Stickman Odyssey

Gr 5 Up—Inserting modern humor into Homer's Odyssey is a dicey proposition. So is converting it into a graphic-novel format. Ford does both in this first installment of his adaptations. The setup is simple. Zozimos, the King of Sticathia, is lost at sea and must find a way back to his kingdom. His journey is littered with narrow escapes and swordplay. Readers familiar with the original will know that the story is the very definition of epic. The number of locations, characters, and creatures is staggering. Compressing all of this action into this format would seem a daunting task. Ford handles the transition well, save for a few brief periods of confusion. The humor is often sarcastic and sometimes gross. While this is a plus for some readers, it may turn off those with more delicate sensibilities. The black-and-white artwork is pleasantly simple and clear. While stick figures are used, the look is not rudimentary, but smooth and accessible, and the layout is clean. A classic reworked for modern times, Stickman Odyssey shouldn't be the final word on this epic, but it will introduce the story to a new segment of readers and entertain them along the way.—Travis Jonker, Dorr Elementary School, MI