Best graphic novel I have read this year (but I can't be sure you'll like it.)

Vernon, Ursula (2013) Digger: The Complete Omnibus Edition Saint Paul, MN: Sofawolf Press. 


 My niece bought a graphic novel for my daughter.  It's called Digger and it is by someone called Ursula Vernon and I have never heard of it before or of her and that is a tragedy because she has written a masterpiece.  But the thing is, even though this is the best graphic novel that I have read all year (edging out George O'Connor's Aphrodite just barely), there is a good chance you might not like it.

I think I love it for a bunch of reasons, but one of the first is that it connects a bunch of my interests.  The main character is a wombat (I have loved wombats since I first saw one at Brookfield Zoo on a trip to Chicago when I was in grade school), he is an engineer (so is one of my best friends) , the story features intelligent trolls (the college where I teach has the troll as a mascot), and there are wonderfully bizarre characters like a slug that can tell the future by reading leaves, a medicine/woman/hag who is neither old nor hag-like, a shrew that thinks it is a troll, rats with wings, and a human guide who took the wrong herbal supplement and ended up with the head of a deer.  So that stuff might all be stuff I connect with and you don't.  But fortunately, that isn't all this book offers. 

The writing is brilliant.  In some sections she slips into first person narratives told through narration boxes with an incredibly strong voice to them (her writing skills are ridiculously well-demonstrated in one of the bonus stories in the back that describes a villager's interaction with Digger the wombat.  The point-of-view is close to the villager, which allows the reader to draw conclusions about that is going on even before the villager does.  But really, you would have to read it to really get a sense for it, but I think I can give you some idea with a couple of quotes taken out of context:

"Don't you know not to mess with a sleeping wombat?  We swing pickaxes for twelve hours a day.  We're like biceps with feet." (Digger, p. 23)

"He wants something, and I'll bet you diamonds to dolomitic conglomerates it's gonna involve us going back down that hole." (Digger 119)

"No one should have to explain cultural relativism on a queasy stomach, particularly since wombats aren't cultural relativists.  We know full well that some stuff is just wrong."  (Digger, p. 441)



The art is brilliant as well.  Vernon's work is very careful.  Every single line is necessary and conveys a great deal.  At times it looks almost like a woodcut.  Despite a minimum of lines, the expressions of the characters carry a ton of feeling and emotion.  Between the text and the image, you begin to really care for many of the characters (and intensely dislike some of the others -- though often your allegiance shifts as you get to know more about them.

Like in Jeff Smith's Bone series (or Lord of the Rings for that matter), Vernon masterfully weaves a world that is strangely both like and unlike ours -- but which is fully and completely believable.  Somehow an anthropomorphic wombat encountering violent fruit makes sense in the context of the tale.

 

Although this story first appeared in a bunch of different volumes, it hangs together when you read it all at once (though the omnibus edition is a little hard to read on the couch.  It is so huge you almost need a table to put in on).  It also has some powerful themes and ideas in it.  Vernon herself states the theme of the book as "If you are reasonably polite and reasonably intelligent and work very hard, you should win in the end".(807) but it seems to me that sells the book short.  It also deals with brokenness and the difficulty of making things right, about gender stereotyping and the stupidity of violence and how hard it is to figure out what is the right thing to do in some situations.  Also redemption, how strength is not based on size or muscles, and how people who seems insane makes sense when you know their backstory. 

Sounds interesting, you might say, but is it a children's' book?  Is it written for adolescents?   Honestly, I have no idea.  I think reasonably intelligent middle school and high school students would love this book.   There are three minor vulgarities that I noticed and there are some implied references to sex, but nothing graphic.  My guess is that Vernon wrote this book for people and not specifically for children  (just as Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings) -- but sometimes I think the best books in the world are like that. 

I have more to say, but really I want to suggest that if this sounds intriguing to you, you ought to buy the book.  I'll let Digger have the last word.

How a kid archoleogist found a fossil estimated to be two million years old

Berger, Lee R.; Aronson, Marc (2012)  The Skull in the Rock:  How a scientist, a boy, and Google Earth opened a new window on human origins.  Washington D. C.: National Geographic.




