My Name is Mina by D. Almond

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Roche
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
Illustrated Books ◽  
Page Design

Almond, David. My Name is Mina. New York: Delacourt Press, 2010. Print. My Name is Mina is a prequel to Almond’s award winning book Skellig - a work for young adult readers that is very exceptional and magical. It is understandable that Almond would wish to return to the character of Mina who, while not the protagonist of Skellig, provides the narrative with its essential element of magical thinking. Mina brings to Skellig its intense, idiosyncratic intelligence and comprehension of lived personal tragedy that give the book its substance and its characters' motivational credibility and willing credulity in the face of mystery and uncertainty. Almond explores Mina's unquenchable creative fire and curiosity in My Name is Mina and has created an unstructured and visually dynamic narrative to try to capture and communicate her voice. In the broad field of literature for young adults Almond is somewhat of a "writer's writer" - unafraid of experimentation with narrative structure and continuity and adept with the abstract presentation of challenging subject matter such as death, post-traumatic stress disorder and, perhaps most provocatively for young adult readers, the general helplessness of adults in controlling the world and themselves. My Name is Mina is a very mindfully structured book with excellent page design that takes the narrative to another level of resonance. Mina applies her prodigious imagination, fuelled by her staunch autonomy and her mother's whimsical but always reassuring presence, to coping with her father's death. Her adventures real and (perhaps) imagined are terrifying, ecstatic and revelatory visions, all described by Almond with an incisive clarity. Almond bridges the sublime and the mundane, transitioning with intuitive ease from conveying how truly exceptional Mina is to exploring her shortcomings, vanity and failings. It's an astonishingly adept and very intimate exploration of character that communicates an inescapable sense of universality. Mina is simultaneously both utterly iconoclastic and completely one with the reader.Highly Recommended : 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Matilda Roche Matilda spends her days lavishing attention on the University of Alberta’s metadata but children’s illustrated books, literature for young adults and graphic novels also make her heart sing. Her reviews benefit from the critical influence of a four year old daughter and a one year old son – both geniuses. Matilda’s super power is the ability to read comic books aloud.

scholarly journals I Must Have Bobo! by E. Rosenthal

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Roche
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
Illustrated Books ◽  
The Family ◽  
Visual Text ◽  
One Year ◽  
Page Design ◽  
The University ◽  
Adult Reader

Rosenthal, Eileen. I Must Have Bobo! Illus. Marc Rosenthal. New York: Atheneum Books, 2010. Print. Perhaps I was expecting something more giddily nostalgia-smitten because I initially found the page layouts of I Must Have Bobo! too sparse. I came to realize the effectiveness of I Must Have Bobo! lies in its light aesthetic touch and refusal to indulge in hectic retro-pastiche. The page design could occasionally benefit from more balance between the negative space of the page and the illustrations’ carefully considered spatial dynamics and measured use of colour but it’s hard to begrudge more attention being drawn to the lovely, warm ivory paper on which the book is printed.While an adult reader may be tempted, as I was, to lazily conflate complexity with quality, a clean minimalist visual text can assist younger children in accessing a narrative more autonomously. As my children (two and four years of age) quickly familiarized themselves with I Must Have Bobo! the book’s charm and immediacy became apparent.I Must Have Bobo! restricts its text to dialogue and as children learn the text they can indulge in the gleeful pleasure of repeating the protagonist Willy’s simple but emphatic words. Even a very young child can become engaged in Willy’s endless efforts to keep his beloved stuffed monkey Bobo away from Earl, the family cat who is equally attached to Bobo for his own mysterious reasons. Earl appropriates Bobo at every opportunity and the book centres on Willy’s efforts to retain and relocate Bobo as he migrates around the house with Earl.An astute and playful book that maintains a respectful adherence to children’s sensibilities and narrative interests, “I Must Have Bobo!” is understatedly, intuitively appropriate for very early to late pre-school readers.Highly recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Matilda RocheMatilda spends her days lavishing attention on the University of Alberta’s metadata but children’s illustrated books, literature for young adults and graphic novels also make her heart sing. Her reviews benefit from the critical influence of a four year old daughter and a one year old son – both geniuses. Matilda’s super power is the ability to read comic books aloud.

