Life of Pi

You want to hear a sad fact? About one out of every thirty or so kids like to read in my school. And even the kids that like to read aren't obsessed with it. Which is why, when I'm not in school, I do my best to find those other Nerd Alertish people out there. One of my best outlets is camp. Me and my sister have been going to this awesome farm camp for a while now. Well, during my third year, it was the first day, and I didn't know anybody. Everybody at my table was kinda doing that inaudible, "hiwhat'syourname". I did know some people from the year before, but they didn't seem to remember me. Then this girl with dark brown, shoulder length hair and blue eyes sat down. It was her first year. I remember she was sitting at the head of the table. Later in the day, when we were doing activities in the courtyard, we had to pick a partner. Everybody was doing that asking-with-your-eyes thing and pointing-from-the-person-they-picked-to-themselves-really-quickly thing. Me and the girl were the only ones without a partner, so naturally we became cohorts. I found out her name was Ella. And once we both realized we both liked to read, we couldn't stop talking. We lent each other books, gave recommendations, criticized authors, all that jazz. Reader, you must be thinking, "That's all fine and dandy and I'm glad you found your buddy, but what about the book you're supposed to be reviewing?" I'm GETTING THERE. :) Anyway, me and Ella stayed in touch even after camp was over, and established a book club. When we came to camp the next session, we decided to pick a book. We decided we should read a book we both hadn't read. Then she goes, "How about Life of Pi?". I heard it's even better than the movie." So that was our book. Let me just tell you that I would count this as one of my top favorite books. Out of graphic novels too. It is fantastic. The metaphors are hard to figure out though. It took me over a month to get one of them. In a nutshell, this is the plot:
               Pi Patel lives in a zoo in India. Yes, you heard me right; literally a zoo. He's also extremely religious, as a Muslim, a Hindu, and a Christian. He's the only one in his family that's religious at all, really. Everyone else was much much more..secular? then he was. One day Pi finds out that they are selling the zoo and moving to Canada. Unfortunately, while passing over the Mediterranean Trench, the boat sinks, along with his mother, father, and brother Ravi. (Spoiler, I know, but it's really only a small part of the story). Pi is the only survivor....except for a hyena, a zebra, and a Bengall tiger. The weirdest part about it is that though it's fiction, the writer almost convinces you it isn't. He writes it as if he's at Pi's house, asking him for his story so he can write his book. You'll see. I didn't do the best job of explaining it.....remember, I said in a NUTSHELL. That was NOT the whole book. Anyway. Trust me when I say that it will be added to your top favorite books too.

Awards: Too many to list here.
Ages: 12ish or 13ish+

                                    Interested in this book? Click on the link below:
                                                           Life of Pi
 (Plus, if you want to check out her new awesome blog, click here)

American Born Chinese

The first time I ever heard of this book, it was on the back of the Boxers and Saints covers. (Boxers and Saints are a two-book series by Gene Luen Yang. You'll hear more of that series in future Nerd Alert posts. He also wrote this very book I'm writing about). The second time I heard of American Born Chinese was the reason I decided to read it. My cousin Sophia (who lives in HONG KONG by the way) recommended it for me by email. To tell the truth, it sounded a little slow to me. The whole "monkey king" thing just didn't seem that interesting. But since she was my cousin, and she liked graphic novels too, I decided to read it. That was one of the best decisions of my life. Those of you who don't know, Gene Luen Yang is a genius. I mean, I already knew that from Boxers and Saints, but American Born Chinese confirmed the fact that he is a genius. See, in American Born Chinese, she writes two stories which become metaphors for the other. One is a regular Chinese folk tale; the other is a story of a Chinese boy named Jin in America who is disrespected by his classmates and teachers. But that's not all. The monkey story tangles with his, and new people come and go, and something happens to him. As the story goes on, you understand it more and more. But when you read it the second time, you really get it. It's hard to explain. I would, along with Boxers and Saints, put it on my Top Twenty Graphic Novels List.

Awards: National Book Award finalist and Best Book Award from the Chinese-American Library Association
Ages: 12+
                                                   Interested in this book? Click here:
                                                              American Born Chinese

The Giver

Okay, The Giver isn't exactly a book you can write about. "There are some books that are yours, that telling people about them seems like betrayal," said Hazel Grace Lancaster from The Fault in Our Stars. The Giver is one of those. This is one book that you will not be able to stop reading or stop thinking about for days. Months. Years. But not about metaphors and other fancy reading terms. This book is for people who like to ask questions, but don't want to know the answers. I can't really explain what that means. I can't explain the plot of this book without giving too much away, either. But what I will say is that it's about a boy named Jonas who lives in a place called The Community. He has a sister, Lily, a best friend, Asher, and a set of parents. The ceremony of twelve is coming. (I'm trying to sound ominous here). Choices will be made. A heavy book, but a clever one.