So this kid, Matthew Berger, is out hunting fossils with his dad one day in 2008 and he sees this tiny fossil of a human clavicle sticking out of a rock and he calls to his paleontologist dad and finds out he has not only found a fossil that might be 2 million years old, but he has also made a really important discovery for that field of study. 

This book looks at three things:  first, the life's story of that kid's father, Lee, and how his childhood interest in saving the gopher tortoise led to an interest in science, which led to a lifelong interest in fossil hunting.  The second part of the book is the story of this one particular expedition and what tools and evidence led Lee and his son Matthew to be in the right place to find the human skull that Mathew's find led to.  The third part de3als with what scientists have been able to learn from Lee and Matthew's find.  What is excellent about this book for young readers is that the connection to kids draws them in and before they know it, they are reading about how science gets done. 

The pictures, as in all National Geographic books, are illustrative, intriguing and utterly beautiful.  They get you inside of the hole in the rock where Lee found the rest of Matthew's ancient skeleton. They let you see what it was in the Google Earth pictures that led Lee back to that site. 

My fourth grade daughter is not exactly a science nut, but she found the book interesting and intriguing (I think the pictures helped draw her in).   I would say for third through middle school, this is a good one (though the picture book format may be off-putting to older readers.

New George O'Connor Graphic Novel! Aphrodite!

O'Connor, George (2014) Aphrodite: Goddess of Love.  New York: First Second.



There are some books that you are delighted to find when you stumble into them.  There are some books (usually by certain authors) that, when you see them, you grab them without even checking the back of the book for the story because you know this is going to be good. 

And then there are books you actively wait for. 

For me, that would be pretty much anything George O'Connor does -- and especially each new installment in his Olympians series.

And here is why:  George O'Connor does thorough research (in this book, his author's note identifies the source for a six-panel sequence at the back of the book in which Eros is stung by a bee and is convinced he is dying as a lyric poem called The Anacreontea -- which I have never even heard of).  And yet, O'Connor doesn't let the research usurp the story.  He does the research to find the pathways the story can move through, then selects the best story he can come up with.  In this case, we follow Aphrodite from her arrival on the shore of the sea, through Zeus's hasty marriage of her to Hephaistos, and then to the story of the golden apple, which seems to be leading up the Trojan War (I am guessing the next book will be Ares).  And without taking anything away from Rick Riordan, O'Connor doesn't need to update the old stories to give them extra zip -- instead he just tells the stories so well that they will absolutely grab you. 

And the art!  It is clear and dramatic and emotional and intellectual and absolutely right.  Before I read O'Connor, I thought of Zeus as having a big red beard (that's how Marvel Comics shows him).  O'Connor reasons that, since Zeus is a shapeshifter, he would pick a form more suited to wooing -- and his confident but dashing depiction seems perfect.  I like Hephaistos's boxy but earnest appearance and although I think a beardless eight inch mustache would look ridiculous on anybody who doesn't live in the water, it is perfect on Poseidon.  And O'Connor knows how to use panels to tell the story.  They are never cluttered but always detailed and I find with each reading I spot more than I did before. And O'Connor is able to draw people standing around in a way that seems filled with action (and when there really is action, the story sours).

Finally, somehow O'Connor is able to write an entire book about the goddess of love and neither shy away from the nature of her powers and interests, nor draw anything objectionable.  . 

I managed to wrangle and early copy and so I am not exactly sure when this book hits bookstore and library shelves, but you should pre-order or get in line or whatever you have to do because this is a great graphic novel.

Now I have to wait for the next one.  Sigh.

Excellent Graphic Novel (that you won't be able to use in school)

Siegel, Mark (2012) Sailor Twain: Or the Mermaid in the Hudson  New York:  First Second



This is a very interesting book.  Part historical fiction, part fantasy/fairy tale, it is an extremely engaging story about a troubled riverboat that is sort of haunted by an alluring mermaid.  This story has some interesting echoes of Shakespeare's Hamlet (including a boiler tender named Horatio who is the sole survivor of the destruction of the U.S.S. Elsinore) and other echoes of Huckleberry Finn.  The art is beautiful and otherworldly, the story is full of interesting twists, and Siegel's mastery of the graphic novel form allows the reader to quickly fall into the story.  There are themes here that high school students would enjoy discovering and talking about.

