adventure

The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw

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by Christopher Healy
First sentence: “Outlaws have too many feathers in their hats.”
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Others in the series: The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle
Content: There’s some kissing, a bit of violence (and almost violence), and it’s long for a middle-grade novel. It’d be in the middle grade section (grades 3-5) of the bookstore; don’t let the length fool you; it goes fast.

I don’t even remember what our Fair Heroes were doing at the end of the second book. But, honestly: it doesn’t matter. I fell right back into the silly stupidity (and I say that with all loving kindness in my heart) of this book, snorting and giggling as The League of Princes (and the Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters — or FFFF) try to save the Thirteen Kingdoms from Lord Rauber’s (who they thought they killed in the last book) evil plan to take over the world.

The point to the book, I think, is not the plot. Sure, there is a plot: The whole gang is branded as outlaws because they were supposed to have murdered Briar Rose (sure, she’s annoying, but they wouldn’t literally kill her. Only figuratively) so everyone’s on the run and trying to prove their innocence. But the point is for the guys to be dorky (ah, Duncan), the girls to be awesome (bonus: pirate captain Jerica! Double bonus: Gustav trying to flirt), and for super-silly jokes and asides (like the prisoner Val Jeanval. Get it??). Yes, it was stupid. But, I love it.

Full of action (and stupid jokes), and perfect for just about anyone who doesn’t mind a bit of fairy tale adventure.

Graphic Novel Round-up, May 2014

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Hilda and the Bird Parade
by Luke Pearson
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Content: It’s a bit intense at parts, with Hilda getting lost and some interesting monsters. But that’s it. It’s in the middle grade graphic novel section of the bookstore.

I don’t think this was a first in a series — googling Luke Pearson led me to a number of other Hilda titles. But it’s a perfect place to start. Hilda is a spunky, blue-haired girl who has been raised in the mountains before her mother moved them to Trolberg. Hilda doesn’t like the confines of the city, mostly because her mother never lets her go anywhere anymore.

Then, on the day of the Bird Parade, Hilda is invited out by some classmates. They take her to all of the (not-so) cool spots, but she bails on them when they start throwing stones at a raven. She rescues the raven, who 1) happens to talk, and 2) has amnesia. They wander the city and have adventures while the raven tries to get his memory back.

That plot summary doesn’t do Hilda any justice. It’s an absolutely adorable book. Sweet and fun, full of action and adventure as well as playing off of Norse myths (which seem to be the in-thing these days). I loved it, K loved it, Hubby loved it. I’m definitely going to get more Hilda books and see what other adventures she has.

Fairy Tale Comics
edited by Chris Duffy

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Content: Fairy tales, in their original form, are quite violent and weird. While this collection tones it down, there’s still some violence and weirdness. That said, K didn’t have any problems with it, though she didn’t “get” some of it. It’s in the fairy tale section of the bookstore, but I’m wondering if it’d get more exposure with the middle grade graphic novels.
Fairy tales are weird. (Or as the narrator in A Tale Dark and Grimm would say, “awesome”.) And what better way to showcase the weirdness than to get a bunch of illustrators to reinterpret ? different fairy tales in graphic novel form?
On the one hand, this is a terrific way to get reluctant/struggling readers interested in fairy tales. K picked it up, and thoroughly enjoyed perusing the pages, reading all the stories. Also, in its favor, there is a Japanese folk tale, a Br’er Rabbit story, and  tale from 1001 Nights, though it was too heavy on the Grimm for my taste. Even so, some of the tales were cleverly re-imagined — The 12 Dancing Princesses (Emily Carroll), Give Me the Shudders (David Mazzucchelli), Little Red Riding Hood (Gigi D. G.), and The Boy Who Drew Cats (Luke Pearson)  were among my favorites.

Others, though, were not as well done. Snow White (Jaime Hernandez) was just weird (then again, so is the fairy tale) and Rapunzel (Raina Telgemeier) disappointingly “borrowed” from Rapunzel’s Revenge/Tangled. I think I was also hoping for more of the unusual ones, Snow White and Rose Red or something from Hans Christian Anderson, or my favorite French tale The White Cat. It was very much, for the most part, the known tales retold, and while that was all fine and good, I was hoping for something… more.

The Lost Boy
by Greg Ruth
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Content: This has gone back and forth between the teen graphic novels and the middle grade graphic novels. It’s not as kid-friendly — it’s intense, and a bit difficult for the eye to follow — as some others we have in middle grade, but it’s a bit simplistic — it’s a straight-up fantasy-adventure — for teen.