Awards: Gold Newberry Medal
Ages: 12+
 
                                              Interested in this book? Click on the link below:
                                                                  The Giver

Aphrodite

I'm a nerd. I wholeheartedly admit it, and have many times, and will admit it many more times. However, though my readers know how nerdy I am, what I am about to type on this post crosses the extreme nerdiness line. Brace yourselves. Here it is: when this book arrived at my house yesterday, I literally jumped up and down and shrieked like a baby for an hour, I was so excited. Ask my parents. At dinner, instead of the routine, "Yeah, my day was fine," there was me saying, "I just can't believe it. This is crazy. This is awesome. No, awesomely crazy," until I actually sat down and read the stinking book as my sister kept suggesting as frequently as my "I just can't believe it." But if you've read this book, or any George O'Connor book at all, you'd understand my disbelief. The illustrations, the way he tells the story...this is the way modern-day greek myths should be portrayed.
              Anyway, back to the actual book. Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love, is underestimated in all the other books. In a disguised, polite way they're describing Aphrodite as being insignificant. Not so in this graphic novel. In this book, Aphrodite is one of the most powerful goddesses on Olympus, not some silly, gorgeous, airhead girl (don't get me wrong, she's still the most gorgeous woman in the universe. In Aphrodite that's not all there is too her). For pete's sake, she's the goddess of love; is there any more powerful force in the universe?

Ages: 10+
           
                                  Interested in this book? Click the link below:
                                                       Aphrodite

My Kind of Classic

Here's a post I wrote for Dinner: A Love Story.  Thought you guys would like it, too! -- PW

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Moby Dick (Herman Melville) adapted by Lance Stahlberg, illustrated by Lalit Kumar

Who Would Love It: People who can handle stuff that's a little hard to understand. They basically take the words from the real book, which can be old-fashioned, and they put them in speech bubbles and add drawings around them. If you took away the pictures, it would basically be the grown-up book. But the art is so awesome. It's definitely adventure-y.

The blurb I'd put on the back of the book: "The fascinating story of the search for a famous white whale -- the perfect book for any kid who likes it when climaxes come at the very end of the book. Which, who doesn't?"

Ages: 12+

The Odyssey (Homer), by Tim Mucci

Who Would Love It: People who like Greek mythology and people who like to read simplified versions of big, complicated stories. Here, you'll meet Athena, Hermes, Zeus, Poseidon, all that jazz. It's also really cool-looking, too -- I love the artwork. It helps to understand it.

The blurb I'd put on the back of the book: "A mystical adventure in graphic novel form. That sounds cheesy -- but, you know. It's true!"

Ages: 11+

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A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle), adapted and illustrated by Hope Larson

Who Would Love It: The first time I tried to read the actual, real book, I could barely get past the first chapter. It was so boring and confusing. I was in third grade, so I had trouble understanding any of it. But then, last year, I got the graphic novel version and it was just way more interesting. It all made sense. It seemed like the plot was more interesting, more exciting. This is for people who are science-y and also into fantasy. Those of you who like physics will like this, too.

The blurb I would put on the back of the book: "An interesting book, in the best way. The art makes this an even more bold version of the original - it's, like, BOOM."

Ages: 10+

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Alice in Wonderland by Tommy Kovac & Sonny Liew

Who Would Love It: This is by the guys who did the Wizard of Oz graphic novel series, which I love. To be honest, I'm going to say that the actual story was not as interesting as some other books, but the art is really incredible. It's worth it just for the pictures. Even though it's maybe not my favorite book, reading-wise, it's weird fantasy and that's kind of cool, no matter what, right?

The blurb I would put on the back of the book: "The artwork -- scratchy, strange, and mystical -- makes this an essential book for kids who love good art."

Ages: 10+

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The Olympians Series by George O'Connor

Who Would Love It: Dad, we've already done this series like twenty times.

The blurb I would put on the back of the book: "Just read this series, okay?"

Ages: 9+

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Fairy Tale Comics Edited by Chris Duffy

Who Would Love It: People who are fans of the extremely awesome Little Lit books. It's really clever. It's interpretations of famous fairy tales by well-known artists and writers like Brett Helquist (who did Lemony Snicket), Raina Telgemeier (who did Drama and Smile), and Cherise Harper. If you like silly stuff, clever stuff, this book is for you.

