A worthy, faithful companion to the prose novels.
A graphic novel adaptation of the Monsterjunkies YA adventure.
Talon and Pandora Monsterjunkie use their mansion in Foggy Point, Maine, as a sanctuary for rare and endangered creatures. In their care are the pituitary giants Frances and Betty, a pygmy elephant, a sea monster, and a sasquatch named Beau (among many others). The Monsterjunkies keep their lives as cryptozoologists private, fearing that the outside world might exploit or turn violent against them. Yet the Monsterjunkie children, Crow and Indigo, have the normal teenage desires to fit in and have friends. Talon and Pandora bring a few creatures to the kids’ schools for show and tell, dispelling some of the mystery shrouding the family. Indigo befriends a girl named Winter, and Crow eventually hits it off with a trio of classmates after they sneak onto the Monsterjunkies’ property (only to be terrified by Beau). Later, when a group of bullies picks on Winter, Crow and his friends are drawn into an escalating prank war. The lead bully, Ruth, is encouraged by his rich and powerful father, who’s busy using connections to run the Monsterjunkies out of town. Can the family rise above the prejudice of a hateful minority? This graphic novel adaptation by Jay Fotos Studios is delightfully faithful, in spirit and dialogue, to the original material. The art presents wide-eyed, smiling characters who skew fairly close to those found in Archie comics. The color palette is mostly subdued greens and browns, except for bolder colors that help the creatures jump from the panels. Shein and Gates’ important themes of standing against bullies without stooping to their levels and battling homophobia carry over from their novel. There’s also an anti-smoking and -drinking message, as Ruth and his evil father indulge frequently. For the wrap-up, the authors rely on realistic solutions to the Monsterjunkies’ problems—like Talon working less and being more available to Crow—which keeps the characters identifiable (and admirable) to readers of all ages. Fans will surely welcome a follow-up adaptation.
A worthy, faithful companion to the prose novels.Pub Date: March 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-615-99015-6
Page Count: 82
Publisher: Red Anvil Comics
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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