When his family moves into a new house, Nathaniel Castle (just call him Nate) has no idea what’s in store for him. When, under a loose floorboard, he finds an envelope with his name on it next to an old-fashioned tape recorder, he can’t resist the odd message — Find Him — and the lure of a mystery. Little does he know that he will be dragged into solving a 50-year-old disappearance of a local boy, Walt, and be immersed in a world where dolls and insects talk, and a mysterious force called the Vespertine is trying to take over.

The art in this one is gorgeous: done in shades of black and white, it’s realistic, even in the fantasy elements. No cartoons here. And that gives it a seriousness that I don’t think the story would have otherwise had. It’s quite eerie and chilling in parts. That said, it’s also a straight-up adventure; the hero does win the day, with some help of his friend Tabitha, and all is happily-ever-after, even though there’s a slightly ominous coda.

I do hope Ruth writes another one, though. I’m quite fascinated by this world he’s created.

Explorer: the Lost Islands
edited by Kazu Kibuishi
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Content: There’s some weird stuff going on, but none of it is inappropriate for the younger reader. (K handled it just fine.) It’d be in the middle grade graphic novel section of the bookstore, if we carried it.

I picked this up solely because of Kibuishi’s name (why, yes, I AM waiting impatiently for the next Amulet installment) without knowing anything about it, or this series. (I guess it is a series, since this says Book 2 on it..) It turns out it’s a series of short stories from a handful of artists on a theme, this one being “islands”.

Like any other short story collection (see above!), it’s a wide range of stories ranging from the silly — a group of bunnies on an island who work until someone invents a robot that will do all of their jobs (but it has disastrous results) to the weird — Kibuishi’s Moby Dick-esque story or Chrystin Garland’s weird devil-party (I know there’s a term for this, but it’s escaping me. There were touching ones — particularly “Desert Island Playlist” from Dave Roman & Raina Telgemeir, that illustrates how the past, present, and future are all necessary in one’s life. Or “Loah” by Michel Gagne, which is a gorgeously illustrated story of how differences matter.

It’s a good solid collection, and it makes me want to hunt out the first one in the series to see what the theme and stories are. A great introduction, too, to a wide range of artists.

Mouseheart

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by Lisa Fielder, illustrated by Vivienene To
First sentence: “The young rat prince knew he was taking a monumental risk.”
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Review copy given me by our Simon & Schuster rep, via my boss.
Content: There are some mild scary parts, and some mild violence, but really, it’s quite happy in the middle grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

I have to admit that I was a little turned off by the cover. It just looks so…. I don’t know. Juvenile, maybe. Or lame, perhaps. But, either way, I was completely unprepared for the awesome found inside.

I do have to qualify the word “awesome”: if you don’t like fantasy or talking rats, you may not find this awesome at all. The thing is: usually I don’t either. I liked  The Tale of Despereaux well enough, and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH okay, but I didn’t like Redwall, and I have studiously stayed away from the Warriors series. So, talking animals, not exactly my thing.

But the story of a pet-store bred mouse, Hopper, who — ends up beneath the subways of Brooklyn in the sewers — got to me. Perhaps it was his insecure optimism that won my heart over. Or the fact that his sister, Pinkie, was a bully and my mom-sense (kind of like Spidey-sense) kicked in. Or perhaps it was that he found a civilization of rats underground that has a tentative peace with feral cats. Or maybe it was the prophecy of the Chosen One, and the complications that brings.

What I really enjoyed was the way that Fiedler had the rats interact with the human world. How they taught themselves to read, and how Hopper figured out the subway system. How they used cast-off items (and some scavenged ones, too) to furnish their world. It was fantastic.

Maybe, too, I was just in the mood for a straight-up fantasy adventure with talking rats and a mouse with a heart of gold. I didn’t know that I was, but I found I couldn’t put this one down.

Mark of the Dragonfly

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by Jaleigh Johnson
First sentence: “Micah brought the music box to her on the night of the meteor storm.”
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Review copy handed to me by one of my bosses, who told me to “get on it”.
Content: There’s some violence (none of it fatal), and a bit of an innocent crush. But no language. The reading level is probably a confident 3rd grader/4th grade level. It’s happily in the middle grade (3-5th grade) section at the bookstore.

Piper is a scrapper. She lives in a scrap town at the edge of the Meteor Fields, and runs out after storms, looking for salvageable items — things that have come through from other worlds to hers — in order to sell for pennies. She wants more from her life, especially after her father’s death in the Dragonfly Terrritories’ factories, but she doesn’t quite know where to start.

Then, after a particularly violent meteor storm in which her best friend, Micah, is seriously injured, Piper finds a girl. She’s not-quite-dead and bears the Mark of the Dragonfly, which means she’s protected by the king. Piper revives her, and when a sinister man (whom the girl, Anna, calls “the wolf”) comes looking for the girl, she and Piper escape. Only to find themselves on the 401, the main train connecting the northern Marrow kingdom with the southern Dragonfly one.

