Plymouth Staff Choices

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
Teen Graphic Novels – Main Level – C

This graphic novel (recently available in a one-volume hardcover) starts by retelling the story of Sleeping Beauty. The young princess veers from the classic story, though, by leaving the castle with her prince as soon as she wakes up. The castle, with all its staff, is left without a ruler, waiting for her promised return. Over time, it becomes a refuge for those cast out from the rest of society, if they believe the legends and can find it. One such is a Lady Jain, pregnant and alone, who comes to Castle Waiting to bear her child. The castle is populated by a variety of interesting characters, including three now ancient ladies-in-waiting, a crane named Rackham, John Henry, and a horse-headed man called Sir Chess. The rambling story shifts its focus in the second half from Jain to a Solicitine nun, who shares her story and the history of her most unusual order. It’s funny and serious at the same time, and full of sly references to the characters of folk and fairy tales. The introduction by author Jane Yolen, hinting at the difference between truth and Truth, was a delightful addition.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Teen Graphic Novels- Main Level- A

“Class, I’d like us all to give a warm welcome to your new classmate Jing Jang!”
-“Jin Wang.”
“He and his family recently moved to our neighborhood all the way from China!”
-“San Francisco.”

Yang’s beautifully colored graphic novel weaves three stories together into one statement about life as a “human transformer.” He begins in the forest with a discontented monkey learning invulnerability through kung-fu—a retelling of the Chinese folk tale “The Monkey King.” Then it shifts over to young Jin Wang being introduced to his new classmates. Jin doesn’t eat dogs, and he can speak English. So why do the other guys treat him like an “FOB” (fresh off the boat)? Yang’s third story is the saga of Danny, a popular high school student who is humiliated on a yearly basis when his cousin, an embodiment of stereotypes, comes to visit from China.

American Born Chinese is the winner of the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award for excellent young adult literature, but adults will enjoy the drawings and stories as well. If you’ve never read a graphic novel before, this is a great one to start with.

To see other Printz Award winners, check out
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/printzaward/previouswinners/winners.htm

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Teen Graphic Novels- Main Level- P

Contrary to what I thought when I started the book, Persepolis is not the name of the main character. The main character’s name is Marjane; Persepolis is the Greek name for the capital of the former Persian Empire. Wait, you say. The main character has the same name as the author? Yes, friends, this is an autobiographical comic book.

Marjane, the great-great granddaughter of Nasser-al-Din Shah (the Shah of Persia for the second half of the 1800s) grew up in Iran with her Marxist parents. During her youth, the Shah was overthrown, the Islamic Revolution was accomplished, and Iran went to war with Iraq. Sadly, Satrapi cannot imagine her childhood without these events. She was obliged to wear a veil in public, propaganda was taught at school, and many loved ones were in danger of being arrested, tortured, killed, or bombed in the war. Somehow the simplicity of the comics lightens the tone of the story, while the emotion on the character’s faces had me (big cliché coming…) both laughing and crying. I sure hope the film adaptation makes its way to Michigan.

BONE Volume One: Out from Boneville
by Jeff Smith
Teen Graphic Novels - Main Level - B

One day the three Bone cousins Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone are chased out of their home, Boneville, because of Phoney’s shady dealings. Unfortunately they get lost from each other in the Valley. While lost they encounter some interesting characters and fast-paced adventures. Ted is an all-knowing little bug who leads wise Fone Bone to Thorn, a sweet and beautiful teenage girl who promises to help reunite the Bone cousins. She lives with her Grandma Ben, a brave woman who loves to race cows. The Bones also encounter rat creatures who are only interested in destroying the Bones, but luckily the amazing Red Dragon saves the Bones time and time again!

Although the Bone cousins are eventually reunited at the end of the story, there is an ominous threat lingering over the Bones as they get ready for the great cow race. For once again Phoney has tried to make money in a dishonest fashion, and is threatened by the Hooded One—the leader of the rat creatures. One will have to pick up volume two of the Bone series, The Great Cow Race, to find out what happens next in the Bone saga!

Out From Boneville by Jeff Smith is a fun and enjoyable graphic novel. If you have never read this type of literature, this selection may be a good starting point. It is also acceptable for upper elementary students. The illustrations are friendly and true to the characters’ emotions. So if you want to laugh and be a little frightened along the way read about the three Bone cousins in Out From Boneville by Jeff Smith!