But it will never work in your classroom, so you might as well forget about using it.

Why?

Well, obviously, you can't have an authentic mermaid story without full frontal nudity.  And this isn't from a distance either.  The text is sprinkled with vulgarities.  There are some sexual situations and they are not handled with subtlety. There is no way this one would last for more than three minutes before it would be questioned, challenged, and pulled from the classroom.  And that is too bad, because, although in its current state it is really unworkable for even high school seniors, underneath all that it is a very interesting story.

Sherlock Holmes -- In love?

Naslund, Sena Jeter (1995) Sherlock in Love.  Boston:  David R. Godine.



Out of any high school class of thirty or so, a handful of students will be rabid fans of the BBC Masterpiece Theater show Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character (Cumberbatch is also the voice of Smaug the Dragon in the Peter Jackson Hobbit movies) and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson (Freeman plays Bilbo in the same movies).  Another handful of your students will be familiar with Sherlock Holmes through the movies starring Robert Downey Jr (who also plays, of course, Iron Man in the Marvel movies).  So if there was ever a time to get your students interested in reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original Sherlock stories, this is it (you can get an electronic copy of the stories for free on Kindle and other e-readers.)

But what do you do when your eager readers devour the two volume set of Doyle's work and still want more.  Well, happily there is a long tradition of pastiches, with excellent Holmes novels written by the likes of Nicholas Meyer (director of Star Trek Wrath of Kahn) and many famous and obscure writers (there is also a graphic novel adaptation of some of the original stories).

A good representative novel in that line is Sena Jeter Naslund's Sherlock in Love.  It isn't written as an adolescent or even a young adult novel, but it is wholly within the grasp of high school readers.  In this novel, Sherlock meets a violinist in a London orchestra and deduces that he is in fact a woman, cross-dressing to be able to play in the all-male ensemble.  Holmes falls in love with Victor/Violet's violin playing, intelligence, playfulness and then falls in love with what she looks like.  Soon he is pursuing her all the way to Austria, where he finds her in the clutches of Mad King Ludwig. 

It is a good and satisfying read for Sherlock enthusiasts, though there are some subtle references to King Ludwig's homosexuality (so subtle I missed them on my first read through) and some mention of Holmes use of cocaine (which at the time the stories were written, was not an illegal drug).  These are both very minor parts of the story, though.

Not a bad choice for high school and up. 

Another one of those journalism-based adolescent action books.

Winerip, Michael (2005) Adam Canfield of the Slash.  New York:  Scholastic.


Based on the title,  I honestly thought this book was going to be about a kid who was part of a rock band.  It isn't.  Adam Canfield is a typical over-committed middle school student who has somehow found himself as the co-editor of the school paper.  Actually, Adam loves reporting and he sort of gets along with his co-editor Jennifer.  But Jennifer is more of an organized, detail-oriented editor, and Adam is really a reporter who is interested in editing.  When a third-grader named Phoebe stumbles into a story that points toward corruption in and beyond their school, Adam and Jennifer find themselves having to learn to tiptoe very carefully around what they have found and what they can publish without getting in trouble.

There are three things I like about this book.  First, it is a gripping story that keeps the pages turning -- partly because the main characters seem always to be one misstep from disaster.  Second, the only way the book can work is that the characters are authentic and likable.  Adam is a good kid, but he is always running late and missing deadlines, usually through no fault of his own.  Jennifer is much more put together, and the two of them are a good team -- working together to figure things out. Phoebe is a nice addition to the mix.  She is earnest and dedicated but also insecure and nervous.  And though Adam finds her annoying at first, she eventually wins his grudging respect. Finally, I love that this is a book about kid journalists.  Language arts teachers will like the way the book reinforces the value of writing. 

There aren't a lot of deep themes here, but it is a fun book, and middle school kids will like it.

(Oh, and I should mention, there is exactly one vulgar word in the book.  It starts with A.  If you are teaching in a particularly sensitive school, you might want to know that.

