This book won’t make math any less troublesome, but it might keep students interested in the subject matter. (And if it...
No one ever trusts their math teacher, which is why kids need to read this comic before their teachers can recommend it, because it’s a math book that actually is fun.
For maximum effect with readers, tell them the premise of the book is: Math can kill you. On the world of Gossamyr, math is a form of combat and a vehicle for magic. A little boy named Denny ends up in Gossamyr with his sister when he completes a theorem. He’s suddenly in a parallel world with flying boats and blue oxlions. Younger readers will want oxlions of their own, to keep as pets. Hard-core fantasy readers may be frustrated with all the clichés. There’s an honorable warrior, and there are outsiders trapped in a world that only they can save. But the characters cease to be clichés as soon as they start to speak. Denny can measure pieces of wood by sight, to the millimeter, and when his sister tells him, “It’s okay if they’re not exact,” he says, “No, it’s not.” Ellerton’s glossy, luminous panels have an airbrushed look that gives both world and characters depth and warmth.
This book won’t make math any less troublesome, but it might keep students interested in the subject matter. (And if it doesn’t, they’ll have something to think about during the lecture on equilateral triangles.) (glossary) (Graphic fantasy. 8-13)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9832161-6-2
Page Count: 132
Publisher: Th3rd World Studios
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-695-4
Page Count: 188
Publisher: First Second/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though classified as a graphic novelist, Delisle has claimed territory all his own as a graphic-travel memoirist.
Insightful, illuminating memoir of a year under a totalitarian regime.
In 2005-06, Delisle (Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China, 2006, etc.) accompanied his wife, who works as an administrator for Doctors Without Borders, to the country recognized by the United Nations as Myanmar. The United States and other democratic countries, however, still call it Burma, refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the military junta that seized power in 1989. As in the illustrator’s previous adventures in China and North Korea (Pyongyang, 2005), the focus is less on politics and more on the lives of the people he encounters—though such lives are profoundly shaped by politics. He comes to accept checkpoints and censorship as routine, and he does his best to find a suitable home, survive with intermittent electricity and Internet access and take care of his toddler son Louis, whose charm transcends cultural borders. The author also fears malaria, bird flu and poisonous snakes, though the DWB medical community provides more comfort than much of the Burmese citizenry enjoys. Delisle writes and illustrates a children’s booklet on HIV, an important contribution to a country in which heroin and prostitution are rampant. As in previous volumes, his eye for everyday detail combined with droll, matter-of-fact narration humanizes his 14-month experience in a country that might seem traumatic, even intolerable, in other hands. “There were no demands and no uprisings either,” he writes. “Things are always very calm here, thanks to a regime that creates paralysis by fomenting fear on a daily basis.” The undercurrents of Buddhism throughout the book culminate in his visit to a temple, where his meditation proves transformative.
Though classified as a graphic novelist, Delisle has claimed territory all his own as a graphic-travel memoirist.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-897299-50-0
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2008
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