Miki Falls- Spring
Teen Graphic Novels- Main Level- M

Miki starts her senior year of high school determined to be better, kinder, smarter, more herself. So when the cute new boy, Hiro, puts up a standoffish front, Miki vows to make friends anyway. Eventually her cheeriness wears him down, and he confesses to her that he is no ordinary high school boy, but one with a super-special magical secret job!

The tricky bit is, Hiro wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. Not only is his status a secret, but the rules of his trade prevent his falling in love with an ordinary person like Miki. But gosh, she sure is cute. And the whole star-crossed lover thing is pretty appealing. Thus, Hiro and Miki find themselves in a mess of trouble.

Spring is the first in a four volume series of comics by Mark Crilley, an artist who splits his time between Southeast Michigan and Japan. Although his characters are drawn in a Japanese manga style, the books do read front to back and left to right. Stay tuned- Mark will be coming to the library in April!

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Adult Graphic Novels-Main Level SAN

To anyone who might be remotely familiar with comics, the world of Sandman is probably not new to you. To those who aren’t and are looking for a place to start, this is it. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, eighteen Eisner Awards, two Bram Stoker Illustrated Narrative Awards, and one of the first comic books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list, The Sandman is one of the most highly regarded and influential graphic novels ever made.

The plot revolves around a group of beings known as the Endless that are anthropomorphic manifestations of human existence. While the focus of the story is on Dream, the other siblings Death, Destiny, Despair, Destruction, Delirium (who used to be Delight), and Desire all weave their way into the narrative forming a very unique dysfunctional family.

What makes the Sandman so interesting is Neil Gaiman's ability to take various mythological, theological, literary, and philosophical threads and weave them together to create a rich satisfying story. Where else can William Shakespeare perform “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” to the very Faerie folk that inhabit his story, or Thor, Odin and Loki from Norse mythology, Anubis and Bast from Egyptian mythology, Susanoo-no-mikoto from Japanese mythology, and a pair of angels from Christianity all vie for the key to hell? Besides all these grand themes intertwining, The Sandman also has the ability to examine the small emotional moments that make us human. Not merely a comic book, The Sandman is an important literary work that has helped break the barriers much like Maus did in the past and Persepolis does now.

Y The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
Adult Graphic Novels - Main Level - Y

The thought of being the last male on the planet is probably one almost every guy has dreamt about during the course of his life. However, for Yorick Brown this dream has become a nightmare reality. Following an unexplained plague that has left the world devoid of any males, Yorick and his pet monkey (who is also male) must help save what is left of humanity. The world is of course in chaos considering there is a large political and military vacuum left in the wake of the plague. Dispelling any sexist notions that males are solely responsible for violence and power plays, the women of the world are soon at each other’s throats in search of Yorick. To some he represents the last remnants of a patriarchy that must be cleansed, to others he is the key to unraveling the mysterious plague, and to a few he might just be a fun play toy.

At turns horrifying, hysterical, and action packed Brian K. Vaughn is able to create a fantastic world that could very well be our own. Armed with an arsenal of pop culture references, strong female characters, and surprising plot twists it’s no wonder Vaughn is also writing for Joss Whedon’s “Buffy Season 8 comic.” If that’s not enough of a recommendation Vaughn has also written some of the best episodes of the labyrinthine mosaic “Lost.” The artist Pia Guerra is able to visualize the characters and story in perfect sync with Vaughn’s writing creating yet another example of why graphic novels should be taken more seriously as a literary medium.

Blue Pills: A Positive Love Story by Frederik Peeters
Adult Graphic Novels - Main Level - BLU

Blue Pills is an autobiographical graphic novel that chronicles the relationship between the author/illustrator Frederick Peeters, his girlfriend Cati, and her three-year-old son. As Frederick and Cati grow closer, she must reveal that both her and her son are HIV positive. Where many might run from the relationship or fall into the trap of pity, Peeters reacts by embracing his love for Cati, albeit cautiously. With the help of a doctor who is as Peeters describes actually “human,” the two learn that the boundaries the virus creates sexually and psychologically can be broken down. With its simple monochromatic illustrations and frank and unsentimental perspective, Blue Pills is the type of book that can easily be read in one sitting. However, Peeters' true skill is his ability to turn a harrowing subject on its head and find the good in it.

Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore
Adult Graphic Novels – Main Level – STR

Love, friendship and the mob mix in surprising and fascinating ways in this classic graphic novel. Katchoo and Francine are roommates. Francine is broken-hearted when her boyfriend leaves her after she refuses to sleep with him. Katchoo exacts a fearsome revenge on him, but refuses to tell Francine she’s in love with her. Meanwhile, Katchoo meets a persistent young man, David, at an art gallery. Even though she refuses the romantic relationship he wants, they develop a strong friendship. One might even go so far as to call it a love triangle. And then it turns out that Katchoo has old connections with the mob, and the mob is no longer willing to let them stay in the past. With realistic yet expressive illustrations and a new twist with every turn of the page, this is one to get lost in.

The Rabbi’s Cat by Joann Sfar
Adult Graphic Novels – Main Level - RAB

The rabbi, his daughter and their cat live in Algeria. In the first story, the cat, previously able to communicate only in the usual way of cats, eats the rabbi’s parrot and is magically able to talk. Now he wants his own bar mitzvah, and argues strongly in his own defense both to the rabbi and the rabbi’s rabbi. Doesn’t being a rabbi’s cat mean he’s Jewish? Doesn’t he know the Torah well from helping the rabbi study? Indeed he does. He offers sarcastic but pithy comments on Judaism and humans in general. The sharpness of his critique is offset by his absolute adoration of the rabbi’s beautiful daughter. The saturated, squiggly drawings are perfect for this story of cats, people, and religion that is both funny and slyly serious. And while the thinky-thoughts are there, the characters and exotic setting are also worth paying attention to. This is one that I’d been meaning to read since it first came out, and it was well worth the wait.

M by Jon J. Muth
Adult Graphic Novels - Main Level M

First published in 1990 as four separate comics, this stunning adaptation of Fritz Lang’s classic 1931 film lives again in this complete collection. Jon J. Muth an award winning author and illustrator of children’s books uses his unique artistic approach to craft a decidedly more adult tale. Using a photo realistic style, Muth took two years to painstakingly create the beautiful watercolor illustrations. Take one look inside and it’s hard to deny that the result was worth the wait. Just like the film, M is about an unidentified serial killer stalking children in a German city. After the police fail to apprehend him, a group of criminals in the Berlin underworld scheme to put an end to his deeds. The book stays true to the films script and in some panels could very well be indistinguishable from a frame in the movie. So whether you’re a cinemaphile, a fan of graphic novels, or a lover of art M will satisfy your needs.

Also by Muth:

Zen Shorts
Picture Book Shelves - Lower Level MUT

The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Teen Graphic Novels – Main Level – A

A man leaves his wife and daughter, traveling along streets shadowed with the wings and tails of giant monsters. He sails across the sea in a huge boat, arriving in a strange land to try to find work and save enough to bring his family over. The setting is mostly early twentieth century but with strong elements of the bizarre. The drawing style looks like a series of old sepia photographs. It’s told entirely without words – even the signs on the buildings are in a script that neither we nor our immigrant understands. This was all over the comics blogs Best of 2007 lists (it took me a while to get to it.) Somebody in one of the blogs I read then – I wish I could remember who – pointed out the nifty way Tan notes the passage of time. On one page, all we see is one little square after another of clouds, as we watch out the window of the steamer with the immigrant. I loved reading books about immigrants as a child, but there’s a level of being in the experience that this has that a book where I can understand the language just can’t.

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born by Stephen King, Robin Furth, Peter David and Artwork by Jae Lee
Adult Graphic Novels - Main Level - DAR

The Dark Tower series shouldn’t be anything new to those familiar with Stephen King's work. King's magnum opus, spanning seven novels and over thirty years, not only brought in various elements of King’s other books, but also ultimately brought in King himself as a character. The story tells the tale of Roland Deschain, a gunslinger on the path to the Dark Tower, a nexus between all worlds. One would think that after devoting so much time and paper to this world there would be nothing more to tell. While "The Gunslinger Born" might not completely disprove this point it does shed a new light on the events that transpired in arguably the best chapter in the series “Wizard and Glass.”

