Flora & Ulysses

Flora & Ulysses
THE ILLUSTRATED ADVENTURES

Kate DiCamillo
Newbery Medal 2014

A fun book, whimsical and cartoony but poignant. A girl with divorced parents, and a distracted, disinterested mother, saves a squirrel from a vacuum cleaner and their adventures begin. Great vocabulary, some of it comic book creative, and parts of the story are shown in comic style panels. Good read aloud.

Hereville

... How Mirka Got Her Sword

Barry Deutsch (2010)

Entertaining and Educational! Learn numerous Yiddish phrases and all about the Sabbath while enjoying a cute story of a rebel girl and a magic pig.  And a troll. Who knits.

The website has interesting looks at the creative process as Deutsch readies the next book of Minka's adventures, including sketches and rough drafts.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist

by Hiromu Arakawa (2002-10)

 update: Whew! Finally finished the series. The last few books encompass the Final Battle so they are basically 90% cartoon fighting and explosions, but nothing graphic and good triumphs in the end. The coda is very well done, sweet and heartfelt without being corny. I've found a lot of manga too creepy, too YA, but the stars here are younger boys and they are working to save family and country while taking responsibility for their actions.

original post: Manga, so it took a bit to not turn the pages the wrong way, and get my eyes to focus on the correct corner to start reading -- read a lot of pages in the first 2 books multiple times... to add to my confusion, the library only had 4 of 6 books and one we're missing is #1!

All that aside, cool story, connectible characters (although Al is quite enigmatic until the flashback in book 5 literally fleshes him out), and several instances of life lessons (family, maturity, responsibility) thrown in to add some redeemable qualities. Battles and humor but literary devices as well, def recommendable for 10+ boys... maybe some of the plot will be hard to connect/understand, but there is so much in the sub-plots it's not a big issue.
 
Then again, it might have something to do with skipping a few books in the series...

Mouse Guard

by David Petersen (2007)

Medieval mice having battles and adventures -- themes of loyalty, courage, sacrifice, and beautiful art.  Some of the panels were a bit confusing in the beginning, and the mice have so very tiny eyeballs I couldn't find them sometimes, but those are minor quibbles.  A collection of the monthly comic Winter 1152 is out, as are other stories involving the fearless and fearsome mice.

The Dopple Ganger Chronicles: The First Escape*

*which tells ya right off someone's gonna get caught and have to escape all over again...

DG Chronicles #1 The First Escape

by G.P. Taylor (2008)


I think I ended up liking the premise for the book -- part graphic novel, part enhanced text/page layout -- itself more than the story, although at times I liked it less and then more than my final evaluation.  Got it?  Me neither...

Twin girls at an orphanage,  a myriad of mean adults, a spooky house, a brave cleaning boy comes to the rescue.  Lots of action, interesting characters and ideas, great art, strong message of the importance of family...

I'm not sure what it is about this book that kept it from really capturing me; it might be the shifts between the comic book pages and the text pages, or between the characters and settings as the story progressed.  Maybe the book is too glossy/showy and not enough depth -- the twin orphan girls are brats in the beginning, there are too many bad guys trying to do them in, and the potential hero is vague.  But again I do like the comic/book combo and it appears there are more installments coming, so I'd give the "Dopple Ganger" series another try.

connections: Coraline, Series of Unfortunate Events

Rapunzel's Revenge

Rapunzel's Revenge

graphic novel

fairy tale meets wild west meets grrrl power...

Deathnote

Deathnote (12 volume manga series)

Tsugumi Ohba/Takeshi Obata (2003)

I'm not a big violence fan, even in my comics; this does have a lot of frequent and indiscriminate murder, although mostly "off screen" and not graphic at all.  For older students it does raise questions regarding capital punishment, the battle of right vs. wrong, corrupt power, etc.  It's well done with twists and puzzles, interesting characters, and bits of humor.  The later issues tend towards inner monologues and less action.

Graphic Novels

I enjoy reading graphic novels and comics/comic strips; I think students should be taught to read them critically, just as they would a boring ol' book with no pictures -- why this layout, these colors? what does the facial expression or font style tell you about the characters?  Reluctant writers can create comic panels as a way of learning and practicing the elements of fiction and non-fiction writing.  Can you tell me a story using these images and/or can you tell me the story without the images?

