Wednesday, February 3, 2010

GROG - Hikaruo No Go Vol. 1


Title: Hikaru No Go Vol. 1
Author: Yumi Hotta
Illustrator: Takeshi Obata
Copyright: 2004 (1998 Japan)
Price: $7.95
ISBN: 1-59116-222-x
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Summary: Hikaru Shindo is your average Japanese sixth grader looking to make an extra dollar or two. One day, as he is rooting through his grandfather’s attic, he comes upon an old, stained Go board. Only Hikaru can see the stains and as he cleans the stains, he releases the ghost of Fujiwara-no-Sai, an ancient Go master and tutor to the emperor. Hikaru, thinking that there’d be no harm, agrees to Sai becoming part of his consciousness, but Sai wants to play Go every day. How can Hikaru play Go when he doesn’t even know or like the game?
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Thoughts: Hikaru No Go is connected to the popular Manga magazine Shonen Jump. This title is a fun read, even for those who don’t know the game Go. Hikaru is your typical selfish sixth grader who is starting to discover girls, which I found really funny, despite his best friend being a girl. This title has been fairly popular and rightly so as Hikaru tries to learn what makes Go players so intense. A solid read for middle school teens.
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Will Teens Like It? Probably. There is enough stuff happening in the plot around the Go games that if teens don’t understand it, they’ll look away.
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Things to be aware of: Nothing!
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Bonus:  This is a title I’d recommend a middle school library looking into. While there are your usual teen antics, there’s nothing dirty or inappropriate.

The copy I read was a library copy.

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