scholarly journals The Enchantress by S. Michael

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Roche
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Late Stage ◽  
Comic Books ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Illustrated Books ◽  
Intrinsic Motivations ◽  
One Year ◽  
The University

Scott, Michael. The Enchantress, New York : Delacourte Press , 2012. Print. Michael Scott's sixth, and final, book in his Nicholas Flamel series crashes to its conclusion with The Enchantress. Credit is due to Scott for colourfully evoking and drawing together many of the very interesting figures and cultural artifacts from history and mythology but in conception his books can be overtaxing. Reading the glib dialogue between Shakespeare and Prometheus as their saucer-shaped air craft, a Vimāna, is piloted into the side of the Yggdrasil tree doesn't strain credulity - this is a fantasy adventure - so much as it tramples vigorously on any sense of cohesive aesthetics. While the essential conceit is fun and entertaining, at this frenetic late stage in the series, many portions of the text read like an over-thought riff on "who I would invite to have tea/mead/drink blood together if I could choose anyone - including anyone imaginary". The strength in this series comes from Scott's characterizations. The women in this series benefit particularly from Scott's ability to combine momentum and brevity with enthusiastically lively and rich depiction. Perenelle Flamel, Virginia Dare and Scatach have genuine presence and the narrative hinges on their impressive abilities and intrinsic motivations. Scott's principals could benefit from a little more corporeal vulnerability. All his characters have trained in their respective arts for millennia and the perils that they face seems less then perilous to such champions, no matter how high the stakes are alleged to be. Scott's carefully structured universes and their integral relationships have always been on a mysterious trajectory and the narrative revelation at conclusion of The Enchantress is resonant and satisfying. It has formulaic elements but Scott has established his characters soundly enough that their presence lends immediacy to the more epic, mythological structures that Scott is simultaneously pursuing. While the quality of pacing and aesthetic of this ambitious and lengthy series have fluctuated over the course of its six volumes, the conclusion is cohesive, action-packed and worth the journey. The Enchantress is the sixth and final book in Scott's The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. Recommended with reservations:  2 out of 4 starsReviewer: Matilda RocheMatilda spends her days lavishing attention on the University of Alberta’s metadata but children’s illustrated books, literature for young adults and graphic novels also make her heart sing. Her reviews benefit from the critical influence of a four year old daughter and a one year old son – both geniuses. Matilda’s super power is the ability to read comic books aloud.

Junonia by K. Henkes

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Roche
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Illustrated Books ◽  
Children's Book ◽  
The Individual

Henkes, Kevin. Junonia. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2011. Print. Henkes’ carefully considered novel for young adults, Junonia, showcases his ability to convey depth of emotion very clearly and intuitively. Going against the truism that children’s book illustrations have to represent the characters, the beautiful and restrained illustrations evoke the archetypal woodcut illustrations of vintage children’s books without descending into nostalgic kitsch. Both word and illustration contribute to Henkes’ candid and clear-eyed depictions of the natural world and the exterior manifestations of the characters’ inner lives. The story unfolds as Alice Rice returns with her parents to Sanibel Island in Florida for their annual winter holiday and to celebrate her tenth birthday. Henkes has a deft narrative grasp of the unknowability of the individual, both to themselves and others; an aspect of the human condition that young people experience particularly acutely. In Henkes’ books for younger readers, there are gentle and empathetic adults present to help children negotiate the complexity of the world and their own feelings. However, Junonia is for older children and its protagonist is beginning the process of learning to navigate and master her own feelings and expectations. While supportive adults are present, they can only offer Alice a limited degree of benevolent protection from the realities of the passage of time and the vagaries of human emotions. While the subject of the book is transition to, and reconciliation with, a more adult-level of self-awareness, the book never seems maudlin and retains a very lucid and almost austere tone. Junonia is an immersive and lovely introduction to literature created with the intent to closely follow the interior monologues of its characters. One could imagine moving on to Mrs Dalloway rather effortlessly. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Matilda RocheMatilda spends her days lavishing attention on the University of Alberta’s metadata but children’s illustrated books, literature for young adults and graphic novels also make her heart sing. Her reviews benefit from the critical influence of a four year old daughter and a one year old son – both geniuses. Matilda’s super power is the ability to read comic books aloud.

scholarly journals Virginia Wolf by K. Maclear.