The blurb I would put on the back of the book: "An amazing group of authors re-telling an even better collection of stories. Even if you've read these stories before, and loved them, you're going to love the way they've remade them here."

Ages: 9+

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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) Roland Mann, illustrated by Naresh Kumar

Who Would Love It: Well, technically, I haven't read this one yet. It's on my wish list. I read the real book, but the graphic version looks awesome. The actual book is an extremely good perspective on a boy who runs away with a slave named Jim like a hundred and fifty years ago -- and their adventures, and misadventures. It's hard to explain it all here.

The blurb I would put on the back of the book: "I don't have to read this to know that it's a really really really really good book."

Ages: 10+

Amelia Rules

Too many graphic novel series have boys as their main characters. However, in Amelia Rules the tables are turned. The star of this series is snarky, sarcastic, and mischievous Amelia. Amelia is a city girl at heart. She lived in New York City until her parent's divorce caused her to have to move to a teeny tiny town in Pennsylvania with her (previous) pop singer aunt. Tanner (her aunt) becomes Amelia's ally, or confidant. Later she meets Reggie Grabinsky (a.k.a Captain Amazing - he's a little obsessed with super heroes) a weirdo who suckered Amelia and a bunch of other kids who I'm describing next into joining his club G.A.S.P (Gathering of Awesome Super Pals), Pajamaman who doesn't talk much (a.k.a Kid Lighting), and Rhonda Bleenie (a.k.a. Ms. Miraculous), Amelia's best frienemey who has a crush on Reggie. These four superheroes get into some serious trouble (principal five times) and pull off some serious pranks (trick Rhonda into a bet where she has to stay frozen in a game of freeze tag until somebody tags her... supposedly a year or so) but have a lot of laughs in between. As the series goes on, you watch Amelia and friends grow up, and you feel like you're growing up right along with her.  But the best part is, kids can relate to her. If you have friend problems, you can look in one of these books and she'll answer it without answering straight out, you know? I think that's one of the reasons the author wrote the series. Also, it's hilarious! You can't go a page without smiling to yourself or laughing out loud.

You'll like this if you like: Like I said with The Fault in Our Stars, there isn't really a book similar to this one. But I guess that this is a more "grown up" version of Ramona and Beezus.
Awards: 13 Eisner Awards!! (the equivalent of the Oscar in the comic world) Harvey award, and eighty trillion more. (I'm not exaggerating.)
Ages: 9+
                                         Interested in this book? Click on the link below:
                                                    Amelia Rules Book 1

Bone

Let me just start by saying that these were my first graphic novels. What about Tintin? you ask. (See The Adventures of Tintin, post number one). Tintin was my first comic, not graphic novel. There's actually a difference. Comics are usually more like short stories. Like superhero comics. If you ever read comics, you would know that it's mixed tales of his adventures, not one big story.Graphic novels on the other hand, are usually more like narratives. A single story.

Anyway, what you've been waiting for: This series is about... no, no, wait a second. This is one of those series where if you say one tiny little thing about the plot, you kinda ruin it. So I'm going to try to be careful here. Okay, here we go: Three cousins, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone are stranded in a desert. (I can't tell you why for the reason listed above).  Fone Bone is more of our main character. Phoney is the oldest cousin, but certainly not the wisest. (He's smart, not wise. There's a difference). He's also greedy and always tries to find ways to make more money. Smiley? A quote from a character called Grandma Ben who I'll describe later says, "He has no brain whatsoever." It doesn't take brains to see that this is true. But Smiley is goodhearted in every way. While in the desert, the cousins get separated and Fone, near death of thirst, sees a valley. He walks on and encounters the "rat creatures" but comes out in one piece. Later, he meets up with a girl named Thorn who takes him back to Grandma Ben's farm, where she lives. Grandma Ben is tough, and refuses, at first, to allow him to stay. But finally, she decides that it couldn't hurt to keep him there, and later lets him stay. As the days pass, Fone's cousins miraculously find their way to the farm and all is well. But then, a secret is uncovered (actually more like discovered) and the valley will never be the same again.

This series is creepy the deeper you get into it, but I seriously think that this series is one of the best in graphic novel history. By the way, I'd like to give a shout out to Rowan who suggested I write a post about Bone. Good idea!

Ages: 8+
You'll like this if you like: Amulet
Awards: Eisner (the equivalent of the Oscar in the comic/graphic novel world)
Interested in this book? Click on the link below: (There are nine books total, not counting the prequel and sequel)
                                             Bone book 1