Graphic Novel Roundup
By Steve Weiner -- School Library Journal, 12/1/2004
| Whooo's the Wiser? | Epic Proportions | Instant Dharma |
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Owly: The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer by Andy Runton presents two charming wordless stories about a young owl in search of companionship and adventure. Owly forms fast friendships with a worm and a pair of hummingbirds. But when it's time for his feathered friends to migrate south for the winter, Owly is disconsolate. He's cheered when he learns that they will return in the spring. As the book closes, Owly and Wormy see the hummingbirds flying home. Runton's artwork is warm and poignant, and the black-and-white illustrations fit the story perfectly. Owly is especially appropriate for preschool children. In fact, it contains a very important lesson for young children: although people sometimes go away, they often return. And since Owly is a small book (5" x 7"), it will fit easily into a child's tiny hands. PreS-Gr 1. Owly: The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer. Runton, Andy. Top Shelf Productions. 2004. $10. ISBN 1-891830-62-7.
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Cartoon Books, the publisher of Jeff Smith's award-winning fantasy series, Bone, has done it again. Bone was originally published as a series of separate black-and-white graphic novels, but Smith went back and smoothed out the small inconsistencies in the stories and Cartoon Books has released the entire saga as Bone: One Volume Edition. Arguably the longest graphic novel ever written (1,343 pages), the one-volume edition stands alongside other first-rate fantasies, such as Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Neil Gaiman's Sandman, not only for its ample heft but because it stretches the traditional fantasy story by adding original characters, humor, pathos, adventure, and drama. What's Bone's biggest drawback? It's too bulky to read on the subway and fit into your pocket. Gr 3 and up. Bone: One Volume Edition. Smith, Jeff. Cartoon Books. 2004. $39.95 ISBN 1-888963-14-X. |
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It's not unusual for Osamu Tezuka's illustrations to blow his many admirers away. Tezuka is the creator of Japanese manga, the art form that infuses so much energy into today's comics. Tezuka's works range from the playful (Astro Boy) to the serious (Adolf: A Tale of the Twentieth Century), and his visual style continues to inspire many Japanese graphic novelists. In Buddha, Tezuka presents a masterful interpretation of the young man's life, in much the same way that novelist Herman Hesse captured the spiritual seeker's early days in Siddhartha. Tezuka's cartooning style moves inside readers' heads as well as on the page, as he re-creates the life of the young Siddhartha. Vertical (www.vertical-inc.com), a publisher that specializes in bringing Japanese books to American readers, has translated Tezuka's masterpiece into eight gorgeous black-and-white volumes. To help you get started, here are the names of the first four volumes. Gr 9 and up. Buddha, Volume 1: Kapilavastu. Tezuka, Osamu. Vertical. 2003. $24.95. ISBN 1-932234-43-8. |
| Author Information |
| Steve Weiner is director of the Maynard Public Library in Massachusetts. He is coauthor (along with N. C. Christopher Couch) of The Will Eisner Companion (DC Comics, 2004). |
