Graphic Novels

Avatar: The Last Airbender By Gene Luen Yang & Illustrated by Gurihiru

The Search: Part 1 

Publisher: Mike Richardson

ISBN: 9781616550547

Aang is a young man who is the avatar.  The avatar is the master of all four elements: earth, air, water, and fire.  His once enemy, now friend, Lord Zuko of the Fire Nation longs to discover why his mother Ursa disappeared when he was a child.  The first part of The Search portrays Ursa's youth and her forced marriage to Zuko's father.

The Search: Part 2

Publisher: Mike Richardson

ISBN: 9781616551902

Lord Zuko's unstable sister, Azula, joins her brother, the avatar Aang, waterbender Katara, and boomerang holder Sokka in the search for their mother.  Azula has flashbacks to her troubled childhood with her mother.  They find themselves in a forrest where a spirit appears, but Azula begins to attack the water with her lightning.  She thought that she saw her mother in the water.  They meet an elderly couple, who are seeking the spirit.  The spirit grants one person every year a new face.  Ang uses his avatar powers to enter the spirit world to find him.

The Search: Part 3

Publisher: Mike Richardson

ISBN: 9781616551841

When the group encounters the spirit, named the Mother of Faces, the elderly woman asks her to give her husband a face.  Before she gets her request out, Azula demands to know if she granted a wish for a woman named Ursa, which she did.  With this information, Azula goes to hunt her mother.  To find out the ending, please read this three-part series.

Rating:

The Avatar: The Search trilogy deserves a BIG SMILE.  These graphic novels are a continuation of the television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender.  These stories talked the unknown truth about the disappearance of Lord Zuko's mother Ursa.  The story contains continuity from the series.  The characters maintain their spunk, charm, and personality.  The art is breath-taking.  The reader can feel the movement and direction of the illustrations, which bring them to life.  It is easy to tell the difference between the story line and flashbacks, because the flashbacks have a sepia tint.  It is easy to get immersed in the story and identify with the characters feelings.

Poetry

Harlem By Walter Dean Meyers with Illustrations by Christopher Myers

Publisher: Scholastic Press (1997)

ISBN:  9780590543408

Harlem paints the picture of immigrants coming to America to achieve a better life.  They are told Harlem, NY is the place to be free from their chains.  This culturally diverse city comes alive with words; which describe their singing, dancing and colors.

Rating:

I give Harlem a BIG SMILE.  It was an easy to read poem, that created rich cultural imagery of the urban Harlem.  It shed a new light on this city that I haven't seen before.  It seems to be from the viewpoint of a child, which made it more straightforward.

Jim from Cautionary Tales by Hilaire Belloc with Illustrations by Edward Gorey

Publisher: Templegate Pub (1998)

ISBN: 9780872432345

Jim is a little boy, who ran away from his nurse.  He had good friends who brought him all types of treats and read him books.  When his friends brought him to the zoo, he unfortunately was eaten by a lion.

Rating:

I give Jim a LITTLE SMILE.  The language is simple and very appropriate for children.  There is rhyming at the end of each line, which is pleasing to read and lyrical.  Right under the title, it says that Jim was eaten by a lion, which ruined it for me.  Since the actual context of the poem does not state that Jim was eaten, there is no gory explanation.  Although, there is no imagination to how the poem ends, since it's spoiled at the beginning. 

Binker from Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne with Illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard

Publisher: Puffin Books (1992)

ISBN: 9780140361247

We follow a little girl, who has a friend named Binker.  She plays with him when no one else has the time and he's always around.  The only downside is that her mommy and daddy cannot see Binker, because he's imaginary.

Rating:

I give this poem a BIG SMILE.  This is a nice reminder that it's normal for young children to have imaginary friends.  This little girl seemed like an only child.  She adores her mother and father, but they are busy.  So, she turns to her imaginary friend to keep her company.  They can pretend to be whoever they like, and Binker can be whoever she needs.  There isn't always rhyming, but the repetition of her mother and father keeps a familiar beat. 

Historical Fiction

The Red Badge of Courage By Stephen Crane

Publisher: Dover Publications Inc. (1990)

ISBN: 0486264653

We meet a young farm boy named Henry Fleming.  His mother threw every excuse in the book for him to not join the infantry, but he did it for the glory anyways. Once on the battle field, he realizes that war isn't what he thought it was.  He and then other cavalrymen painfully wait day after day to hear any advancement in their plans, while gossiping about what they heard.