Once on the train, though, Piper’s and Anna’s problems don’t go away. They meet a whole host of characters and are being chased by slavers and raiders (and the wolf) on their quest to figure out who Anna is, and what Piper’s budding powers can do.

I know I didn’t do the book summary justice. I’m not sure, however, if anyone can. There’s a lot going on in this book. It does have things going for it: Piper is a complex heroine, stubborn and intelligent, a combination of drive and pluck that made her very likable. My only complaint is that Johnson chose to introduce a romance element (however slight) with a boy. I felt it was unnecessary to the whole story, and it didn’t add anything. However, I thought the relationship between Piper and Anna was incredibly well-written. It became a sisterly bond and one that was very realistic and interesting. And the world — from the objects falling from the sky, to the cool train — was fascinating. The book did feel incomplete — is it the first of a series? — and there were many threads left hanging, but it was a good, solid contribution to middle grade fantasy.

Five Kingdoms 1: Sky Raiders

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by Brandon Mull
First sentence: “Weaving down the hall, Cole avoided a ninja, a witch, a pirate, and a zombie bride.”
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Review copy downloaded from Net Galley
Content: There’s some intense action, but it’s pretty tame, after the kidnapping scene. And there’s a lot of talk about “liking” girls, but it’s pretty innocent. It’s happily situated with the rest of Brandon Mull’s books in the middle grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Cole is your average run-of-the-mill 7th grader in your average run-of-the-mill American suburban town. He has a crush on a girl, he has friends, he gets decent grades. Nothing spectacular. Then on Halloween, he and his friends go to a haunted house and end up slaves on a different planet. (Actually, his friends get kidnapped.. Cole goes down the hole after them, hoping to save them. And ends up as a slave.) The world is the Five Kingdoms, and Cole (and his friends) are on the Outskirts. And once you’re there, they find, it’s practically impossible to leave.

One of the best things about this new series by Brandon Mull is the world. The Outskirts is a fascinating place. Part magic, part dreams, part vicious, part insane; it’s a crazy, wild ride of a world. And while this one is basically your typical first in a series, introduction to the world book, the world that Mull creates is a fantastic one.

Cole finds himself sold to the Sky Raiders: a group of pirates that go out over the Brink — an endless chasm — and raids floating castles for anything they can sell. The thing is: the floating castles are dream-like, filled with semblences — lifelike beings that are somewhat sentient, but not entirely. They’re dangerous, and it’s Cole’s job, as the bottom of the totem pole, to scope out the castle, and make sure that it’s not dangerous before the raiding crew comes in. Their parting words before Cole’s first mission? Die bravely.

Of course it’s a bit more complicated than that; there’s a girl (there always is) who turns out to be something more than you think (again, kind of predictable). And there’s more adventure than you can shake a stick at, even though the plot kind of felt like one vignette after another all strung together. There is an overarching plot, and once we get to the point where the plot of this one begins to advance the overall plot, it loses some of the vignette quality. But the thing that kept me reading was the world. It really is that imaginative and wild.

The rest of it was good, enough that I’ll keep an eye out for the sequel. Which is a good thing, I think.

Ranger’s Apprentice: The Burning Bridge

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by John Flanagan
ages: 10-14
First sentence: “Halt and Will had been trailing the Wargals for three days.”

When we last left our determined Hero, Will, he had just killed off a couple of Big Bad Guy Morgarath’s bad beasties, and received a hero’s welcome home. But, this being War, he is not allowed to rest. While the army and Rangers — including stodgy mentor Halt — prepare for the impending battle, Halt, his apprentice friend Horace, and Ranger Gilan head for Celtica to see if the king there will come to Aruelian’s aid.

Of course things go badly wrong, and Gilan heads back to the army to warn the king, while Gilan, Horace and a stray girl they picked up, Evelyn, follow later. Except they get sidetracked, and find out what Morgarath’s really up to. And because Will is determined, and plucky and brave and resourceful, he is able to find a way — with Horace and Evelyn’s help, of course — to stop (or at least slow down) Morgarath. Unfortunately, while his resourcefulness is no match for the Wargals, he and Evelyn are captured by the Skandians (another country, this one run by sea raiders whom Morgarath paid to help him), and at the end of the book, they are hauled off.

All that said, this is a blast to read (aloud). Next in the Ranger’s Apprentice series, it didn’t have any of the problems with exposition that the first one had. It came out with a bang, and managed to keep up the pace pretty much (go Horace!) throughout the whole novel. C lost interest, but I don’t think it was the book — she’s been heading off to her room to read by herself rather than asking me to read aloud to her. I’m sad to see the end of it, but M hit that point, too, and we still get along. 🙂 I ended up finishing this one on my own, and have every intention to keep going with the series (on occasion, when I’m in the mood for a good fantasy-war-action-hero book) on my own. Maybe C will even pick them up and then we can talk about them. I’d like that.

