Category Archives: Graphic Novel or Adaptation

Review: Horse Trouble by Kristin Varner

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12
Horse Trouble by Kristin Varner

Horse Trouble
Kristin Varner
First Second
Published October 26, 2021

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About Horse Trouble

An American Library Association 2021 Best Graphic Novel for Children

Twelve-year-old Kate is laser-focused on her one true horseback riding. But try as she might, she can’t hide from life’s problems in the stable.

There’s nothing Kate loves more than being around horses. But her best friend is allergic to them, so Kate has to take riding lessons without her. Kate’s forced to navigate some of life’s hardships―like the mean girls at the stable who tease her and her body insecurities―all on her own. To make matters worse, Kate is continually falling off her horse. To Kate, her tween years feel like one unfair punishment after another. Can she get over it all…and get back on her horse?

Horse Trouble, the debut graphic novel from children’s book artist Kristin Varner, is an oh-so-relatable graphic novel with humor and heart.

My Review

After reading Dog Trouble, I immediately looked online to see if Kristin Varner had other books, and I was overjoyed to learn she does! Yay! One of the things I really enjoyed about Dog Trouble is the chapter openers that would introduce a specific dog or breed of dog and tell some things about it. There are also sidebars throughout the story in which the author would define terms specific to the story, which helped make the book more accessible to readers who don’t have experience in the story’s main activity.

Varner does something similar in Horse Trouble, though it’s slightly less well-developed than the other book. (Which makes sense, since she wrote this one first.) I love the idea and the fact that I could read a book about competitive horseback riding and follow the story easily, learning terminology along the way.

I loved Kate as a narrator and main character. She’s such a great kid and takes such good care of the horses she’s responsible for. I enjoyed this one a whole lot, and I will absolutely read more work by Kristin Varner.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Kate is a plus-sized girl.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
No profanity. Kate endures some mean comments about her body.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Others say mean comments about Kate’s weight.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan

Book Review and Content, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Historical, Memoir, Middle Grade 8-12, Nonfiction, , , , ,

Boy vs. Shark
Paul Gilligan
Tundra Books
Published October 15, 2024

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About Boy vs. Shark

A hilarious middle-grade graphic memoir about boyhood, toxic masculinity and a shark named Jaws. For fans of Guts and New Kid.

In the summer of 1975, 10-year-old Paul Gilligan doesn’t have a whole lot to worry about other than keeping his comic books untarnished, getting tennis balls off roofs and keeping up with the increasingly bold stunts of his best friend, David.

And then Jaws comes to town.

Suddenly everyone is obsessing over this movie about a shark ripping people to pieces. And if you haven’t seen it, not only are you missing out, you’re also kind of a wimp.

Needless to say, Jaws leaves young Paul a cowering mess, and underlines the growing gap between him and David as well as the distance between where he stands and the world’s expectations of a boy’s “manliness.”

And when Jaws himself becomes a kind of macho Jiminy Cricket for Paul, what is a scared and overwhelmed boy to do?

My Review

I really like the way that the author handled references to the movie Jaws in the text. Some of the characters verbally reference different scenes. After Paul watches the movie, he relates what happens in some of the scenes with balloon animals as characters. The absurdity of the images helps keep the content from being scary and overwhelming. I thought that was a really nice touch.

I also appreciated the complexity of the relationships in the novel, especially Paul’s relationship with his dad. Paul’s dad embraces some toxic ideas about who Paul should be as a young man, which causes Paul a lot of stress. At the same time, though, his dad imparts a strong ethic of personal responsibility, which helps guide Paul through a difficult situation.

It’s always great to see three-dimensional parent characters in Kidlit, and in this instance, the fact that the ideals Paul’s dad holds up as masculine are not all good or all bad makes it easier to understand Paul’s feelings of confusion and hurt when he doesn’t perfectly fit his father’s ideals.

I really enjoyed this graphic memoir. The use of the movie worked really well to illustrate the theme, and Gilligan creates a compelling balance of humor and heart in his exploration of masculine values and growing up.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 12.

Representation
Paul’s best friends are an Asian American boy and a Black boy.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to plot points from the movie Jaws. Some bullying in which an older boy makes comments about a younger kid. A boy manipulates others into stealing something from a store.

Drug Content
In one scene, a boy has a bottle of wine under his shirt, which he drops.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Frida Kahlo: Her Life, Her Work, Her Home by Fransisco de la Mora

Biography, Book Review and Content, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, Nonfiction, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Frida Kahlo: Her Life, Work, Her Home
Fransisco de la Mora
SelfMadeHero
Published April 11, 2023

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About Frida Kahlo: Her Life, Her Work, Her Home

Endorsed by the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City, writer, and illustrator Francisco de la Mora’s full-color graphic novel explores the public and private faces of the iconic artist.

Frida Kahlo, remembered as one of the most inspiring personalities of the 20th century, was a woman of two intertwined: she was both a charismatic and empowered artist exploring themes of resistance, authenticity, cruelty, and suffering and a more private person whose wounded body caused her a lifetime of pain that underpinned the many successes and disappointments that marked her time in the world.