Rating:

I give The Red Badge of Courage a LITTLE SMILE.  This rating is more subjective for me because I found this story hard to read.  There definitely is an expectation of knowing military background knowledge and 1800s vernacular.  I do think this would be a great historical perspective read to those who enjoy war-based books, but it was a little much for me.

Train to Somewhere By Eve Bunting & Ronald Himler

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers (2000)

ISBN: 978-0618040315

We follow a little girl named Marianne and her journey on the orphan train.  She is deemed undesirable of all the orphans, and stop by stop she watches the other orphans get adopted.  She copes with the thought that at the next station, she will be reunited with her mother.  

Rating:

Train to Somewhere gets a BIG SMILE even though it is a sad story.  This perspective taught me about the orphan trains, something that I did not know about.  Though I am relieved at the end when Marianne is adopted to a loving family and is not left alone as an orphan.

NightJohn By Gary Paulsen

Publisher: Delacorte Press (1993)

ISBN: 0385308388

A plantation owner named Waller buys a new slave named John.  One fateful night, he goes looking for some tobacco and all he has to trade is learning how to read.  A 12 year old girl named Sarny is intrigued and takes him up on this offer.

Rating:

NightJohn deserves a BIG SMILE.  Honestly, I would give it a mega smile if my scale could reach.  I could not put this book down.  It's a first person account from a fictional girl named Sarny.  It is an emotional journey from Sarney being excited about learning the alphabet to Waller punishing John and Mammy for hiding this from him.  Waller said that is was illegal for the slaves to learn how to read and write.  **Spoilers**  So Waller chops off each of John's middle toes as punishment.  Two days later, John actually escapes and says he will be back.  Waller becomes enraged that his dogs cannot find his slave for the first time.  Then John comes back late in the night and brings Sarny to his school to teach her the rest of the alphabet.  I loved this book because John was dedicated to teaching slaves how to read and write in order to tell their accounts of the atrocities that they face.  In this book we encounter raping for breeding, escapes, brutal deaths, and hope.  It displays the perspective of slave life and how awful it is to treat humans in this way.  The inside cover depicts how Gary Paulsen meticulously researched his facts in order to write this story, and the quality truly shows.

Informational Texts

Climate Change: A Hot Topic By Dan Green

Publisher: Kingfisher (2014)

ISBN: 9780753471760

Climate Change is a child sized book, which reminds me of a board book in size.  It discusses many aspects of climate change, but in simpler terms for a middle school child to understand.  The book begins by explaining concepts, such as the sun, land, and the ocean.  Then, they discuss why each is important to maintaining homeostasis.  Then Climate Change goes to discuss each of the green house gases and their effect on the Earth.  Finally, the last chapter gives examples of ways that people can decrease their carbon footprint to preserve our Earth.  Examples include Geoengineering (catching carbon dioxide and reducing the sun's heat to Earth) and renewable energy.

Rating:

I give Climate Change a BIG SMILE because it is a very important topic.  This book did a great job of incorporating factual material, yet making it easier to understand for a younger audience.  It is a lengthier book, but is broken down into chapters to read periodically.  There are cartoon pictures that go with each description to make it more visually appealing.  The text is not overly wordy.

Frogs By Seymour Simon

Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books (2015)

ISBN: 9780062289124

Frogs discusses the different types and lifestyle of frogs.  Their life begins as tadpoles that feed off rocks, their yolks, or plants in the water.  Their gills develop into lungs and they metamorphosis into having arms and legs.  They generally live in slow running water to stay in one area.  When it comes time to reproduce, the male attracts the female through it's croaking call.  From there the eggs are laid in the water and fertilized by sperm and the life-cycle restarts.  Frogs contains much more detailed information that is very interesting.  

Rating:

I give Frogs a BIG SMILE.  The text is easy to read and gives explanations of bigger words, such as exothermic.  This is very informative about the life and types of frogs, but I would not say it's all inclusive.   I feel that the amount of information is appropriate for a younger audience and is not overwhelming.  The font is large and has pictures on every page.  The pictures are high definition photographs that extenuate the facts given. 

Families Around the World By Margriet Ruurs

Publisher: Kids Can Press LTD. (2014)

ISBN: 9781894786577

Families Around the World is from the perspective of a child.  There are fourteen children, each from a different country,  The backgrounds are very diverse,  One example is Nkoitoi from Kenya.  In the morning he helps his family by gathering water and firewood to make food.  Their pet is a goat, unlike an American pet.  They are taught from home.  The aunt teaches how to read and count, while the mother teaches them skills like basket weaving.

