by Eric Wight
ages: 8-10
First sentence: “Presenting… the Prince of Peril… the Sultan of Suspense… the Duke of Danger… the Amazing Piccolini!”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy sent to me by the author.

Frankie and his super-cool imagination are back at it again. This time, however, his challenge is leveling up in Possum Scouts. He can’t seem to keep up with the badges and won’t get to level up with the rest of his troop. Unless… he can win the annual Pine Run 300.

He knows he can do it, and runs to the hobby store (which includes a hilarious diversion with a lawn gnome) to pick up supplies. He sequesters himself in his room — brushing off his dad’s offer of help — and creates… well… a creation. It’s not quite a car, and in a test run, it completely bombs. Only after his first attempt fails does he turn to his father for help. And in doing so, he discovers that not only is the impossible possible, it’s also kind of cool to do things with your dad.

Told with the same humor and creativity as the first Frankie Pickle, it’s sure to tickle the funny bone of any eight-year-old.

by Eleanor Davis
ages: 9+
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Meet Julian Calendar, your typical nerd. He’s the smartest in the class, a closet inventor. He’s also bullied, picked on, and generally maligned. So, when his parents inform him that they’re moving to a new town, and he’s going to have to start over, he jumps at the chance.

At first, he thinks everything’s going to be exactly the same at his new school, in spite of his hilarious, yet misguided, efforts to “fit in”. It’s not until he meets Ben and Greta and gets inducted into their super-secret science club — they’re all inventors of sorts, and they name themselves the Secret Science Alliance (or S.S.A.) — that he realizes that he has a place and a purpose.

And then the fun begins.

See, there’s this dork of an inventor, famous though he is, who doesn’t like children. And yet… it seems he’s stolen the S.S.A.’s invention notebook, and is actually building and taking patents out on them. It makes the kids (rightfully) angry, and it’s up to them to stop him, since no adult will believe them. The book, which is full of sly asides and notes about science and inventors, comes to a rollicking conclusion with our three heroes saving the day.

My only complaint is that it’s a bit cluttered for me, that there was so much in there it was almost hard to follow the narrative. That said, C adored the book. And you really can’t get a higher recommendation than that.

Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom
by Eric Wight
ages: 8+
First sentence:”I’ve been called a lot of names: treasure seeker, relic hunter, grave robber.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Frankie Pickle (aka Franklin Lorenzo Piccolini) is just your average adventurer. Rescuing cities from destruction by your evil robots. Battling lava monsters. Avoiding cleaning up his room. Nothing atypical here.

That is, until is mother decides that he should just not pick up his room. Who cares, after all? And thus begins a week in which Frankie gets his way… and discovers just how dangerous that can be.

This is a fun little graphic novel. It’s more graphic novel than middle grade book, though it does flip between the two styles. All of Frankie’s adventures — from Indiana Jones-style through to superheroes saving the day — are in comic book style, which really adds to the excitement. Sometimes, it’s better to draw than to describe, and this is one of those times. On top of that, it has a cute little message (hey, kids: clean rooms aren’t that bad!) at the end.

Loads of fun.

Outlaw: the Legend of Robin Hood
by Tony Lee/Sam Hart/Artur Fujita
ages: 11+
First sentence: “A moment, if you please!”
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I’ve come to realize that I have the same love of Robin Hood mythologies that I do for King Arthur. Either it’s because they’re medieval British guys or because they’re fabulously interesting myths that are open to some fascinating interpretations. I’m not quite sure.

At any rate, I was more than eager to pick up this graphic novel adaptation of the legend to see what Lee, Hart and Fujita have to add to the lore. And, for the most part, I thought it was okay. All the traditional elements were there: Robin was a former noble, home from the crusades, and turns outlaw to protest and protect his people from the evil that is the Sheriff of Nottingham. In this version, the sheriff is a bit of a lackey, and it’s Guy of Gisburn who’s the real heavy and bad guy. Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet and Maid Marian are all there playing individual roles. Little John has an expanded part in this, being the original outlaw and Robin essentially joins them.

Other than the first few pages, which show a sort-of Batmanesque origin story for Robin Hood, there wasn’t anything interesting done with the lore. It was the Robin Hood story, straight up no chasers. Which is all fine and good, but not exactly what I was hoping for. That, and the drawings bugged me. There was too much in shadow, and it was hard to tell who exactly was whom. By the time I had everyone straight, the story was nearly over. It was adventuresome, and there were moments of the sauciness that I love in my Robin Hood, but mostly it was melodramatic.

Not exactly what I was hoping for.

by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale/Illustrated by Nathan Hale
ages: 9+
First sentence: “I think of myself as a criminal mastermind… with an unfortunate amount of bad luck.”
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: January 5, 2010

Remember Jack from Rapunzel’s Revenge? No? That’s okay, because this is his story.

It seems that Jack has always had a knack for scheming. From the get-go, he’s been trying to find ways to swindle people. Sometimes, they deserve it, sometimes they don’t. Then… he decides to take on Blunderboar, the biggest (literally: he’s a giant), meanest guy in Shyport. Jack breaks into the tower (with the help of some magic beans), makes off with Blunderboar’s magic goose, and manages to accidentally kill a giant while chopping the beanstalk down. (Does all of this sound familiar? It should.)

Insert brief interlude, while Jack goes out west, meets Rapunzel and has adventures.

Then, Jack brings Rapunzel back to the city, where things have changed. Blunderboar has gotten more powerful, literally razing parts of the city as well as taking Jack’s mother into captivity. Along with a couple of new sidekicks, it’s up to Jack and Rapunzel to save the city.

