Sidekicks

Sidekicks
Dan Santat ~ Arthur A. Levine, 2011

One of the first books I bought for my son in the graphic novel arena, I originally purchased it for the sole reason that Dan Santat is a super hero. Just look at him for heaven's sake! Smart. Talented. Funny as all get-out. I discovered his work via Gallery Nucleus, an art galley in Los Angeles that specializes in a lot of work by cartoonists, animators and illustrators. I fell in love with a painting of his of a robot trashing a city with his laser powers (that I eventually purchased), and soon after is arrived and took a proud spot of my bedroom wall, I promptly ran out and bought my son Oh No! Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World, illustrated by Santat and penned by another man of awesome, Mac Barnett. All you have to do is look at Dan's art, his incredible marketing savvy, and addictive Instagram to get the idea that he is... like... the coolest guy ever! His books are full of butt-kicking fun. They made you wish that your kids were friends with his kids and you could hang out with him all the time.

But that's neither here nor there... the point is Sidekicks is... how do you say it?... totally BOSS.

Captain Amazing is a middle-aged (?) superhero... exhausted and tired... unable to come home after a long day of saving said day and spend quality time with his pets. The gist of the story is that his pets decide that one of them should stand-in for Captain Amazing's long-gone sidekick and a battle of the critters commences and hilarity ensues.

The USA-clad under-hamster named Fluffy is my fave, though Roscoe, Manny and Shifty are close behind. 

As you can see, the artwork is full of cut super hero fun, with lots of great body language, facial expressions and a fab great use of color. (Plus a more than ample bad guy in Wonder Man!)

This is another book we've gifted too many times to count. It's one of my first go-to gifts for boys 1st to 3rd grade. I hate to say it, but I always feel like the gift a graphic novel feels heftier and more like a real present than a novel does. It's probably the amount of color and the fact that the books weigh more, but I never feel like I'm skimping when I wrap one of these up. My son's copy is nearly falling apart at this point, as it's stayed in front rotation for three years now.

It's anthropomorphic fun for all, but now that I'm looking at the pub date, it leaves me wondering... isn't it about time for a Sidekicks 2?

Zita the Spacegirl

Zita the Spacegirl 
Ben Hatke ~ First Edition, 2010

This book was one of the first graphic novels my son fell in love with, purchased on his own at his school book fair in first grade. We've subsequently gifted it to many of the children we know and cheered it on when it was nominated for a Texas Bluebonnet Award from the Texas Library Association (beat out narrowly by Postcards from Camp by Simms Taback). 

The story is classic. Girl does something reckless that puts one of her friends in jeopardy. Girl must take a chance to save her friend. Then, of course, girl ends up needing to save the world in the process. Zita has everything you could want in a sci-fi story. A mysterious and spooky beginning. A rebel main heroine who may have some naughty qualities. Portholes to other universes. Creatures both adorable and horrific. A team of misfits. A mentor. It's a fabulous G-rated introduction into the graphic novel arts, and the art is straightforward and huge fun to ogle.

The intro to the book includes a quote from G. K. Chesterton that I think says it all...

There are two ways of getting home; 
and one of them is to stay there.
The other is to walk around the whole world
Till we come back to the same place.

Zita's creator, Ben, was kind enough to pen the banner for this blog, if you haven't noticed. If you don't know much about him, check out his work, because he is a super awesome guy with a real talent for telling children's stories through images. Plus, the man breathes fire, for heavens sake!

The original book was followed up with Legends of Zita the Spacegirl, and a third book, Return of Zita the Spacegirl, is due out in the next year.