Rating:

This title deserves a BIG SMILE!  I love cultural diversity, and this book exemplifies diversity through the child's perspective.  This book reads like a children wrote each story.  The stories are short yet rich with information.  At the end, the author prompts the reader to think if they identify with a story from the book.  Examples include having one parent or both of the same sex, or living in a different country than you were born, or live with extended family.  I think this book not only introduces different lifestyles to children, but shows how similar they are.  

Fantasy

Star Wars: The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight By Tony Diterlizzi

Publisher: Disney (2014)

ISBN: 9781484706688

We meet a young man named Luke Skywalker from the desert planet of Tatooine.  Two robots are sold to his father as workers, named 3CPO and R2-D2.  A message was emitted from R2-D2 of a captured Princess Leia, who said "Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi, you are my only hope."  He thought of an old man named Ben Kenobi and showed him this message.  Luke accompanies Obi-Wan on an adventure in space, where he finds out (SPOILER ALERT!) Leia is his sister, and the villain Darth Vader is his father.

Rating:

I give Star Wars NO SMILE.  I am a huge fan of Star Wars, which guided my interest in reading this book, but it is episodes 4,5, and 6 condensed into a picture book.  There is a lot of text per page, and no explanation of the characters.  The plot jumped from one place to another, and plainly felt like you were rushed through the story.  I must say the illustrations are breath-taking, but quite doesn't make up for the plot. 

Art & Max By David Wiesner

Publisher: Clarion Books (2010)

ISBN: 978061875663

We meet two lizards, Max and Art.  Max stumbles upon Art painting another lizard and asks to join.  So Max begins to paint Art, then a mad Art makes him remove the color.  To do this, Max uses a vaccuum cleaner to blow it off.  What happens is a colorless Art, who only has his outline left.  Then Max pulls apart his outline, with no more Art!  Max begins to put him back together, and finishes him with blowing the color back onto him!  What results is a colorful art, who is inspired to paint objects now.

Rating:

I give Art & Max a BIG SMILE!  I loved the concept of being able to remove someone's color and pull them apart.  It was a new way of characters interacting with their environment in an abstract way.  The text is simple with a few words on each page and the art is fantastic with a realistic look. 

Zombie in Love by Kelly DiPucchio

Publisher: Anthem books for Young Readers (2011)

ISBN: 9781442402706

Mortimer is a zombie, who is very lonely.  His only friends are worms and his dead dog.  He had no luck with the ladies, so he put a personal ad in the paper.  At Cupid's Ball, a couples dance, he waited for a mystery girl to answer his ad.  He waited all night long and when midnight crept up, he was discouraged and went to leave.  As he was walking out the door, a zombie girl named Mildred arrived.  They fell in ghoul love, and lived happily every after.

Rating:

I give Zombie in Love a BIG SMILE.  This story was so cute, full of zombie puns.  The story would read that he gave a girl a ring, but then the picture would have him offering a ring with a dead finger attached.  It does not have too much text, and the watercolor pictures fit the theme perfectly.

Realistic Fiction

Horrible Harry and the Drop of Doom By Suzy Kline

Publisher: The Penguin Group (1998)

ISBN: 0670858298

It's Song Lee's birthday and she invites her second grade friends to an amusement park, that has a Halloween theme.  They all gossip about the elevator drop ride called the Drop of Doom.  This makes Harry sick to his stomach, since he has a phobia of elevators ever since he got stuck in one.  After all the teasing, Harry finally finds himself at the ride.  Quickly, the ride is over and he realizes that he loved it!

Rating:

I give this story a BIG SMILE.  The text of the story read as is though these were actual children stalking.  I enjoyed the Korean Cultural incorporation.  Song Lee's mom brought a traditional Korean food, kim-chi, that the children loved.  Though I could hear her accent as I read.  It was that generic Asian accent.  I wasn't sure if it was a hint of racism, or just an innocent accent.  None the less, I found the book enjoyable that had a lesson of over-coming your fears.

Bears Beware By Patricia Reilly Giff

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books (2012)

ISBN: 9780385738897

At an assembly one day, Mitchell learns that he will be going to the Zigzag Nature center.  This field trip was planned by the art teacher, Mrs. Farelli.  Mitchell was dreading the trip the whole time, because of thoughts about all the unknown animals and bugs.  When he was searching for his friend Habib, he ran into another friend Angel.  As Angel was talking to Mitchell, a mysterious car pulled up.  Mitchell saw his friends walk up with a box.  Unbeknownst to him, it was a birthday cake!  They all surprised him on his birthday a day early.  What a great way to celebrate.