Revealing and exploring these two Fridas, Francisco de la Mora’s graphic biography allows the reader to see just how far ahead of her time this complex artist was in her understanding of gender inequality and the culture of machismo, topics that remain relevant to this day and continue to lend resonance to Kahlo’s painting. Diego Rivera, Kahlo’s husband and fellow artist, described her work as “acid and tender, hard as steel but delicate and fine as a butterfly’s wing.” His words might apply equally to Frida herself.

My Review

One of the reasons I read so many graphic novels is that my niece and nephew love them, so I’m always looking for things they’re interested in. Usually, they lean toward fiction, but they’re both artists, so I thought maybe they might like this one for something different.

I loved the detailed descriptions of events from Frida Kahlo’s life– there was so much that I didn’t know before about her life, her family, and her work. I had no idea she was disabled, and from such a young age. The fact that she created so much while in so much pain is incredible to me. As a migraine sufferer, I can’t imagine what personal cost those efforts must have been for her.

The descriptions of her work and people’s reactions to it made me want to find a gallery showing Frida Kahlo’s paintings and see them in person. That would be really cool.

The only drawback for me reading this book is that some of the drawings of people in the panels are very small, so it’s hard to see their faces. There were moments when I wished the illustrations of faces had been more detailed so that the images were more emotionally evocative. On the whole, I enjoyed the book, though.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
Frida is a Latina woman born in Mexico. Her father was German.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to Frida and her husband Diego having affairs, including her husband’s affair with Frida’s younger sister.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Some descriptions of the extensive injuries Frida suffered after she was involved in a bus accident and her chronic health issues afterward.

Drug Content
A few panels show adults drinking alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: Wingborn by Marjorie Liu and Grace Kum

Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , ,

Wingborn (Wingbearer #2)
Marjorie Liu
Illustrated by Grace Kum
Quill Tree Books
Published October 1, 2024

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About Wingborn

From New York Times bestselling author Marjorie Liu comes the spectacular sequel to Wingbearer, the IndieBound and Publishers Weekly bestselling graphic novel that the New York Times Book Review called “wondrously constructed.”

Zuli’s world was just turned upside down by the Witch-Queen, but she’s still determined to find out what’s happening to the spirits of her bird friends. Armed with new information about her identity, she mounts a daring escape from a merchant airship and takes off with Frowly and Orien by her side.

However, the more she tries to solve the mysteries swirling around her friends and herself, the more she’s drawn to legends about the mysterious Siric, who have long since disappeared. Zuli might be prepared to take on new challenges, but is she prepared to go further than she’s ever gone before in her effort to fix the world’s broken magic?

This is the second of four books in the #1 IndieBound bestselling Wingbearer saga.

My Review

The Wingbearer series returns with a new illustrator. It’s been two years since I read the first book, but luckily my daughter saw Wingborn on my TBR stack in my room and asked if we could read it together. She’s not *quite* middle grade age, but we decided to give it a try, which gave me a chance to revisit the first book and refresh myself on the story and cast of characters.

I’m glad I did go back and reread the first one, because there were a lot of things I’d forgotten. Zuli has a twin sister named Zara and a handful of allies whose names I didn’t remember, so a refresher helped.

This second book in the series is illustrated by a different person than the first book. I really liked the mood of the spreads in Grace Kum’s illustrations. The color schemes of some of the scenes supported the emotion of those moments really well. Some of the panels were a little dark and hard for me to see.

Plot-wise, Wingborn introduces readers to a lot more of the world in which Zuli lives and how the loss of souls returning to be reborn affects each group, though some strive to keep that fact secret. Zuli faces shifting alliances and still pursues the truth about why souls are disappearing from the world. I love the direction that her friendship with Orien takes in this book. Several scenes showcase the treasure of a good friendship, even when both parties don’t always agree.

Overall, I’m glad I continued the series. I wish that some of the illustrations hadn’t been so dark, but I’m eager to see where the story of Zuli and her friends leads next.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Zuli has dark brown skin. There are other characters that are other races or beings, such as griffins, goblins, and sentient birds. Different races experience prejudice or suffer from the world’s caste system.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. One character uses a kind of mind control to manipulate others.

Violent Content
Situations of peril and war. Wraiths, skeleton-like creatures, attack a city at one point. Someone threatens Zuli with torture. Someone threatens to place her allies in an eternal sleep.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Night and Dana by Anya Davidson

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Night and Dana
Anya Davidson
Graphic Universe
Published September 12, 2023

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About Night and Dana

A creative coming-of-age story for the climate-change generation
Dana Drucker fights boredom in her Florida beach town by crafting special-effects makeup―the more gruesome, the better. But when a messy prank with Dana’s best friend Lily gets the wrong kind of attention, the girls have two find a new creative outlet or leave high school without graduating.

To save their shot at diplomas, Dana and Lily join a community college film class. It gives Dana a chance to keep practicing her monster makeup, as she and Lily start work on a horror movie inspired by local ocean warming. And a search for filming locations puts Dana in the path of Daphne Ocean, an activist and self-proclaimed water witch―the perfect kind of inspiring outsider. But when filming starts, Dana finds herself growing apart from Lily, who doesn’t seem to need her closest friend much anymore.