The Wall

The Wall

by Peter Sis (2007)

nothing to do with Pink Floyd... an artist's story of growing up in Communist Czechoslovakia, the suppression of individual rights and the government's efforts at mind control... I found it strange that it's out now, 10-15 years after it would be more timely/relevant, and that it's designed like a children's story ("oh look Timmy, here's a pretty book about a baby suffering from ideological crimes")... but the art and the info inside is very cool, and it would be a nice quick companion to a history or art lesson... also talks about 60's rock and roll...

connections: Adolf, Anne Frank, The Giver, the Berlin Wall, contemporary government/race issues (E. Europe, Africa), artistic freedom of expression

Adolf: A Tale of the Twentieth Century

Adolf: A Tale of the Twentieth Century

by Osamu Tezuka (1995)*

A real graphic novel, not just a thick comic book... just started reading, son #1 found the whole series at the library and snagged 'em for me... serious war/race thriller/drama set in Japan and Germany, mostly 1936-45 (the chapter tacked on to the end showing the characters still fighting each other in the Middle East 10 years later was a little contrived...)

It's fictional, the search for and hiding of secret documents showing Hitler was Jewish, and a circle of Japanese and German characters that continuously stretch the limits of "Hey, it's you again, whatta small world!" but very realistic in the historical events surrounding WWII and the treatment of the Jews... the characters are very passionate and sometimes quite torn by twisted loyalties, such as the half German-Japanese boy who falls for a Jewish girl...

Interesting to talk about divided loyalties in a classroom, explore the different messages the students get from parents vs teachers vs coaches vs pop culture vs the playground... who do you listen to? who do you follow? how could you possibly know what is right?

from the introduction to book 5, by Gerard Jones:

(discussing the lies/reasons we have wars): "...Nation -- the deadly sentiment that an arbitrary and invisible political definition has some bearing on human relationships and is worth killing and dying for..."

Hmmm...

connections: Anne Frank, Number the Stars, All Quiet on the Western Front, the Middle East, Viet Nam war

*originally serialized/published in Japan 1983-85

Red Badge of Courage

Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage

adapted by Wayne Vansant (1895/2005)

The text is sometimes too late 1800's for basic readers, but the images keep the story flowly smoothly and clearly... appendix in the back shows some "behind the scenes" how it's done details, good for those kids interested in the art angle...

connections: Civil War, war, Brother Sam is Dead

The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey

Bestest graphic novel ever. Absolutely hilarious, even the parts I didn't get the first time and had to go back and read carefully, because I'm laughing too hard and can't read through the tears in my eyes and because I'm nowhere near as smart as Rabbi Harvey.

Autobiography of My Dead Brother

Autobiography of My Dead Brother

by Walter Dean Myers (2005)

National Book Award Finalist

Inner city boys, struggling to stay out of gang/crime life, unsure of how to stand up and act like a man, and unsure how art and music and childhood friendship meshes with the violent world they're faced with. Contains drawings and cartoons by narrator/1st person lead, a graphic novel feel. Music of gospel & jazz.

Worldview/Teaching Philosophy I need to work out: I think kids (and adults) of all race/culture/socio-economic backgrounds should read a wide variety of points of view, but not just to say "see, black people write books too..." or "some kids grow up this way..." -- I want to remind kids of the common bond they shared in kindergarten, the commonality of daily life that goes under skin color...

I'll have to come back to this...

Adolf Volume 3: The Half-Aryan

Adolf, The Half-Aryan

by Osamu Tezuka

I usually have quite the battle with the boys over limiting the comics/manga stuff they can read -- otherwise it might be all they read. I'm sure we'll have similar battles when they're older and try to drink light beer, and I take very seriously the father's responsibility to guide them and steer them towards the good stuff. No Budweiser for my boys, and no crappy comics either...

The issue with the manga art is of course the number of bare bottoms and pairs of frilly panties that appear every couple of pages, plus the fact that they need to check out 15 -20 books at a time just to read half the series! Are they churning this stuff out, or what? Anyway...

I checked this one out, and will go back for the rest of the story. There is some violence and the usual love story melodrama, but that's to be expected. The key is the WWII/Jewish persecution storyline, and how the young protagonists experience being thrust into the dangerous confusing adult world.

Explorations of worldview, questioning authority, cultural/religious differences, as well as how to tell a story in a different medium (or, when is a comic book not just a comic book?)...

connections: Maus by Art Spiegelman, Anne Frank, The Hiding Place, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad...