In this slim anthology, two of Hans Christian Andersen’s timeless tales are visually reimagined and presented along with one original offering.
Hailing from France and Scotland, respectively, Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, collectively known as Metaphrog, have envisioned three dark fairy tales to make this slender collection. The first tale, Andersen’s "The Red Shoes," is rendered in a muted palette dominated by washed-out blues and punctuated by splashes of rust-colored red. It recounts the familiar tale of a young girl obsessed with a pair of scarlet shoes that causes her to dance without end, until she must cut off her own feet to quell their perpetual motion (depicted graphically but bloodlessly). The second, "The Glass Case," is an original, sepia-toned tale of a young boy who's beaten and unloved at home and who befriends a doll at a museum, eventually running away to be with her. The final piece is the well-known "The Little Match Girl," which uses austere, glacial grays to tell the story of a young girl fruitlessly trying to sell matches on a cold, bleak winter night. Similar panel sizes and layouts and a homogeneous tone throughout create a smartly cohesive and atmospheric collection, each vignette made distinctive by a carefully selected color scheme. This is a must-read for fans of Emily Carroll's Through the Woods (2014).
A darkly pensive read, perfect for chilly fall evenings. (Graphic fairy tales. 8-13)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62991-283-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Papercutz
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
Categories: GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS
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The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2019
Categories: GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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SEEN & HEARD
It’s been 42 days since the Monster Apocalypse began, and 13-year-old Jack Sullivan, a self-proclaimed “zombie-fighting, monster-slaying tornado of cool” is on a quest to find and rescue his not-so-secret crush, June Del Toro, whether she needs it, wants it, or not.
Jack cobbles together an unlikely but endearing crew, including his scientist best friend, Quint Baker; Dirk Savage, Parker Middle School’s biggest bully; and a pet monster named Rover, to help him save the damsel in distress and complete the “ULTIMATE Feat of Apocalyptic Success.” Middle-grade readers, particularly boys, will find Jack’s pitch-perfect mix of humor, bravado, and self-professed geekiness impossible to resist. His sidekicks are equally entertaining, and it doesn’t hurt that there are also plenty of oozing, drooling, sharp-toothed monsters and zombies and a host of gizmos and gadgets to hook readers and keep them cheering with every turn of the page. Holgate’s illustrations play an integral role in the novel’s success. They not only bring Brallier’s characters to life, but also add depth and detail to the story, making plain just exactly how big Rover is and giving the lie to Jack’s “killer driving.” The marriage of text and illustration serves as a perfect example of what an illustrated novel can and should be.
Classic action-packed, monster-fighting fun (. (Graphic/horror hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-670-01661-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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