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Roche
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Virginia Woolf ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Illustrated Books ◽  
One Year ◽  
Page Design ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Different Levels

Maclear, Kyo. Virginia Wolf. Illus. Isabelle Arsenault. Toronto : Kids Can Press, 2010. Print. Vanessa awakes one morning to find her sister, Virginia, transformed. Virginia is not herself. She has become furtive and embittered, snippy and distinctly wolfish. While Isabelle Arsenault's illustrations have a consistent prettiness and amiable levity, the ambiguous and slightly sinister nature of Virginia's' transformation is undeniable. Kyo Maclear's narrative balances how children will interpret the change that has come over Virginia and Vanessa's attempts to return her sister to herself and how adults will understand the allusions to depression and alienation. Virginia is literally - in the context of a child's understanding and the illustrations - a wolf in an archetypal little girl's dress. She is also genuinely frightening in the depths and intensity of her withdrawal and this gives Virginia Wolf a lovely little frisson of fairy tale dread. Vanessa perseveres in trying to redeem her sister and rescue her from her dour transformation. It is creativity, honesty of self-expression and love that eventually reestablish the sister's rapport. As Maclear elegantly conveys, accompanied by an inspired and expressive page design, “Down became up. Dim became bright. Gloom became glad.” Inspired by Maclear's creative interpretation of the relationship between Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell, the story can be enjoyed at many different levels. The reader can certainly intuit how much the writer and artist enjoy each other’s work and are relishing the imaginative potential of their subject matter. The layered complexity of the text is enriched by the intuitive collaboration between artist and writer evident in the evocative text and toothsomely vivid illustrations.Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Matilda Roche Matilda spends her days lavishing attention on the University of Alberta’s metadata but children’s illustrated books, literature for young adults and graphic novels also make her heart sing. Her reviews benefit from the critical influence of a four year old daughter and a one year old son – both geniuses. Matilda’s super power is the ability to read comic books aloud.

The Dark and Hollow Places by C. Ryan

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Roche
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Descriptive Complexity ◽  
Illustrated Books ◽  
Emotional Relationships ◽  
Living Dead ◽  
One Year ◽  
The University

Ryan, Carrie.  The Dark and Hollow Places, New York: Delacorte Press, 2011. Print.The statement "You don't understand!" is quite probably true when you are a teenage survivor in a post-apocalyptic zombie dystopia. Carrie Ryan does occasionally employ some very typical teenage truisms in her efforts to make the reader comprehend and feel all the varieties of potential duress zombie apocalypses might create in young adults. ("You don't understand!" is actually part of one of the few, fraught exchanges.) But if the dialogue can be a bit stilted there is very little of it and that seems to be part of Ryan's intent. Her characters are isolated and traumatized. They struggle against their well-founded sense of nihilism as they shake off their stoicism. Annah, the protagonist, finds herself inexorably drawn into emotional relationships despite knowing the living dead are everywhere, waiting to feast on the living, and that many in the dwindling herds of the healthy are not to be trusted.The devolving world Annah negotiates is conveyed through her interior dialogue, which is entirely steeped in her myopic self-loathing, until she is drawn into a small community of other survivors who, despite their shortcomings, represent the last vestiges of humanity who are still ethically-grounded and emotionally alive. Ryan lavishes much attention on the stark details and doesn't shrink from describing the lurid nuances of her world's unceasing violent and melancholy perils. The pacing can be a bit laborious; Ryan favours the stricken, suspenseful crawl of internalized dread over the rush of descriptive action. The Dark and Hollow Places is a zombie dystopia about the feelings of its survivors and Ryan places her principals in situations that create wrenching dilemmas which lead to unpredictable outcomes. More the pity that Annah and her friends never become particularly interesting. Their motivations are clearly mapped and all their damage laid before us but they fail to cohere in the imagination as multifaceted individuals. There is not enough descriptive complexity beyond the essential narrative mechanics to make the characters convincingly quicken to life. The Dark and Hollow Places is the final book in Ryan's Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy. Recommended with reservations:  2 out of 4 starsReviewer: Matilda RocheMatilda spends her days lavishing attention on the University of Alberta’s metadata but children’s illustrated books, literature for young adults and graphic novels also make her heart sing. Her reviews benefit from the critical influence of a four year old daughter and a one year old son – both geniuses. Matilda’s super power is the ability to read comic books aloud.