Rating:

I give this story a BIG SMILE.  I feel that I experienced Mitchell's fear of the unknown while camping.  He kept saying to himself "Bears beware."  He thought a bear could destroy their tents and leave them helpless.  This is another great story written in the perspective of children.  It was helpful to see on the inside overs, that each character was drawn and labeled.  That helped to create a visualization of the story.

The Great Hamster Hunt By Lenore Blegvad

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace, & World Inc. (1969)

ISBN: None

A little boy named Nicholas wanted a hamster, but his parents simply refused.  To his enjoyment, his friend Tony was leaving town and needed someone to watch his hamster.  Nicholas was ecstatic and took very good care of the hamster.  The last day, when he was cleaning out the cage, Nicholas dropped the glass siding, which smashed into a million shards.  He temporarily used a piece of cardboard, but in the morning a hole was chewed through.  The hamster was lost.  Searching all day without luck, his mother went to buy a replacement.  When they got home, it was night.  Nicholas remembered that hamsters are nocturnal and he should be waking up.  Nicholas heard the pitter patter of the little nails and found Tony's hamster.  His parents let him keep the new hamster, which made him a very happy boy.   

Rating:  

I give this title a LITTLE SMILE.  It was a cute book, but beside the stress of losing the hamster, it made me lose interest from time to time.  The parents were nice yet stern, but it was hard for me to believe that he lost a hamster and his parents had to buy a new one and they weren't made.  This book was published in 1969, so I could tell it was dated, since not many people have a phonograph in their home anymore.

Traditional Tales

The Legend of the Panda By Linda Granfield

Publisher: Tundra Books (1998)

ISBN: 0887764215

The story begins in China, a shepherdess named Dolma takes her flock of sheep to the mountainside.  A white cub befriends the flock, and grazes with them every day.  Unfortunately, a snow leopard attacks the cub and Dolma leaps to his protection.  She passes away from the attack and the whole village mourns.  The cubs cover themselves in ash in mourning, everywhere they touch is stained black.  

Rating:  

I give The Legend of the Panda a little smile.  I enjoyed the art, containing realistic representations with rich texture.  This Chinese tale tells of the selfless sacrifice of the shepherdess and the pandas who mourn her, but is a little weird for the American reader.  After Dolma dies, her sisters do not want to live without her. So the mourning mountain they are standing on crumbles and the women fall inside to their deaths.  That ending was too melancholy for me.  From that, I also think the ending is not entirely appropriate for the child listener/reader.  

The Magic Horse of Han Gan By Chen Jiang Hong

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books (2004)

ISBN: 1592700632

Han Gan grew up as a poor boy in China, but he loved to draw horses.  One fateful day, he met a great painter who saw immense potential in Han Gan.  This allowed him to go to a great art academy, where he honed his talents for drawing horses.  The legend is that a warrior came to his home, and asked him to paint him a horse.  When the horse did not come to life, Han Gan threw his picture in the flames in disappointment.  The mighty horse lept from the flames, and fought with the warrior.  All the deaths made the horse sad and disappeared.  When the warrior returned to Han Gan's home, they discovered that the horse returned to a painting on the wall.

Rating: 

This book gets a BIG SMILE.  The art is reminiscent of the real Han Gan's art style, which is painted on silk.  It takes the reader back to ancient China, over 1200 years ago.  The story displays the love a man has for his craft and his dedication to it.  It is an exciting story for the imagination and those who enjoy ancient Chinese legends.

Cinderella By K.V. Craft

Publisher: Sea Star Books (2000)

ISBN: 1587170043

A girl named Cinderella was left with her wretched step mother and step sisters after her father's passing.  She went into the woods and found a wounded bird, who she mended back to health.  While she was out there, she met the prince, who she fell in love with.  The next night, she stayed at home while her step sisters went to the prince's ball.  The bird that she cared for appeared as her god-mother and granted her wish of going to the ball.  There she had the most marvelous time with the prince, but had to scurry home at midnight to hide her identity.  She left behind her glass slipper, which the prince promptly picked up.  He went around his kingdom searching for the owner of this shoe.  When it was Cinderella's turn, he recognized her from the woods and wanted to get married immediately.  They lived happily ever after...