Drama (the sequel to Raina Telgemeier's graphic novel Smile)

Telgemeier, Raina (2012) Drama. New York: Scholastic.



Raina Telgemeier's first graphic novel, Smile, told the semi-autobiographical story of a girl dealing with braces and learning what friendship is and isn't.  It is an engrossing story that has stood up to multiple readings by my fourth grade daughter. 
     The sequel, Drama is aptly named.  It is a story of a bunch of middle school kids putting on a musical and finding out how they fit in and are useful to that drama production.  It is also the story of the drama of middle school as boys and girls break up, get together, flirt, dream, are trapped in love triangles, and ultimately find far more drama than resolution. 
     The artistic style of this thing (see above) is certainly very well done.  The colors and images are not only engaging, but engrossing.  Fair warning, there is a gay character which may cause parental challenges in some middle schools. 
      And in the end, I feel conflicted.  The story is certainly interesting, and my daughters seemed to enjoy reading it, so it may be an excellent way to get kids reading.  In the end, though, my English teacher self was not particularly satisfied.  The book really is just drama.  None of the characters changes much.  In the end, it is kind of like a soap opera.  Relationships rise and fall, dramatic things happen, but in the end, we are kind of back where we started.  I guess I loved Smile because the main character escaped her unkind friends and found a safe haven of new friendships.  Drama isn't really like that.  Many of your students will love it, though.  Best for middle school readers.

Boring title, but a pretty interesting adolescent novel

Stanley, Diane (2011) The Silver Bowl.  New York: Harper


I cannot imagine any self-respecting middle school or high school kid picking up this book and, upon seeing the title, thinking "Excellent! I have always been looking for a book about a silver bowl!  Based on my interest in earlier books about golden knives and brass spittoons, I am sure I will enjoy this!  I wish there were more books about dishes!"

Yet, in fact, it is kind of an interesting book.  So this girl Molly is raised by an unloving dad who sends her off to the castle to find work as a scullery maid. She eventually makes some friends (though not at first, the kitchen is pretty harsh) and work her way up to being a silver polisher.  In doing that, she starts to hear voices when she is polishing this particular silver bowl and eventually finds that she can enter into the world of the scenes shaped into its sides.  In doing that, she finds out about a plot to kill the royal family and soon finds herself and her friend Tobius on the run from scary silvery wolves with an injured prince.  And it turns out that she is the only one who can break the curse and make the kingdom safe again -- but to do it she has to break into the captured castle and again enter the world of the silver bowl.  And, of course, there is a love story woven through the middle of it.

I don't think this one is going to make my top ten list this year or anything, but if you are looking for an interesting book to keep a voracious reader busy for a day or two, this is a good choice. 

Excellent Non-fiction Picture Books (Or, if you must, you can call them Informational Books -- but really, all books are informational.)

When I was a little kid, most non-fiction books were dull biographies.  Kids today are lucky enough to have a whole passel of informational books that also have good stories in them.  Here are a few:

Murphy, Jim (2012) The Giant and How He Humbugged America.  New York:  Scholastic.


On Saturday, October 16, 1869, a farmer digging a well in Cardiff, New York, came upon an astounding discovery.  He found what appeared to be a giant petrified human being.  It was over 10 feet tall and very detailed, with ribs, toenails and muscles clearly visible.   The farmer, a man called Newell, called upon historians, experts, and reporters, and soon a crowd was gathered around the hole.  News spread like wildfire and soon Newell was charging admission to the huge crowds that came to see the giant.  As the Cardiff giant's fame grew, he seemed to capture the imagination of the entire nation.

Too bad the whole thing was a hoax. 

I still remember when I first read about the Cardiff giant, in a SRA article (SRA was an ancient reading program -- sort of the 1970s version of Accelerated Reader) and how fascinated I was by it.  Murphy (who apparently wrote and illustrated this book) does an amazing job with the story.  The amount of text and vocabulary mean this book is probably ideal for second or third grade an up -- but it is fascinating stuff.  The illustrations are mostly pictures and illustrations from newspapers-- but they really give a feel for the excitement of the time. 

