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I came across this trailer recently and surprised myself at how emotional I became. It's not like I cry at all movie trailers. And in fact, I wasn't crying because of the trailer; I was crying because it is the absolute end of the Harry Potter reign. While Rowlings' books will live forever (and the movies) and probably become classics for my grandchildren, there will be no new adventures--no more Harry Potter and gang acting brave and foolhardy. Continue reading →

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Well, everyone, it's down to two in The Boys Rule Boys Read Book Series Tournament. Without further adieu, let's see who our two final combatants are:


Right Side Game:


The Harry Potter Series (seed 1) 14 pts.

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I wouldn't go back to my pre-teen and teenage years if you paid me.

For my first piece of evidence, I give you

Stuck in the Middle
edited by Ariel Schrag
Viking, 2007
review copy compliments of the publisher
2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee

The subtitle is "Seventeen Comics from an UNPLEASANT Age." That pretty much sums it up. Want to remember what middle school was like? Read this book. It's just as bad as you remembered.

Next, we have

Dead High Yearbook
by Ivan Velez
Dutton Books, 2007
review copy compliments of the publisher
2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee

Apparently, before this yearbook goes to press, there are eight more stereotypical teens who need to die (or become undead, as it were). The bloody finger prints on the edges of the pages are a nice touch -- heh, heh. (Please tell me they are part of the book design...)

Two more have a light at the end of a tunnel. One for boys

Blindspot
by Kevin C. Pyle
Henry Holt and Co., 2007
review copy from the library
2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee

This coming-of-age story reminds me just a little bit of BLACK SWAN GREEN by David Mitchell. The main character makes it out of the woods (literally) in the end.

And for the girls, a story of a "spiky," unstereotypical girl -- a Korean-American martial arts champion who gets sideswiped by hormones and almost loses her way. Almost.


Re-Gifters
by Make Carey, Sonny Liew, Mark Hempel
DC Comics (MINX imprint), 2007
review copy from the library
2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee

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Two graphic novel versions of Beowulf have been nominated for the Cybils.



Beowulf Monster Slayer: A British Legend
story by Paul D. Storrie, pencils and inks by Ron Randall
Graphic Universe/Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
2007





Beowulf
adapted and illustrated by Gareth Hinds
Candlewick Press
2007






Storrie's version gives the reader a good introduction to the Beowulf legend. True to the Graphic Universe series, it comes with a map on the title page, and a column of background information on the copyright page. At the end of the book, there is a glossary/pronunciation guide, suggestions for further reading, including websites, and an index.

The language used in the story has a slightly formal sound, but is not difficult to understand. There is a good combination of speech bubbles and narrative text boxes that carry the story along. However, for the less able reader, the story holds together if you simply "read" the images.

The Hinds version includes an author's note about the text. The book was originally self-published with a verse translation, but the Candlewick publication used a 1904 translation. This makes for a much more difficult read. The text in the Hinds version is all in text boxes (no speech bubbles), often very awkwardly placed on the illustrations so that text covers characters' faces or key parts of the action. It looks like the book was drawn with no thought of integrating the text into the action. The fight scenes are the strongest pictorial narratives in this version -- they go on for pages without any interruptions of text.

Here are a couple of comparison points for the two books:

Grendel is a hairy beast in both. In Storrie's version, Grendel wears a loin cloth. In Hinds' version, Grendel's private parts are disguised by long serpentine hairs.

In the Storrie version, the first fight with Grendel, in which his arm is pulled off by Beowulf, lasts three pages. In the Hinds version, it goes on for 20 pages.

Beowulf's mother is old in both versions. In the Storrie version, she is clothed, and looks like a monster who has aged, but is still a force to be dealt with. In the Hinds version, she has pendulous, old-woman breasts, a gigantic fat belly, and, like Beowulf, serpentine pubic hairs. Her face is deeply wrinkled, and she looks like she is definitely past her prime as a monster. She cowers when Beowulf beheads her.

Both books take Beowulf's story through his time as king, his fight with the dragon, and the passing of his leadership to Wiglaf, ending with Beowulf's funeral pyre. In the Storrie version, each phase of Beowulf's life is a chapter. In the Hind's version, the phases are Books One, Two, and Three. Visually, Book Three, the fight with the dragon and the end of Beowulf's life, looks like it does not belong with the rest of the book. It is done in greys and black, the font of the text boxes ranges in size and style with no discernible reason, and the art style is very different from the rest of the book.

In the end of both books, Beowulf is an old man. In Storrie's version, he is old and grey, but with a full head of hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and the same smooth, strong muscles he had as a younger hero. Hinds' version gives us a more realistic view of what an aged superhero might look like. His Beowulf is balding on top with long stringy hair and a spade-length beard, he has a wrinkled, liver-spotted, and warty face, and he has ropey veins sticking out all over the muscles of his arms. He's a wreck, and the fight with the dragon was clearly his last.