I liked this graphic novel well enough — it’s the Hales, after all. But I really wanted to love it as much as I loved Rapunzel’s Revenge, and honestly, well, it’s not as good as that one. It wasn’t as funny — or, at the very least, the funny fell flat in my opinion. There was a wee bit of a love triangle, which also did nothing for me. And, while I thought it was a clever spin on the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale and I liked the action and mystery in the plot, there just wasn’t enough… oomph, I suppose, is the word I’m looking for.

But oomph or not, it’s a decent sequel to Rapunzel’s Revenge. And I can’t argue with that.

in Creepy Crawly Crime
written by Aaron Reynolds/Illus. by Neil Numberman
First sentence: “Life in the bug city.”
Review copy sent to me by the author, as part of a blog tourish-type thing.

I had this sitting out, intending to read it and A, my darling nearly 6 year old, asked if I’d read it to her. Honestly, I was a little suspect: it’s a bug book, a detective book, and I thought it wouldn’t be of any interest to her.

I was wrong; she loved it. It’s a graphic novel with something for everyone: noir humor and asides for me, pretty bugs for A to like (and ugly bugs for the boys), and a mystery for both of us to figure out.

Joey is your quintessential noir detective in the big city — a bit jaded, yet with a heart of gold. He solves all sorts of crimes, and is pretty much determined to eek out an existence by himself. Until Sammy Stingtail shows up in his office. Much of the slapstick humor comes from Sammy: when his long tail is not wreaking havoc in Joey’s office, the two are bantering back and forth about the “rules” of detective work. The “crime” is fairly simplistic — a butterfly comes in accusing one of her former friends of stealing her diamond pencil case out of jealousy. Of course there will be twists and turns, and the resolution is definitely age-appropriate. (No bug squashing here.) The world created is also quite clever: it’s a city, but everything was proportionate to bugs, and bug-themed. My favorite was the high-rise made out of a milk carton (I think; I’d check that, but my kids have lent out the book!).

The art is pen and ink, in various shades. Blue for night, sepia for daytime; I initially thought that the art would be distracting for A, but in the end, it not only enhanced the atmosphere of the book, it gave us good stopping points — when the color changed, we stopped.

The humor was a bit over A’s head, butoverall she enjoyed the whole reading experience. As did I. A strong start to a new series. I’m looking forward to the next one.

by Shaun Tan
ages: 11+
First sentence: “When I was a kid, there was a big water buffalo living in the vacant lot at the end of our street, the one with the grass no one ever mowed.”

Someone — Tricia? Andi? Heather? — wrote in a review I read recently that one doesn’t read Shaun Tan books as much as experience them. Which I totally have to agree with: this isn’t a book (it’s not even really a proper graphic novel; more like a grown-up picture book; it reminded me of a more sophisticated Stinky Cheeseman) as much as it is an experience.

I also wasn’t expecting this book after reading The Arrival. It’s got the same surrealness, but I wasn’t expecting, well, words. The stories were odd, to say the least, but that’s one of the things I like about Tan: he takes the everyday and makes it fantastic. There are fifteen short stories in this collection, and all of them sound quite ordinary — The Nameless Holiday, Alert by not Alarmed, Stick Figures, Eric, and my favorite, Distant Rain — and yet, there’s this element that turns it from the ordinary to extraordinary: the art.

As was evident in The Arrival, Tan is an amazing artist. Which is really why you should pick up this book: to marvel at the genius that is Shaun Tan.

Buy it at: Amazon, Powell’s, or your local independent bookstore.

by William Shakespeare/Illustrated by Paul Duffield
ages: anyone interested in Shakespeare

Since my on-line book group began reading a Shakespeare play every summer, I’ve struggled with the form. First of all, I think Shakespeare should be seen, not read, and I’ve found that just reading the text isn’t at all beneficial for me. I have tried watching movies and reading it at the same time (watch a scene, read a scene), and that works all right.

But now I have Manga Shakespeare! It’s like reading and seeing the play simultaneously: very helpful. (Actually in the spirit of full disclosure, I read the graphic novel once, read the introduction to the play in our Riverside Shakespeare, and then read the graphic novel again. And it worked beautifully.) I liked the drawings: it made it easy to figure out who was who, and even though I never quite got a grasp of the setting (it was this weird hybrid between modern and historical), it didn’t really bother me. I’m not one to comment on manga having never read it, but I do have to say that this was an excellent way to read the bard.

As for the play itself: I liked it. Reading the scholarly introduction helped, because it clued me in to the nuances of the play that I didn’t get the first time around (like why it ended the way it did). It’s a silly little play (not as funny as his comedies, though) with people wandering around the island, and a thwarted assasination attempt, fairies and sprites, and love at first sight (which was not as gag-inducing as many other love-at-first-sight plotlines).

Anyway. I’m not going to go out and recommend that you read The Tempest, but I will recommend Manga Shakespeare as a way to read the Bard. It’s really a very good way to access the plays.

Buy it at: Amazon, Powell’s, or your local independent bookstore.

by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
ages: 7+
First sentence: “The show is about to begin.”

Alysa said it was her favorite so far, and I have to agree. Totally. Completely. Awesome. (Especially if you love musicals.)

Babymouse is awesome no matter what she does… and in this one, she tries out for the school musical, getting the understudy part. LOVED the hedgehog Henry Higgins (yes, he’s British). He totally cracked me up. But the best part was that they (including the narrator, in a brilliant spoof of Modern Major General) kept breaking into song. The fun, for me, was identifying all the references to musicals (only two I didn’t get). Totally hilarious.

C loved it, too, especially the narrator. I’m not sure she got all the references — she hasn’t seen Grease or Phantom of the Opera — but she thought it was a fun book.

But what we’re both REALLY looking forward to is the next one this fall: Babymouse: Dragonslayer. Awesome.