"The Gunslinger Born" recalls Roland's early days and the events that set him on the path that would ultimately lead him to the Dark Tower. What makes this interpretation of the story worth reading is Jae Lee’s striking depictions of Roland and his world. While the novels themselves have illustrations sprinkled throughout the text, seeing a fully realized visual representation of the story makes one yearn for an entire retelling of the series in graphic novel form. In addition to Lee’s impressive artwork Robin Furth and Peter David are able to take the mammoth 600-page book and condense it into a 240-page graphic novel that still holds true to its source material.

However, this collection does have one major drawback. When the separate comics were released they contained back-stories and lore from the Dark Tower mythology. For whatever reason they have been cut from the collection which is a shame. Nevertheless “The Gunslinger Born” is worth looking into if you are a fan of the series.

Other books in the Dark Tower Series:

The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home

The Gunslinger

The Drawing of the Three

The Waste Lands

Wizard and Glass

Wolves of the Calla

Song of Susannah

The Dark Tower

The Good Neighbors. Volume 1: Kin by Holly Black. Illustrated by Ted Naifeh.
Teen Graphic Novels – Main Level - GOO

Rue Silver is sixteen years old. She has a boyfriend and a group of friends who like to break into abandoned buildings and take photographs. Her mother has been quietly missing for three weeks and her father is suddenly involved in a murder case. And she’s starting to see things that she can’t tell anyone about, because they’ll think she’s crazy. They are the faeries of the old tales, the ones called Kindly and Good in hopes of preventing unwanted attentions. Rue learns that her vanished mother was a faery herself. A battle is beginning, and Rue must decide whose side she is on, and how much she can tell her friends. This is the first volume of what’s obviously planned as a much longer series. It’s a very solid start. The story strikes just the right balance between realistic and spooky, and the shaded paintings bring this out perfectly. I got a strong Buffy vibe off of it, not in a copy-cat kind of way, but in the circle of high school friends with a snarky sense of humor and a smart, tough girl going it with some help, but mostly alone. Black is also the author of The Spiderwick Chronicles. This does feel like it’s coming from the same imagination, but more from real older legend, and definitely more sophisticated and for an older audience. I’m really looking forward to the next one.

Age of Bronze. Vols 1-3 by Eric Shanower
Adult Graphic Novels – Main Level - AGE
There was this famous war in the Bronze Age in a city named Troy, about which many, many stories have been written over the centuries, including most famously the Iliad, which somehow doesn’t include some of the most famous bits of the legend. Shanower is doing his best to weave these stories into a cohesive whole. Not only did he read a lot of stories, but he did a lot of art and archeological research to make the settings, the clothes, and the people as accurate and realistic as possible. Historians will probably still find room to quibble, but this amount of research appeals to the library in me. Still, all would be lost if the story didn’t work. Shanower’s beautifully detailed drawings and expressive text bring the ancient characters to life. He’s made the decision not to have the gods appear in the story, though the characters nearly uniformly strongly believe in them and appear to receive messages from them. While a strong break from the Iliad, it’s a choice that makes the story more accessible to modern readers, who may pray for guidance but don’t generally view people as heroes who succeed only because the gods made it happen. It also makes the story deeper and more ambiguous: did Aphrodite really promise Helen to Paris? Or is this just another excuse from a young man who demonstrates overpowering arrogance and belief in his own charm from the very beginning, starting with deciding to win the royal athletic contests to win back his family’s bull and continuing on to kidnapping Helen instead of liberating the aged aunt he was sent to rescue, just because he didn’t care about an old woman. I just read the entry on the Iliad in Beowulf on the Beach by Jack Murnighan; one of the things he mentions is how cinematic Homer’s language is. This work feels cinematic as well, as the view zooms from close-ups to wide panoramas. Though in line with the Iliad, the war itself is just getting started at the end of volume three, there’s plenty of violence, sex and mayhem to keep things going in the meantime. This is a book that manages to be beautiful, macho and compelling all at the same time.

