for her collection. However, the actual gore is kept to a minimum (the missing eyes, for example, are more dark shadows than gaping sockets), and I feel a need for good Robin Hood retellings in our section of the library.

Little Mouse Gets Ready by Jeff Smith 978-1-935179-01-6
In direct contrast to Outlaw, this is a short, sweet book that could easily slide into the picture book section and not be noticed. It's published by the same company that produced Luke on the Loose (which went into our collection before I started this blog). The art is brown backgrounds with lots of color for Little Mouse's clothes, and the story is very easy to follow. Like I said, cute.

Review: The Weasel Patrol

The Weasel Patrol by Ken Macklin and Lela Dowling (987-0-9790750-8-7)

This just in: The Weasel Patrol is on the loose in space. This is great black and white slapstick. The motto of the Patrol is "Protect. Serve. Run Away." Leroy and his fellow weasels do so with fine form, catching the bad guys every time. (They even have their priorities straight: rescuing the Cheezies is more important than contraband, after all.) When reading this with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek, I was trying hard not to laugh and disturb my co-workers. As I said, this is slapstick, so no one gets hurt worse than the Coyote ever did to the Roadrunner. The only problem kids might have is the challenge of the vocabulary, but hey, that's what the dictionary is for.

Review: The Storm in the Barn

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan (978-07636-3618-0)

This was definitely worth the wait. I'm glad I didn't try to lump it in with the other three books yesterday. I still read it quickly, but that's only because there was so little text. Most of the story is conveyed through the art, with a careful use of color. Browns and tans dominate, appropriate for a story set during the Dust Bowl, but there are careful spots of soft greens and blues, and, at one memorable spot, the red of blood.

Jack Clark's older sister cannot leave her bed, the dust is so bad. He's too young to do anything to help his father fix the car--all that is keeping them on the farm. There are no chores except occasionally watching his younger sister for his mother. He's bullied by boys in town. Then, he starts seeing things through the cracks in the Talbot barn. I won't say what Jack sees, because that is the crux of the story, but how he deals with it makes Jack one of the Jacks of fairy tale stuff--just like the stories he hears from the storekeeper and his sister's Oz books. I am so glad I got this book for my library (and very happy that Candlewick took the effort to give it a good binding and excellent quality paper).

Quick Mentions: New Books, Continuing Series

Just a quick post:

Got some new stuff last week that I have to give to the processing people: A Little Snow Fairy Sugar 3( 978-1-4139-03546), which is the last volume in the set; The Big Adventures of Majoko 2 (978-1-897376-82-9); The Storm in the Barn by Matthew Phelan (978-0-7636-3618-0); and The Lapis Lazuli Crown 2 (978-1-4012-2121-8), also the last of the series.

I got Sugar to complete the set--I don't really have time or interest in reading it for review. I enjoyed the first Majoko, which is why I got the second. (I really should have my daughter read them.) I'll review Storm another time--it's supposed to be good, so I want to give it enough time to read and absorb properly. Lapis Lazuli was as good as I hoped, though the story felt a little rushed. There's a bit more political intrigue in this issue, but again, no annoying chibi or drawn-out battle scenes. Yay!

Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers #18

Got the lastest BWI shipment in yesterday, and for fun set aside D.A.N.G.E.R. Spells the Hangman (Hardy Boys: Undercover Brother #18 from Papercutz, 978-1-59707-191-1). I was reading it just after reading The 3-2-3 Detective Agency (see previous post), so I was in a mystery mindset.

I can't say it's much better than 3-2-3, unfortunately. I like the art better, though I think 3-2-3 has the advantage of being more attractive for younger readers. All the Hardy Boys are done in a manga style (down to even some funny faces to depict emotions at times). The mystery was more life-threatening (someone is trying to kill spelling bee contestants, not just kidnap). In fact, the opening "teaser" is about preventing the assassination of a young boy at a paintball range. But still, seriously, spelling bee contestants? The denouement read more like a Scooby-D00 cartoon than something written for tweens/teens. Good thing I'm purchasing for elementary/middle school readers then.

Why am I buying these again? Oh yeah, steady series that circulates anyway. Well, I hope the readers are at least looking at other things on the shelf.

Review: The 3-2-3 Detective Agency

The 3-2-3 Detective Agency in the Disappearance of Dave Warthog by Fiona Robinson 978-0-8109-8489-9

I'm afraid I don't have much to say. This book has been reviewed and summarized extensive elsewhere--part of why I purchased it. My reaction to this is tepid. It's cute, and I'm sure younger readers will love it. The mystery seems weak to me, however. The art is very colorful, and almost too busy (but I could still follow the action). It's a nice hardcover binding (I'm a sucker for hardcover--they tend to hold up in the library better). I'll just have to see how the circulation holds up after a year or two on the shelf.