Ranger’s Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan

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by John Flanagan
ages: 10+
First sentence: “Morgorath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, former Baron of Gorlan in the Kingdom of Araluen, looked over his bleak, rainswept domain and, for perhaps the thousandth time, cursed.”

After C and I abandoned our last book, we were fishing around for something to read next. M, being the promoter of All Books She Loves, began pushing for us to start the series. I admit that I had little interest in beginning it, even with the buzz it gets, and M’s high recommendation, but she piqued C’s interest, and so Ranger’s Apprentice it was.

Will is one of Baron Arald’s wards living in the Castle Redmont. He doesn’t quite fit in with his other wardmates — Horace, Alyss, Jenny and George: he’s the smallest, he’s the least sure of his future, and (probably most importantly), he doesn’t have any idea who his parents are. (The other ones, although they are orphans, have some knowledge of where they came from.) All Will is really good at is climbing, sneaking and pilfering… not exactly things that are conducive to one of the apprenticeships in the village.

So, when the wards turn 15, and are set to be apprenticed out to the various Craftmasters, Will has no idea where he belongs. That is, until a mysterious Ranger — the super seceret guardians of the Kingdom — decides that he wants an apprentice, and that Will is it.

The beginning of the book — the choosing and training of Will with his master Halt — is actually pretty slow. C would often complain that nothing was going on. Still, we both liked Flannagan’s writing, and his detailed descriptions. That, and the story would switch back and forth between Hoarce (whose training at the battle school was really quite torturous) and Will, which kept us entertained, even if C wanted to know what was going on with Alyss and Jenny. My complaint was that for a Middle Grade book, most of the action, decisions, and plot advancements were being done by someone other than Will or Halt, and I was starting to get in a snit about that. Why bother writing a children’s book where the children aren’t even the protagonists?

But, then, the action picked up. Granted, we had to wait until the final quarter of the book (but then, it’s the first in a series, so maybe the other books won’t be so slow in starting), but we both finally got our wishes (almost): the action picked up and Will did something major. (The only thing that we didn’t get was more on Alyss and Jenny…. but M assures us that they show up in later books.) It was very intense and exciting; we couldn’t wait to get to reading those nights.

And, we’re excited to move on to the next book, which says a whole lot. At least we won’t have to wonder what we’re reading next. For a while, at least.

Ranger’s Apprentice: The Siege of Macindaw

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by John Flanagan
ages: 10+
First sentence: “Gundar Hardstriker, Captain and Helmsan of the Scandian ship Wolfcloud, chewed disconsolately on a stringy piece of tough smoked beef.”
Release date: August 11, 2009

I haven’t read any of these books, but M is a die-hard fan. So, when Abby was doing an ARC giveaway, I knew I had to enter for her. And I (well, she) won! Because it was a bloggy thing, though, I felt kind of like I should put up a review, and since I wasn’t going to read the book, I thought it would be interesting for me to do a Q&A with M about it, instead.

Summarize the plot, but don’t give away the ending! In the fifth book, one of Will’s (that’s the main character) best friends, Alyss, is being held hostage by the evil Sir Keren, who is betraying the kingdom to Will’s country’s northern enemies. So, Will and his warrior friends plan a siege on the castle, Macindaw (hence the title), to save Alyss and the kingdom from their enemies.

What did you like most about the book? First of all: warriors and romance. Big, hulking, Viking-like people that are really stupid, but hilarious. Will’s mentor, Halt, makes the book really good, though you don’t see a lot of him. Will also makes the book really funny while he is seiging, with his romance problems. Hilarious.
What did you like least? That the good guys could do no wrong. Will’s ideas always worked. Horace (that’s the warrior friend) always killed his adversaries, and Alyss was a damsel in distress, which she wasn’t in the 5th book. She was resourceful in the 5th book, but, no, as soon as she’s caught and thrown in a castle, she’s a damsel in distress and Will has to go and save her.

Who is most likely to enjoy this book? Why? Well, actually, I’ve gotten three or four boys reading the Ranger’s Apprentice by saying “YOU’LL LIKE THIS BOOK.” So. Anyone with imagination who likes fighting (the romance doesn’t kick in until the sixth book).

What did you think of the main character? Will’s funny, resourceful, smart, and any other good word you can think of because he’s the main character and he has to be that way. Unfortunately. (And unlike Mr. Darcy.)

Any other particularly interesting characters? Horace — really fun guy, and a really good warrior. The Sorcerer of Mackindaw (can’t say his name). Really funny guy. I can’t say more, because it would give away a major plot point.

What did you think of the ending? I’m waiting for the next book. Hand it to me now.