Murphy chronicles the exciting rise of the giant and its equally fascinating downfall.  This is an especially good book for kids who are already pretty good readers.






Kvatum, Lia; Pokrovskaya, Liya (2012)  Saving Yasha:  The Incredible True Story of an Adopted Moon Bear.  Washington D.C.: National Geographic



So the other day my daughter asked me why so many kids her age (she is in 4th grade) want to be veterinarians when they grow up.  I wasn't sure of the answer to that question, but I think it probably has to do with the fact that a high proportion of animals seem eminently huggable.
     Saving Yasha is the story of a profoundly huggable Moon Bear cub in Russia who was orphaned, cared for by scientists, and released into the wild.  Every page has a huge photo of an amazingly cute bear doing amazingly cute things.  Along the way, the text tells kids all sorts of interesting information about Moon Bears -- but it is the pictures that will keep them turning the pages.  The book does give a pretty good explanation of what bear researchers do -- which is bound to interest the child looking for an answer to the question of what they want to do when they grow up.
     This would be a great read aloud, but it is also the sort of book that second graders on up could read on their own. 






Hague, Bradley (2012) Alien Deep:  Revealing the Mysterious Living World at the Bottom of the Ocean.  Washington D.C.: National Geographic.



I sometimes forget that after I learned things in school, scientists and discoverers kept6 adding to that body of knowledge.  Somehow, when I turned my back for a couple of decades, scientists found out that around volcanic vents in the super deep parts of the ocean are bizarre thriving ecosystems including giant clams, hairy-armed crabs, and ten foot long tube worms.  And they have discovered these world by using robot submarines. 

So not only is this an amazing alien world reached by strange space-ship looking vessels, but it is all new knowledge that most grown-ups do not know.  Some of the text is pretty small and tightly packed -- but it is the kind of book where a younger student (say second grade) could read the captions are the first time through and maybe dig a little deeper the second time.  It is sort of episodic -- with a lot of smaller sections rather than a single narrative through line. 

Oh, and the pictures are remarkably breathtaking. 






Cole, Henry (2012) Unspoken: A story from the underground railroad.  New York:  Scholastic.



Okay, this isn't exactly non-fiction -- but it sort of is.  This is the story of a little girl who notices a runaway slave in her family's corn field and she gives him a place to stay (actually, I am not sure it is a him -- we see only the eye of the escapee.  The story is told solely through pictures and, for little ones, is perhaps best read first with an adult who can help make connections from page to page.  Soon, though, the child readers will be able to make connections on their own. 

It is a powerful story, and well worth reading (even though there aren't any words).  Here is one more picture.  Enjoy it, then go get the book.

Graphic Novel for Girls

Torres, J.; Bone, J. (2010) Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures.  Toronto:  Tundra Books.



In all honesty, when I was a little kid I wasn't very discriminating about what comics I read.  In my cousin's cottage there was this huge drawer in a desk in the living room that was filled with Donald Duck comics (mostly from the Carl Barks years), some superheroes (Superman, Batman, and an early Avengers), Hot Rod Magazine, Mad Magazine, and lots of Archie comics.  As I grew older, I started to get sick of the Archie ones first.  I think that was partly because the Donald Duck stuff involved these crazy trips through time and to bizarre islands and other countries.  The superhero ones were exciting (though frustrating because I never knew what happened before or after the individual issues I had access to).  But the Archie ones had the same characters, the same jokes, and essentially the same stories.  Nothing ever changed.   

Alison Dare seems to be made up of equal parts Donald Duck (exotic locations) superheroes (exciting stories) and Archie (nothing really ever changes.)   Alison is the daughter of two archaeologists.  In the first story, while on a dig in the middle east, Alison finds a lamp, with a genie, and soon she and her two friends are  she and her friends are deep in trouble.  The second story, set back in the states involves an evil mastermind getting the better of the Blue Scarab, and Alison having to save the day. 

This graphic novel fills a void.  There are not a lot of good GNs for 3rd through 5th grade girls.  This book is fun and exciting -- but don't look here for character development or themes of abiding interest.  It is just a fun little ride.

