Created by Peter H. Reynolds’s media studio, FableVision, this heavy-handed graphic novel depicts a predictably multicultural bunch that starts a band and works despite their differences. Punky Vita yearns for fame and, with the help of her brother Pablo, who works in a hospital researching drugs, decides to follow her true calling. A well-placed sign leads to the formation of Zebrafish, a band made up of Vita, darker-skinned, overweight Plinko, skinny Jay, aloof, artistically gifted Walt and his sister, Tanya, who is suffering from leukemia. This quintet ultimately wants to use their music and art to make the world a better place. The group—so tritely composed they could have sung backup for a certain large purple dinosaur—displays little genuine personality. On a positive note, those who relate to the do-gooder message will be delighted that a portion of the proceeds benefits the Children’s Hospital Boston; otherwise the overall story lacks any real cohesion, tending more toward the didactic than dynamic. An odd and stultifying mixture of bland and saccharine. (Graphic fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: May 4, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-9525-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
The quest to find a cure for her poisoned mother sets young Emily to battling not only minions of the evil Elf King but also the enticements of the power-hungry magical amulet that has fallen into her possession. Taking up the tale where he left off in Book 1: The Stonekeeper (2008), Kibuishi contrives to fill spacious, cleanly separated sequential panels with nonstop and (usually) easy-to-follow action, lots of sound effects (SZRAK! FWOOM! TOK! SZRAK! FWOOM!!!) and, around Emily’s human family, a large cast of colorful characters from shark-toothed elves to a grove of ancient, sentient Gadoba trees. Low on gore but high on fights, flights and scary monsters, the episode hurtles along like the mighty blasts of magical energy that emanate from Emily’s amulet. By the end she has her mother back, but a Mission has emerged to keep her in the otherworld realm of Alledia. Stay tuned. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-439-84682-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2009
Sala usually aims his pulpy gothics at older teens and adults, but here he tries for a younger audience. The art is far more finished than the sketchy plot. Trained since childhood by Fagin-esque Mother Claude to be a thief, teenage K. is dispatched to a supposed girls’ school in a creepy mansion surrounded by dark woods and, along with a trio of fellow “students,” breaks into three nearby houses to steal paintings that contain clues to a pirate treasure buried nearby. Filling in the back story requires so much explanation that swollen dialogue balloons nearly fill some of the cartoon panels, but the contrast between the hulking and misshapen adult nogoodniks in the cast and the four slim, leggy teens adds retro charm to a tale well stocked with menacing characters, mysterious voices, rococo hazards and atmospheric shadows. Expect sequels. (Graphic fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59643-144-7
Page Count: 126
Publisher: First Second/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
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