scholarly journals Review of Firmston, Stupid

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 227
Author(s):  
W. John Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
High Interest

Kim Firmton’s (2014) Stupid is ostensibly a high interest low vocabulary (hi-low) novel marketed primarily to young adult readers, and particularly to young adults who experience reading more linguistically complex texts as difficult.

scholarly journals IN VIA VERITAS. IRINA BOGATYREVA

2018 ◽  
pp. 54-65
Author(s):  
M. Lebedeva
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Emerging Adulthood ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
Keen Interest ◽  
Russian Author ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Psychological Studies

In this review of the novels and stories by the contemporary Russian author I. Bogatyreva, winner of numerous literary awards, including The Student Booker 2016, the critic highlights the principal motifs of her plots, including the motif of travel, pilgrimage, and the search of a certain human common ground: be it age, philosophy, or nationality. The paper also examines the chronotope and the writer’s use of mythological allusions, which permeate both her historical and modern day-based novels, only to conclude that ‘emerging adulthood’, a term from the psychological studies of young adults, is the most apt way to describe Bogatyreva’s prose. That the writer maintains keen interest in the subject is not only because of her role as ‘a real master of innovation in young Russian prose’ (quoted from the blurb on the cover of her prize-winning novel Kadyn), but due to its relevance for contemporary young adult readers, themselves in search of their models growing up and their future destiny.

Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
First Century ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Secondary Classrooms ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Children And Young Adults

One of the most significant transformations in literature for children and young adults during the last twenty years has been the resurgence of comics. Educators and librarians extol the benefits of comics reading, and increasingly, children's and young adult comics and comics hybrids have won major prizes, including the Printz Award and the National Book Award. Despite the popularity and influence of children's and young adult graphic novels, the genre has not received adequate scholarly attention. This book offers a critical examination of children's and YA comics. The anthology is divided into five sections: structure and narration; transmedia; pedagogy; gender and sexuality; and identity, that reflect crucial issues and recurring topics in comics scholarship during the twenty-first century. The chapters analyze a variety of contemporary comics, including such highly popular series as Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Lumberjanes; Eisner award-winning graphic novels by Gene Luen Yang, Nate Powell, Mariko Tamaki, and Jillian Tamaki; as well as volumes frequently challenged for use in secondary classrooms, such as Raina Telgemeier's Drama and Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

scholarly journals Cats' Night Out by C. Stutson

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Roche
Keyword(s):  
Picture Book ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Low Contrast ◽  
Illustrated Books ◽  
Visual Text ◽  
One Year ◽  
Page Design ◽  
The University

