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MEGA AWESOME NOTEBOOK

A funny, thoughtful, original, and eye-catching tale about a young artist: terrific all around.

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In this graphic novel, reality is altered when a high schooler’s notebook doodles come to life.

An unnamed high school student nukes his breakfast pizza on a Styrofoam plate, mistakenly placed on top of his wire-bound notebook. This releases “a micro-radioactive cloud of awesomeness” that mutates and connects molecular structures. At school, the teen takes his notebook and draws a basic cartoon figure, which becomes sentient and possesses a will of his own: “Are you drawing me? TRIPPY!” Dud (the figure’s eventual name) prods the boy throughout the school day to use his creativity in a series of drawing challenges. While the teen’s work does become skillful and complexly imaginative, he fears he’s going crazy and tries to banish his creation. But Dud returns for some adventures. More importantly, he gains access to the student’s most secret fears and feelings, as embodied in drawings that exist in a “forbidden” part of the notebook. Especially taboo are sketches that express the teen’s pain over his parents’ divorce and their emotional unavailability. “I’m not going to lie to you. That stuff is pretty crappy,” Dud acknowledges, but ignoring problems, he says, is worse. The boy can always make art but now understands he can include it as part of a healthier engagement with the world. Kevin Minor, who has collaborated on two children’s books, writes a beautifully conceived and executed story that both describes and enacts the power of the imagination. The Minors’ accomplished graphic style encompasses both traditional full-color comics that make effective use of the panel spaces and dynamic pencil work that expresses Dud’s vivid personality. Many episodes are hilarious, as when Dud faces Poe-derived dangers during English class. Such humor and artistry alone would be entertaining, but beyond that, the novel’s emotional intelligence makes it truly compelling.

A funny, thoughtful, original, and eye-catching tale about a young artist: terrific all around.

Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-7643-5694-0

Page Count: 112

Publisher: Schiffer

Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020

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ALICE IN WONDERLAND

This too-ambitious graphic adaptation of the beloved childhood tale falls extremely short of the mark. In this reworking of Carroll’s great tale of whimsy and imagination, readers will be transported to a very clumsy, wonder-less Wonderland. Though Helfand hits most of the memorable points in the original story—the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the caterpillar, the Cheshire cat—the combination of the awkward art with text proves to be distracting. Nagulakonda’s maladroit art is ultimately this adaptation’s weakest spot; the strained, rough-hewn faces are nothing short of disconcerting. Alice’s face, in particular, is troubling in many panels, looking pained or vacant instead of possessing a look of wonder at her curious surroundings. The clunky adaptation and clumsier art will leave its readers cold. Given these flaws and comparing it to the development and sophistication of many of the graphic novels currently available, this feels like an amateurish work in desperate need of refinement. (Graphic classic. 9-12)

Pub Date: July 20, 2010

ISBN: 978-93-80028-23-1

Page Count: 72

Publisher: Campfire

Review Posted Online: June 2, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010

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BURMA CHRONICLES

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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