Hikaru No Go by Yumi Hotta. Art by Takeshi Obata And now, for a change of pace, some manga. Hikaru is a fun-loving, not too serious middle school student. One day, he finds an old go board in his grandfather’s attic. It turns out to be haunted by the ghost of an old and really good go player, Sai, who then takes up residence in Hikaru’s consciousness. This is somehow not creepy, and we are also assured that Sai is male even though has long purple hair, earrings, and a delicate face. Anyway, prompted by Sai, Hikaru starts playing Go. He joins his school’s go team and goes to go salons. At first, he lets Sai tell him where to put the stones. Doing this, he attracts the attention of Akira Toya, the best player from the best middle school go team in town. But before Akira can track him down for another game, Hikaru decides that he wants to play for himself. Over the course of the series (17 books out in America so far), Akira and Hikaru, coached by Sai, climb higher and higher into the go world. Even though this has an improbable premise and is centered on a complicated game I don’t even try to understand, the characters are so well done that the story doesn’t feel silly. Hikaru and his friends are genuinely likeable characters, and the honorable rivalry between Hikaru and Akira Toya is compelling. It’s good story-telling, with large numbers of impossibly innocent-looking wide eyes and a few adorable girls in mini-skirted uniforms thrown in for good measure.

Rex Libris: I, Librarian by James Turner
Adult Graphic Novels – Main Level - REX

Some libraries have gone soft, allowing talking, hanging out, even tolerating overdue books. Not at Middleton Public Library, where Rex Libris and Circe are in charge. Middleton may sound average, but it has rare books from all over the universe, and is situated on a convergence of ley lines that allows fictional characters to wander around the library from time to time. Hard-hitting sesquipedalian librarian Rex Libris is on the job, preventing evil samurai from destroying the library and journeying to outer space (assisted by his gun-happy chickadee) to retrieve overdue books from space emperors. I have read more than once that comic books use higher vocabulary than regular fiction, but this uses the highest proportion of erudite words I have ever seen in a non-scholarly text. It’s also highly self-aware, with editor’s notes from a fake editor at the beginning of each issue (several bound together in the book) and the occasional nonsensical intrusion from the editor, which Rex must take a break from the story to protest before the story can continue. The one downside is that the book has such dense and tiny text (was it shrunk down to fit the paperback?) that it took focus and holding the book up close to read. Still, this is good adventuring for book-lovers with a sense of humor.

Wilson by Daniel Clowes
Adult Graphic Novels-Main Level - WIL

Wilson by Daniel Clowes

It has been ten years since Daniel Clowes has released David Boring, his last full length graphic novel, so there was much anticipation surrounding Clowes’ new work. Also, this is his first original graphic novel; the first not to be serialized in his comic periodical, Eight Ball.

While Clowes’ previous graphic novels had been divided into serialized chapters, this work consists of over 70 standalone full page stories, rendered in different le. All these stories are connected, though, and follow the overall narrative, yet have their own punch line at the bottom of the page. The story follows a middle aged man named Wilson, who has very little connection to his family, no friends, and a complexly optimistic, yet misanthropist view towards society.

While Wilson does eventually manage to connect to family members, in dramatic and disastrous ways, the main story here is that of Wilson’s growth as a person. While Wilson does not truly lose his entire misanthropic outlook, he does grow to appreciate aspects of humanity in his own way.

The Unwritten Vol 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity by Mike Carey and Peter Gross
Adult Graphic Novels – Main Level – UNW

Metafiction! With action! Tommy Taylor is the star of a Harry Potter-like series, only it’s even more popular. And Tommy Taylor is not grateful that his father made the real Tommy Taylor star of a fictional series, making the fictional character close enough to the real that some die-hard fans believe him to be the boy wizard. But his father disappeared years ago under mysterious circumstances, leaving Tommy penniless. Now, suddenly, evidence turns up that Tommy might not really be his father’s son. A young woman calling herself Lizzie Hexam might have some answers – if Tommy can survive that long. While the excerpts of the Tommy Taylor stories as presented don’t seem like they would actually rival Harry Potter, the fiction within fiction and fiction crossing the borders to the real world is fascinating. It’s an exciting story, filled with references to other great works of literature for the discerning reader. Fans of Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books, which have more humor and less reflection on the capricious nature of fame and fan worship, may enjoy this as well.