Stutson, Caroline. Cats’ Night Out. Jon Klassen.  Illus. Toronto: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Print.   This is an immediately appealing and well designed book – a pleasing convergence of balanced palettes and retro details. Sophisticated and stylish little urban cats cavort throught an overview of twentieth century dance styles against the backdrop of an understatedly cool Gotham night. The minimal text is mindfully integrated into the page design and its counting rhyme cadence comes to an enjoyable visually unstructured, cartoonish climax. When I read Cats’… to myself I was concerned that it shared one short coming with other attractive children’s books. Did the level of textual comprehension required, complexity of the popular culture references and the dark, low contrast palette cohere into a narrative and visual text that is holistically appropriate for a particular children’s age group? It’s discouraging when artful and ambitious books elude toddlers and preschool age audiences while seeming too simplistic to older children to offer sufficient engagement. Such books wash over children leaving them unmoved. Creating a beautiful picture book - which Cats’ Night Out certainly is - is a great accomplishment. Creating a picture book that is beautiful and that is truly directed at and calibrated for children is even more challenging. I knew that Cats’ Night Out would please discerning adults but, what little sartorialist cat-lover and junior aficionado of dance and monochromatic retro architecture would have an affinity for this book? Well, as it turns out, my four year old loves it and goes back through the book  to examine all the details and explain which shoes, clothes and colours are the best and ask me baffling questions about “polka dotted Swiss” (I had to look it up – it’s a vintage fabric style). Very well done,  indeed. Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Matilda RocheMatilda spends her days lavishing attention on the University of Alberta’s metadata but children’s illustrated books, literature for young adults and graphic novels also make her heart sing. Her reviews benefit from the critical influence of a four year old daughter and a one year old son – both geniuses. Matilda’s super power is the ability to read comic books aloud.

scholarly journals Steampunk! ed. by K. Link and G. J. Grant

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Roche
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Illustrated Books ◽  
The Rich ◽  
One Year ◽  
The University ◽  
Do So

Link, Kelly, and Gavin J. Grant, eds. Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories. Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2011. Print. It's interesting to consider the steampunk trend in contrast with the steampunk genre. If one defines steampunk strictly as a trend then it would be easy to assume that it has reached and surpassed its pinnacle as a popular trend (and certainly a hipster one) after having reached a plateau of modest public awareness. All the gears, brass and buckles associated with its afficionados have been lightly mocked and the world has moved on. It might be easy to forget that, as a literary genre, steampunk has a genuine durability. Steampunk been around sparking writers’ and artists’ creative imaginations for some time and it seems probable that it will continue to do so as the more clichéd charms of the trend’s most recent manifestations fade. The diversity and quality of the stories included in Steampunk! are an indication of the rich and entertaining possibilities inherent in the genre. The stories range in subject from post-feminist-western-train-heist-with-time-travel (Last Ride of the Glory Girls, by Libba Bray) to Edwardian-romance-with-robots (Everything Amiable and Obliging, by Holly Black) and mechanical-Dickensian-doppelgangers (Clockwork Fagin, by Cory Doctorow). All these stories are mischievous and riveting action-packed fun. Co-editor, Kelly Link (The Summer People) and M.T. Anderson's (The Oracle Engine) contributions - utterly different from the previously mentioned stories and from each other - adeptly employ calculated pacing and succeed in being subtly sinister and thought-provoking. There are even two compelling, and again, completely different, graphic novels thrown into the mix (Seven Days Beset by Demons, by Shawn Cheng and Finishing School, by Kathleen Jennings). Steampunk is a genre infatuated with the novelty of conflating ideas and aesthetics from different periods of history, curiosity about technology and a precocious desire to upend conventional narrative and characterization. Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories benefits from the astute and mindful curation by its editors, avoids seeming over-thought and stilted, and succeeds in illustrating how steampunk as a genre is very amendable to imaginative and (mildly) transgressive literature for young adults. I'm at great pains to avoid the word "mash-up" but that is a bit of what steampunk is; a unconstrained, tart and pulpy mash of genres. Steampunk! is an exuberant and convincing sampling and a reminder not to dismiss the genre along with the fashion aviator’s goggles. Highly Recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Matilda RocheMatilda spends her days lavishing attention on the University of Alberta’s metadata but children’s illustrated books, literature for young adults and graphic novels also make her heart sing. Her reviews benefit from the critical influence of a four year old daughter and a one year old son – both geniuses. Matilda’s super power is the ability to read comic books aloud.

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