GROG - The Eternal Smile

Title: The Eternal Smile
Author: Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim

Illustrator: Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim
Copyright: 2009

Price: $16.95

ISBN: 978-1-59643-156-0
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Summary: In three simple stories by a leading duo, three distinct characters make decisions regarding the reality of their lives. In Duncan’s Kingdom, Duncan and the other knights are challenged to find the Frog King, bring his head to the Princess, and she will marry the winner. Duncan prepares for the quest, but can’t shake a scary dream. In Gran’pa Greenbax and The Eternal Smile, we meet the frog Gran’pa Greenbax (think Disney’s Scrooge McDuck) as he comes up with another money making scheme so that he may have a pool of gold deep enough to dive into without hitting his head. In Urgent Request, Janet Oh receives an e-mail from a “Nigerian Prince” (reminiscent of the e-mail scam) and shares her information and creates a dream world of the Nigerian Prince.
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Thoughts: The Eternal Smile is a beautifully done work with three stories. It took a lot of browsing and reading before I realized that all three stories were connected in the fact that characters were facing realities they knew or did not know about. The Eternal Smile could provide a great book discussion book on the topics of reality and escaping it, especially in the third story. Overall, it was a good read and I enjoyed the work.

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Will Teens Like It? Probably not. If a school was considering purchasing this, I would say provide in a high school collection. It won’t be a high circulating book, but it will provide readers with a book that will make them think.

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Things to be aware of: brief discussion of porn in regards to virtual life/worlds; teen looks at porn (mention); brief mention of abuse
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Bonus: I did not realize that Gene Luen Yang had also won the Eisner Award for American Born Chinese (Printz winner). I was also informed by The Philosopher Musician that American Born Chinese is considered one of the best in the Indie circle.


Read and reviewed a library copy.

And now...

Back to our regularly scheduled graphic novel reviews!

I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but believe me, I have quite a few up my sleeve that you will get a bonus update on Wednesday this week and it looks like next week as well.

Some reasons as to why these have been slow coming:

1. I read many titles at once.
2. School
3. I'm easily distracted by other, pretty books, craft projects or KITTIES.
4. School
5. I write up the reviews and have to wait for The Philosopher Musician to edit the reviews.

Hope you enjoy!

Technorati

So I added this blog to Technorati, but somehow, while I was in the middle of writing tags, the darn thing submitted soooo....*sigh*.

I'll get back to posting very soon. Just have to get a few more reviews edited by The Philosopher Musician. I read Stitches. So look for that!

Check it out, I made a Wordle for the blog finally. I love that the characters from Love*Com are large. I also enjoy that "Read" and "Reading" are large as well. Woo!

GROG - The Good Neighbors: Book 2 - Kith

Title: The Good Neighbors: Book Two - Kith
Author: Holly Black
Illustrator: Ted Naifeh
Copyright: 2009
Price: $16.99
ISBN: 978-0-439-85563-1
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Summary: Some time has passed since Rue discovered her mother isn’t actually dead. The faerie realm is slipping more and more into the everyday world of the humans. Rue watches as her father changes, her friends change, and most importantly, her boyfriend changes. Determined to discover the truth, Rue slips into the true faerie world and find her mother alive and well, dances with her Grandfather, and learns of his plot to turn the town into a faerie paradise. Rue must determine which side she is on: Human or Faerie?
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Thoughts: While I enjoyed this title, I didn’t find it as gripping as the first book (review to come) for some reason. I suspect that the time between the publishing of the first volume and the second volume was a bit too long for me or it feels like a “middle book” so not a lot of plot occurs. The drawing and writing style is still beautiful, haunting, and high quality despite my lowered enthusiasm. I patiently await the next book in this series as I really don’t know what to expect from it.
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Will Teens Like It? High school, dark fantasy readers, although the format may not appeal to them.
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Things to be aware of: sexual implications: boy caught in van with girl, boyfriend is naked with three faeries. Minor nudity (nothing shown)

Welcome to 2010!

Happy New Year!

Last night I celebrated with a bunch of good friends, and while the night ended a little weakly, the entertainment was fun (although, I currently have some reservations about this). This morning I learned that people are still alive and not too terribly hurt.

In other news, my Twitter feed is alive with information about the CYBIL Finalists being announced. As a Y.A. Librarian, I have to look at the middle school and Y.A. categories. As a comic nerd, I have to look at the Graphic Novel list. Honestly, I like the Middle Grade list and I will be trying to read them (I like lists and always think "I'm going to read those!"). The Y.A. though, I have mixed feelings about. I totally agree with The Dreamer as it was a web comic before a book (and one I discovered through a friends blog layout of all places), but aside from Outlaw (a Junior Library Guild selection), I don't know any of these titles, even the ones that came through my "library filter." They do look interesting though and if I get a chance to read them, I'll post reviews.

Otherwise, expect more reviews in the upcoming year (graphic novels, my YA are posted at the work blog), and now that I'm following CYBIL, I will be finding my favorite graphic novel of 2010 and nominating it.