Soon, tempers are flaring, and Dana’s pushing away old friends and her new mentor. But as everything starts going up in flames, Dana also begins to forge her voice. Night and Dana is a creative coming-of-age story for the climate-change era, a graphic novel about making art and growing up when it feels like the world is on fire.

My Review

One of the things I like about this graphic novel is how the story blends Dana’s monster makeup and climate change activism. At first, I wasn’t sure how those two themes would dovetail together, but as the story unfolds, merging those two ideas makes so much sense. I loved how that happened.

I also like the pacing of the story. Some scenes show things happening in real-time. Others feel more like diary entries, with maybe one illustration for reference and a longer block of text describing what happens between scenes. This helped highlight the important moments while briefly showing transitions between them.

The one thing that did not work for me was the illustrations of Dana’s little brother. I don’t know if it’s the art style or the proportions of the illustrations themselves, but he didn’t look like a little kid, so that made some of the scenes kind of weird.

Other than that, I enjoyed reading the book. It’s probably not something I would have been drawn to if I saw it on the shelf, but I am glad I read it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Some characters are queer.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Dana’s best friend begins dating a nonbinary person. A boy and girl kiss. A couple of panels show Dana in her bra. References to sex.

Spiritual Content
One character calls herself a witch and shows Dana a ritual in which she wishes for something (positive) to happen.

Violent Content
Dana and her best friend stage a car accident with makeup to look like a serious eye injury. Protestors stage a “die in” and are arrested. Later, a group of protestors disrupts a parade. References to police using force against unarmed protestors. Red tide leaves fish and other sea creatures dead on the beach.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

American Born Chinese
Gene Luen Yang
First Second
Published September 5, 2006

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About American Born Chinese

All Jin Wang wants is to fit in. When his family moves to a new neighborhood, he suddenly finds that he’s the only Chinese American student at his school. Jocks and bullies pick on him constantly, and he has hardly any friends. Then, to make matters worse, he falls in love with an all-American girl…

Born to rule over all the monkeys in the world, the story of the Monkey King is one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables. Adored by his subjects, master of the arts of kung-fu, he is the most powerful monkey on earth. But the Monkey King doesn’t want to be a monkey. He wants to be hailed as a god…

Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, and he’s ruining his cousin Danny’s life. Danny’s a popular kid at school, but every year Chin-Kee comes to visit, and every year Danny has to transfer to a new school to escape the shame. This year, though, things quickly go from bad to worse…

These three apparently unrelated tales come together with an unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant and action-packed. American Born Chinese is an amazing rise, all the way up to the astonishing climax–and confirms what a growing number of readers already know: Gene Yang is a major talent.

My Review

This book has been on my reading list for a long time. I haven’t seen the show on Disney, but the preview already looks a lot different in the way it incorporates the storylines from the book. Someone with knowledge about and familiarity with Chinese folklore and culture will have more insight into several elements of this book than I do.

I’m not very familiar with the myths about the Monkey King, so I don’t have other information to compare with the stories from this book. I enjoyed the fables and their larger-than-life feel. There’s a great balance of emotions explored in that thread of the story, from jealousy to sadness to humor.

The second thread of the story follows Jin through school as he tries to form friendships and fit in with his classmates. His first friend is a bully who treats Jin terribly. It’s unclear whether Jin puts up with the treatment because he is just grateful not to be alone or whether he is oblivious. Some of his observations make him seem oblivious, but the clues in the illustrations and some of the dialogue let readers know this is not a real friendship. Later, Jin meets Wei, and the boys develop a close friendship.

The third thread in the book is the hardest to read. This one follows Danny as his cousin Chin-Kee, an overtly stereotyped character, follows him to school. Danny feels embarrassed by his cousin’s behavior and the other students’ reaction to him. What these chapters do so well, though, is highlight Jin’s fears about how he’s perceived by others and his fear about being stereotyped himself in these negative ways.

It’s uncomfortable to read, but the discomfort is the point. One of the things that I thought was brilliant about those scenes is that they read as though they’re some sort of sitcom. As I read the first scene, that’s what I thought it was supposed to be. Whenever Chin-Kee does or says something that aligns with a stereotype, laughter lines the bottom of the panel. It highlighted how people try to use humor to justify harmful statements and stereotypes and how that laughter falls flat and fools no one.

The three unrelated threads connect together at the end, and I am definitely among those whose minds were blown by the connections. It made so much sense and spun the earlier scenes of the story more completely. I’m very glad I read the book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Jin Wang is Chinese American. His friend Wei Chan is Taiwanese. Chin-Kee represents harmful stereotypes perpetrated against Chinese people. In one scene, a boy uses a racist stereotype about Jewish people in a “game.”

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
One of the three threads of the story tells fables of the Monkey King.

Violent Content
The Monkey King fights enemies. White high school students use racist insults against Jin and Wei.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.