Bad Island

Bad Island 

Doug Tennapel ~ Graphix, 2011

I long ago gave up presuming what my son might think is scary. He's an excellent judge of what his brain can and can not handle, and I've miscalculated the creep factor on many a family-friendly movie or book with disastrous results. Having seen all the Harry Potter movies by the time he was seven, read the Hobbit when he was six, and watched every current episode of Doctor Who by eight and a half, I'd still say his most traumatizing life moment came while watching Snoopy almost leave Charlie Brown for his original owner, Lila, in the 1972 television special Snoopy Come Home. And while the rest of the under-ten set love 'em some Jack Sparrow, one little trip down the river on the Pirates of Caribbean ride at Disneyland had my son swearing off the franchise for life. 

So I was shocked at first when he took a shining to the work of Doug Tennapel. First Ghostopolis... then Cardboard... then Bad Island.

It's not that Doug's stories are scary. Most of the time the relationships and sentiments are pretty G-rated, even if the pictures are dark and doom-filled. There are enough monsters and dead people and big teeth and evil neighborhood boys to scare the crap out of a gentle animal-lover like my boy, yet he gobbles them up like popcorn. Doug is definitely one of of my son's favorite authors as far as graphic novels are concerned, and I have to say I do sneak reading them myself from time to time.

This one stars a family with all sorts of small, interpersonal drama. The son is thinking of running away from home. The daughter ruins the mother's favorite plant when she gets angry. Mom and dad bicker over what snacks to pack for the family vacation.

The scenario seems pretty all-American until their family boating vacation takes a turn for the worse, and the foursome is shipwrecked on what can only be described as... well, a bad island. 

All the while, another story is being set up, a battle in the past between crazy crab monsters and giant rock creatures, but we don't fully come understand how the two stories intertwine until the end.

I'm always impressed with how seamlessly Doug pulls off intertwining current humdrum facts-of-everyday-life with an other-world sense of magic without it coming across as too cheesy. Very intense and creative stuff, dealing with all sorts of themes like death and inner fear and family dynamics and, of course, the destiny of unknown universes. Sort of Iron Giant-esque and very well-illustrated.



I won't give away what makes the island so bad, as you need to read the book to find out for yourself. But I will say this, as my son has gotten older and demanded more and more graphic novels, I've had to get used to not spending quarters and dollars on books like in my full-on thrift shop days. It's not too often that good graphic novels end up on Goodwill shelves or in the penny sales on Amazon. Particularly in the juvenile graphic novel genre. That's what makes places like Half Price Books a godsend for graphic-bookovores like my son, but even they can't keep us stocked adequately. Though the library has recently started sporting a juvenile graphic novel section, the pickings are pretty puny. I've definitely made my way back into being a full-price bookstore patron. Good thing I got a job last year. ;)

Hello There

Hi there. You might know me from such popular blogs as Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves, but if that's where you know me from, you also know I launched that blog a million years ago when my son was a baby. It was started as a way to connect with other people about all the wonderful books I was finding for and sharing with my son. It ended up that I wasn't the only mom looking for the vintage awesomeness of an old book. Loads of like-minded folks were looking for past picture books to share with their kids. Illustrators were looking for inspiration from the past. And TONS of people were just randomly Googling the key words they could remember about a book they loved long ago and lost. (Hi there!)

Way back then, I was a stay-at-home mom on hiatus from working, and had way more time and energy to funnel into a labor of love. Now, I'm back working in publishing, and though I still do love the thrill of finding a treasure here and there and sharing it on the other blog, my son's literary passions sit elsewhere. He hasn't yet become the voracious reader I had hoped for but he still loves books, but more appropriately, graphic novels or anything of the cartoon variety. He adores any story told in images and drawing is his number one way to pass the time. More than anywhere else nowadays, you'll find us in the graphic novel section at Half Price Books digging to find the handful of books age appropriate for an eight-year-old who loves animals, anime, and Doctor Who.

So here I am, starting a new blog when I should be doing a million and one other things on a Saturday afternoon. I'll be in and out of this space, sharing books, sometimes a drawing or two if the boy feels like it. Hope it sticks.

(Image taken from Bone, something you'll be seeing a ton of around here.)