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Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
illustrated by Sonia Long
Amulet Books, 2007
2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee

Library copy. Due today. No renewal possible, which means someone has it reserved. I hope the person who has it renewed is a high school student who desperately needs to read Shakespeare in manga in order to access and comprehend this play. Better yet, I hope the person who has renewed it is a high school English teacher who is gathering all possible versions of Romeo and Juliet in order to meet the needs of every learner in her/his class.

It is what the title says it is: Romeo and Juliet in manga. The setting is present day Tokyo, where two teenagers, Romeo and Juliet, fall in love. Their rival families are still at war. But Romeo is a rock idol, and Juliet is a Shibuya girl (a Japanese "Goth Valley Girl"). Tybalt is tattooed with dragons and Mercutio has dredlocks. Friar John and Friar Laurence are Shinto monks.

Shakespeare's exact words are in speech bubbles rather than lines of poetry, while the story is played out in the classic conventions of manga (as defined by Scott McCloud in his book MAKING COMICS): the iconic characters with simple emotive faces; a strong sense of place; frequent use of wordless panels that prompt readers to "assemble scenes from fragmentary visual information"; small real world details; "various emotionally expressive effects such as expressionistic backgrounds, montages and subjective caricatures"; and "subjective motion -- using streaked backgrounds to make readers feel like they were moving WITH a character, instead of just watching motion from the sidelines."

If you think you know Shakespeare, you must check this out and think again. If you want to know Shakespeare, you should check this out because it will give you a different way into the canon of English Literature. And if you need to know Shakespeare for the test on Monday, this seems like a much better way than CliffsNotes to get a unique understanding of the story.

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The Plain Janes
by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
DC Comics
Copyright 2007

2007 Cybils Nominee




There are three main plot lines in this graphic novel for teens.

1. The main character, Jane, is walking by a cafe in Metro City when a bomb goes off. Her parents are afraid to live in the city, so they move to the suburbs.
2. As the new kid at Buzz Aldrin High, Jane consciously negotiates the cliques. She refuses to join the "cool girls," and yet when she sits at a table of outcasts, she finds herself in the unique position of being an outcast of even the outcasts.
3. Jane writes letters to another of the bomb blast victims, a young man known only as John Doe who has been in a coma since the blast. Jane saved him, picked up his "Art Saves" sketch book, put up posters of him to try to learn his identity, and visited him in the hospital. She takes his sketch book with her when her family moves to the 'burbs.

These three plot lines twist together to form the story of how Jane wins over the outcasts and turns them into the most popular group at Buzz Aldrin High. She involves the girls (another Jane, Jayne, and Polly Jane -- hence the Plain Janes of the title) in secretly creating public art installations/events/attacks that are claimed by the group P.L.A.I.N.: People Loving Art In Neighborhoods (hence the Plain Janes of the title).

Lo and behold, art does save -- it saves all of the Janes and gives them a powerful girl gang that helps them come to terms with high school cliques in their own unique ways.

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CHICAGO--Will Harry Potter triumph among critical bloggers? Will novels banned in some school districts find favor online?

With 90 volunteers poised to sift through hundreds of new books, the second annual Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards launches on Oct. 1 at http://www.cybils.com/. Known as the Cybils, it's the only literary contest that combines both the spontaneity of the Web with the thoughtful debate of a book club.

The public's invited to nominate books in eight categories, from picture books up to young adult fiction, so long as the book was first published in 2007 in English (bilingual books are okay too). Once nominations close on Nov. 21, the books go through two rounds of judging, first to select the finalists and then the winners, to be announced on Valentine's Day 2008.

Judges come from the burgeoning ranks of book bloggers in the cozy corner of the Internet called the kidlitosphere. They represent parents, homeschoolers, authors, illustrators, librarians and even teens. (AND A COUPLE OF TEACHERS, TOO!!!)

The contest began last year after blogger Kelly Herold expressed dismay that while some literary awards were too snooty--rewarding books kids would seldom read--others were too populist and didn't acknowledge the breadth and depth of what's being published today.

"It didn't have to be brussel sprouts versus gummy bears," said Anne Boles Levy, who started Cybils with Herold. "There are books that fill both needs, to be fun and profound."

Last year's awards prompted more than 480 nominations, and this year's contest will likely dwarf that. As with last year's awards, visitors to the Cybils blog can leave their nominations as comments. There is no nomination form, only the blog, to keep in the spirit of the blogosphere that started it all.

See you Oct. 1!

For further info:
Anne Boles Levy
anne (at) bookbuds (dot) net

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Poetry Panels have been announced.

Franki is judging. Go Franki!

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