Rating:

Cinderella deserves a BIG SMILE.  This classic fairy tale brings me nostalgia from the Disney movie that I watched as a child.  The illustrations look very medieval, with the text on a separate page.  The story is easy to follow at any age.  The lesson that I took at the end was to forgive those who were mean to you, and this makes you a better person.

Picture Books

Sleep Book by Dr. Seuss

Publisher: Random House Inc. (1962)

ISBN: 0394800915

Sleep Book begins with Van Vleck, from the county of Keck, who has a yawn that everyone gets.  This yawn makes the whole town sleepy and we see how different creatures get ready for bed.  After going through all the different kinds of sleepers, Sleep Book ends with the reader that needs to shut off their light.

Rating:

Sleep Book deserves a BIG SMILE!  Dr. Seuss books always have such a delightful rhyme that makes the book song-like.  The alliteration, "moose juice, not goose juice, is a juice for a moose," makes the reading fun and silly.  The book is wordy, but I think it plays into the theme of putting the reader to sleep.  The rhyming and alliteration are pleasant to the ear.  By the time the end of the book is reached, the reader feels relaxed enough for bed.

The Ladder by Halfdan Rasmussen

Publisher: Candlewick Press (2006)

ISBN: 0763622826

The Ladder belongs to a carpenter, who walked straight up into the sky.  The ladder got board and went exploring, which lead him to a band, an old man, police, and some animals.  They all disappeared at the top of the ladder in heaven.  When a storm came around and lightning struck, this caused everyone to return again.

Rating:

I give The Ladder a little smile.  The pages of the book unfolded in different directions, causing elongation of the ladder and continuation of the story.  Also, the ending of every sentence rhymed giving a nice flow to the reading.  Periodically, the sentences took a different shape, such as going sideways when the ladder was sideways.  I thought that was cute.  When the book elaborated that the people that went up the ladder and disappeared in heaven, it confused me.  Before the end of the book, as an adult reader, it made me think that these people died.  That left a weird eerie feeling.  When I finished the book and all the people returned, I assumed heaven was meant to be a tangible place for the people to go for children.   

I'm Dirty by Kate & Jim McMullan

Publisher: Joanna Colter Books (2006)

ISBN: 9780060092931

We follow a backhoe loader truck during its messy day cleaning up garbage and moving things.  When the backhoe loader has all the trash together, everything gets dumped into the trash container, making lots of noise.  When all the jobs are done for the day, the backhoe loader treats its self with a mud bath to finish the dirty day.

Rating:

I'm Dirty gets a LITTLE SMILE.  The art style is different from most books that I have read.  It utilizes a spray paint method, which adds to the dirty look of the book.  The words are jumbled and not in a neat order, but there are complicated words like hydraulic and loused.  The book seems aimed at pre-school aged children, which would make those words out of their decoding range.  This book also has the words of the sentences go in the direction of what the sentence reads.  For example, the words go downwards as the backhoe loader goes down the ramp.  There is also a great learning experience with counting incorporated, while it is cleaning up items.  

Decodable Books

Did It Fit? by Robert Charles

Publisher: Learning A-Z

ISBN: None

Did It Fit? covers the short vowel sound.  We meet a pig, a dog, and a little boy.  They each try on a hat to see if it fits.

Rating:

I give Big NO SMILE.  It is a simplistic book, but it's not interesting.  The characters only put on hats.  I think that there could be more intriguing ways to showcase the short vowel sound.  The illustrations were cute, but not enticing as well.

The Mutt and the Bug by Cheryl Ryan

Publisher: Learning A-Z

ISBN: None

The Mutt and the Bug focuses on the short u sound.  The mutt meets a bug who wants a hug, then meets a cub who also wants a hug.  

Rating:

This story gets a LITTLE SMILE.  There is a little bit of a progression in the story, but there is no ending.  The last page is of the cub asking for a hug.  It bothers me that I do not know whether or not the cub got its hug.  There was a word with a short 'u' sound in each line of the book, which lead to great practice.

The Kind Knight by Susan Hartley

Publisher Learning A-Z

ISBN: None

A scary dragon in a fairy tale land was giving the town a fright.  A knight was sent to slay the dragon and cure the town of its' nuisance.  The knight learned the dragon was old and blind.  He set everything right in the town.

Rating:

I give this title a BIG SMILE.  There was a story line that I could follow, and it came to an end.  The Kind Knight tickles my emotions when the dragon reached out and said it was blind.  I not only got to practice my pronunciation of the long 'i' sound, but also learned to not judge a book by its' cover.