Category: Graphic Novel

The Stonekeeper’s Curse, by Kazu Kibuishi

The Stonekeeper’s Curse, by Kazu Kibuishi

Reason for Reading: My nephew loved this series 🙂

Genre: Children’s Fantasy Graphic Novel

Review
In this second book of the widely popular children’s graphic novel series Amulet (see the review for the first book here), Emily and Navin’s mother is still in a poison-induced coma, and the kids must journey to a dangerous forest to find the cure. They are led by a fox-man Leon Redbeard, who says that it is his job to bring them safely to a lost city of guardians. They are chased by the Elf King’s son Trellis, whose loyalties are questionable. This was a cute second book in the series – though the plot is still very childish and light. The kids (especially boys!) love it. 🙂



The Stonekeeper, by Kazu Kibuishi

The Stonekeeper (Amulet Book 1), by Kazu Kibuishi

Reason for Reading: Helping my nephew with his book report.

Review
When their father dies, Emily and Navin must move with their mother to a run-down house in the middle of nowhere – an inheritance from a great uncle they’ve never met. On their first night in the disturbing old house, their mother is  kidnapped by a gigantic squid-thing and the kids must rescue her with the help of a talking amulet that they’ve found in a dusty room. 

I read this because my nephew really loved it, and he’s a very reluctant reader. I can see why he liked it – there’s lots of pretty pictures and very few words. It’s a book appropriate for middle-graders both in vocabulary and in plot. It was a cute, fast read, and I’m sure I’ll read the rest in the series. However, it’s not a book that would appeal to me for any other reason than bonding with my nephew. The premise and plot are simply too unsophisticated to be of much interest to most older kids or adults. On the other hand, the book seems to be VERY popular with the younger crowd, and I highly recommend The Stonekeeper for reluctant readers. 

Chi’s Sweet Home, by Kanata Konami

Chi’s Sweet Home (Volume 1), by Kanata Konami 

Reason for Reading: I’m trying to encourage my 9-year-old reluctant-reader nephew to enjoy books more. I thought he might appreciate a graphic novel, and this one is appropriate for young ages. Plus, he’s been bonding with my young cat recently, so I thought he’d be able to empathize with Chi. 🙂 So far, he hasn’t read it – but he says that he will.





Review
Chi is a “newborn” kitten who gets lost in the big, scary world. She is rescued by the Yamada family, who aren’t allowed to have cats in their apartment. They search in vain for someone to adopt her, but eventually they fall in love with with Chi and decide to keep her. Chi’s thoughts, dreams, and fears are all displayed with adorable big-eyed drawings. I’d read this book within an hour of its arrival on my doorstep. I was sucked right in to Chi’s story because she reminds me so much of my own rescued kitten (both in appearance and attitude). Even if my nephew doesn’t ever read this book, I’m SO glad I discovered it. 😀

The Sandman – Preludes and Nocturnes, by Neil Gaiman

Preludes and Nocturnes, by Neil Gaiman

Reason for Reading: Group read on LibraryThing

Review
In this classic graphic novel, Dream (The Sandman) is captured by a sinister magician and remains trapped for decades. While he is gone, his kingdom falls apart and dreams on Earth are disrupted. I’m not very experienced with graphic novels, having only read Satrapi’s Persepolis before this, so reading Preludes and Nocturnes took some getting used to. But I’m glad I decided to climb out of my comfort-zone for a while – I was REALLY enjoying the book by the time it ended. Neil Gaiman’s mind never ceases to amaze me. He’s so darkly creative. There are a few issues I had with this book, though. I thought the tie-in to DC superheroes was a bit cheesy – though I recognize that this cheese was do to the development of the graphic novel as a genre. I hear these elements disappear later in the series to leave only the good stuff. 🙂 Also, I found one incident at the end of the book darkly depressing. It made me very sad to see the dark insides of humanity (as Gaiman and his illustrators see them)…but I guess my emotional reaction is exactly what Gaiman was going for. So, points to him. 😉 Overall, this was a promising beginning, and now that I am more used to the graphic novel style, I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of the series much more – after all, it’s only supposed to get better from here!

The Complete Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi

2012 Book 24: The Complete Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi (2/7/2012)

Reason for reading: I wanted to read a YA book with Muslims in it, though this turned out to be neither YA nor to have very much about the Muslim faith. But it was still enjoyable.

Personal note: I am currently reading The Landmark Xenophon’s Hellenika and I keep coming across the word “satrap,” which is the title of a governor of a provence in ancient Persia. So it was very amusing to me to come across the modern Persian name Satrapi. I feel like I’ve made a connection. 🙂

My Review: 4/5 stars
Persepolis is a graphic memoir about Marjane Satrapi, a young “modernized” girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution. Due to the trials of being an outspoken modern girl in this oppressive regime, she must leave her family and live alone in Austria to finish her education. There, she loses herself before finally coming to terms with her own identity. It was a heartbreaking memoir. The story and art were very dark, but humorous as well. I thought this book would be for young adults, but feel it would appropriate only for a VERY mature teenager. It has topics such as torture, rape, violence, and drugs. It was very educational about the revolutionary regime, though I don’t know how biased it is.