 

Quirky Graphic Novel (maybe mostly for girls)

Hartman, Rachel  (2002) Amy Unbounded, Belondweg Blossoming.  Wynnewood, PA:  Pug House Press.


      This is Amy of Eddybrook.  Amy lives in a medieval village community with her family.  Her age is unclear but she seems to be entering adolescence.  It is a little hard to explain what this book is about.  There is political intrigue between the queen and the guilds and Amy's father and other members of the community.  There is a love story involving a dragon who takes the form of a monk and is forbidden from caring about humans.  Most of all, though, the story is about Amy as she goes through puppy love and idealized love and finally starts to become comfortable with the annoying boy next door (who turns out to be a much funnier and more caring person than she thought).
     So this is not a quest story that unites the kingdom against an evil foe.  This is not a princess story about a street urchin who rules the kingdom.  It is certainly not a Disney story about two beautiful people who finally get together in spite of adversity.  Look at the picture of Amy above.  Amy is normal looking.  She has a big nose.  She sometimes says awkward things.  She has no special talents.  Sometimes she blunders through life a bit, like we all do.  It is a normal story about normal people.  So this isn't a fillet mignon of a book.  It isn't a lobster thermidor.  This is more of a shepherd's pie kind of a story, or a casserole kind of a story.  Amy Unbounded is kind of like comfort food.
     This is also not destined to become a classic piece of literature and I very much doubt it will end up making anyone's top ten list of excellent stories.  The art is competent, but not breathtaking (black and white -- mostly line drawings).  But if you are looking for a graphic novel about a strong female character who doesn't look like a Disney princess, you might want to check out this graphic novel.

Non-fiction Picture Book about Dinosaurs! (Just sayin')

Fern, Tracey; Kulikov, Boris (2012)  Barnum's Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World  New York:  Margaret Ferguson Books




This is the amazing story of the dinosaur hunter, Barnum Brown -- who first discovered Tyrannosaurus Rex bones.  The focus here is on Barnum who from a young age was interested in geology, and how he eventually travelled the world finding dinosaur bones.  The pictures are exciting (though I wish they showed more about the dinosaurs sometimes).  Still, this would be a great book for sparking children's interest in paleontology. 

Though older kids might enjoy reading it, it seems best suited for kindergarten through second grade.  

What if William Shakespeare had Written Star Wars?

Doescher, Ian  (2013) William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope  Philadelphia: Lucas Books




It starts like this:

C-3PO:  Now is the summer of our happiness
              Made winter by this sudden, fierce attack!
              Our ship is under siege, I know not how.
              O hast thou heard?  The main reactor fails!
              We shall surely be destroy'd by this.
              I'll warrant madness lies herein.
R2-D2:  --Beep, beep.  Beep, beep, meep, squeak, beep, beep, beep, whee!
C-3PO:  We're doomed. 
              The princess shall have no escape this time!
              I fear this battle doth portent the end
              Of the rebellion.  O!  What misery!

Now I am certain that not everyone reading this is either a Star Wars nut or a Shakespeare nut.  And I suppose even fewer of you are both.  So let me break this down for you:

If you are a Star Wars Nut but not a Shakespeare nut:  Buy this book immediately.  You will find it hilarious and you will discover that the once-impenetrable Shakespearean language is suddenly clear as a bell and funny as well.  I am not sure why I find it so delightful when Biggs says, "But Luke, at that quick pace shalt thou escape/ Before thy speedy ship is blown in twain?" and Luke replies "'Twill be like Beggar's Canyon back at home." 

If you are a Shakespeare nut but don't care so much about Star Wars:  Buy this book immediately.  This book may be your one chance to be able to absorb the details of Star Wars without having to watch the movie.  Besides, you will be the sort of person who will get the joke when Artoo speaks directly to the audience and explains that he speaks in beeps and whistles because he has been ensorcelled, and explains how he really feels about Threepio and the others.

If you don't really like either one, but you teach students who like one or the other, buy this book for them. Your students and their parents will love you for it.

If you like both, you probably aren't reading this any more, you are probably riding your bike to your favorite independent bookstore or taking public transportation to your local library.  Good.  When you get back and finish reading it, let me know how much you liked it.