Review: The Lapis Lazuli Crown

The Lapis Lazuli Crown 1 by Natsuna Kawase, 978-1-4012-2120-1
What do you know, there is shojo (girl manga) I can stand to read! This is the story of the middle daughter of an impoverished noble family who is, well, freakishly strong, a situation she is not happy with. In addition, her older sister is a genius sorceress, and her younger sister look to be the same, while Miel has trouble controlling the most basic spells. One day she literally runs into Prince Radian, who is going about town undercover after he gave his best friend/retainer the slip. She doesn't know who he is at first, and they get to know each other when she gives him a "tour" of the city. After his deception is revealed, he gifts her with a charm made from lapis lazuli, the royal stone, and tells her he'll wait for the day she can use the stone to cast spells (you can't work at the palace unless you can use lapis lazuli, which is a fragile stone). This actually motivates her to study magic harder, even transferring to a magic-oriented high school. I'm definitely hoping there are more issues forthcoming. I even enjoyed the secondary story, about a cat burglar saving his reputation by helping a girl targeted by his copycat (even though it took up about a third of the book).

I think what I like most was the lack of over-emoting, chibi characters. There were no cutesy talking pets, no overload of Japanese-style emotion faces (aside from Miel falling to her knees when overwhelmed a few too many times). There weren't any knock-down-drag-out duels that last for 50 pages (more a problem with shonen, I know). The magic system in the story is fairly straightforward, and the world seems fairly well-built (considering I only saw the cityscape, I could be wrong). The characters were well-drawn, and I could tell them apart, even in black-and-white. I could follow the flow of the action. There's supposed to be a concluding volume coming out this month--I'll be looking for it.

Donations Reviews, Round 2

Alice in Wonderland, retold by Martin Powell, illustrated by Daniel Perez 978-1-4342-1585-7
This reads a lot like a Cliff's Notes edition of the book by Lewis Carroll. It would definitely work as something to hand a first- or second-grader. Powell managed to capture some of Lewis's turns of phrase, but like any summary of a larger work, the poetry seems lost. Perez's art is much less eye-searing than Wonderland (which I mentioned in an earlier post), and has echoes of the original art from the Carroll book (especially, I though, in the face of the Duchess). I have no problem putting this on the shelf.

The Emperor's New Clothes, retold by Stephanie True Peters, illustrated by Jeffrey Stewart Timmins 978-1-4342-1595-6
This is a perfectly fine adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson story. The art is done in mostly sepia tones, which I have no problem with, and the action flows well. The people looked a lot like clowns, however, since everyone had round circles on their cheeks and red noses (which, I suppose, is better than the other interpretation for such an appearance). Even more clown-like are the whitened faces. On the cover, the Emperor is shown in his undergarments (modeling the "new clothes"), and I can clearly see the lines of his white face. Due to the similar faces, I had a hard time distinguishing one character from another at a few points.

The Incredible Rockhead by Scott Nickel and C.S. Jennings 978-1-4342-1591-8
I enjoyed this one a lot more than the Zinc Alloy book. From front cover to back, the book is designed to mimic a traditional newsstand comic book, with an issue number on the front and a faux ad on the back. It's still a pretty simple origin story, but it ends with the words "to be continued" which means it could be expanded to a more complex plot. (As I've said before, you don't need a simple plot just because the vocabulary has to be simple.) I even enjoyed the way the vocabulary page and discussion questions were formatted to resemble even more mock-ads. This is something I'll consider getting more of (assuming I have a budget to spend in 2010).

Princess Candy: Sugar Hero by Michael Dahl, illustrated by Jeff Crowther 978-1-4342-1587-1
A superhero book for the girl crowd, since I don't know a single reluctant reader boy who'd pick up a book with "Princess" and a pink-haired girl on the cover. It's another origin book with minimal plot (pain-in-the-rear star student turns out to be cheater). The main character, Halo Nightly, has a non-traditional family structure (she lives with her grandmother, who drives a taxi for a living) which is actually a nice change from the norm. There is no mention of what happened to her parents, but Halo's mysteriously missing Aunt Pandora is the start of the super powers. Another one I'd consider more of.

Rex Libris

This isn't a kids' title, but I have to rave about a graphic novel I read: Rex Libris: I, Librarian by James Turner. It's funny and intellectual. Even better, the main character is a LIBRARIAN WHO KICKS A**!!! (excuse my language, please) His boss is the Egyptian god Thoth, and his co-workers are Circe (yes, the sorceress) and Hypatia (not the original, but a new trainee). All the librarians are very conservatively dressed, but they can also all handle the toughest of patrons (in a flashback to her training, Hypatia is show literally kicking someone who looks like Special Forces while wearing a non-regulation bustier). The art is all black and white and computer generated, so it's a little stiff, but that contributes to the style of the book.

Fun stuff that I can't put on my shelf!

Well, I read the Yoko Tsuno book. It was written in the eighties and reads to me a lot like a Nancy Drew book from that era. Some people (presumably) died near the end, but the deaths were not seen. The plot is still sound, but the technology is a bit outdated (magnetic tape computers, for example). I think it will work for the collection, but I'm not going to get any of the others unless a patron REALLY wants them, especially since it's a $12 paperback that won't hold up well. At less than 1/2 an inch thick, 8/12x11 size pages, it's going to get mangled.