Edward Scissorhands Volume 1: Parts Unknown

Leth, K. and Rausch, D. (2015). Edward Scissorhands Volume 1: Parts Unknown. San Diego: IDW Publishing.

Graphic Novel / Fantasy / Sci-Fi

I gave this book 3 of 5 stars

(There are two covers I have seen for this book. The top one is the one that was with my ARC, but the bottom one better fits with the art in the book, I think.)

This story, in graphic novel format, picks-up many years after where the story in the movie ended. Kimberly has long since died, and her daughter and teenaged granddaughter, Megan, still live in the same town that's convinced that Edward was a monster murderer and Kimberly was insane.  Megan doesn't believe either of those things because her grandmother told her the stories about Edward and his gentle spirit and the truth about what happened all those years ago and snoops around to confirm it. Meanwhile, Edward lives, as the unfinished creation of his maker, a lonely existence in the castle where he remembers Kimberly and spends time searching through his maker's notebooks of abandoned experiments.  When he discovers and awakens another of his maker's creations, he soon realizes that the creature, whom he names Eli, is also incomplete, but Eli's thirst for finding his missing part is deadly which leads him to kidnap a boy from town.  The townspeople storm Edward's castle, sure that he is again up to his evil ways, and ignoring Megan who knows that it was Eli, not Edward who is to blame. As Edward realizes the error he made in not reading all the notes before awakening Eli, he and Megan cross paths and team-up to catch Eli before things get worse, but can they stop Eli in time or will the townspeople destroy Edward first?

Fans of the original will enjoy seeing more of Edward Scissorhands and a new storyline to follow. Kate Leth's story is creative and reasonable given where Edward lived, though there are some holes in explaining the intensity of emotions in Megan's mother; I felt like I had missed something. Equally confusing for me is Eli and his quest and actions, which are minimally explained in dialogue and hard to decipher in the illustrations.  Illustrator Drew Rausch manages to capture the expressiveness in Edward's eyes especially well, and the color scheme of blacks and purples is fitting. The cells are pretty dark and very busy, and at times I had a hard time understanding what is being shown -- especially at a critical moment between Eli and Edward.  There are completely different styles of drawings between Eli and Edward -- and even Megan -- and the other people in the story, who almost seem cartoon-ish (some of the expressions on Meg's mother's face reminded me of the Fairly Odd Parents). Perhaps this is intentional to represent the further division between the two groups? Maybe, but it detracted from the edginess readers will likely expect in this story.

Overall, it was fun to have a chance to revisit Edward Scissorhands, but I am on the fence as to whether or not this hooked me enough to read another installment. This book is probably okay for middle grade on up, but younger or sensitive readers may find Eli scary and be upset by the blood and/or the language (sacrilegious). 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an eBook copy in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give.

Remember this guy?

Manga Classics: The Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne, N. and King, S. (2015). Manga Classics: The Scarlet Letter. Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada: Udon Entertainment.

YA Literature / Classic / Manga

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars

"Was it simply that her scarlet letter sat bold upon her breast, while the sins of others were hidden in their own hearts?"

This illustrated retelling of The Scarlet Letter was very well done and will be appealing to reluctant readers and others who want to know the story without reading the novel. I can see it actually encouraging someone to read the original after finishing this manga version.  

The story is framed nicely with the addition of the 19th century discovery of the 17th century parchments which tell Hester Prynne's story.  SunNeko Lee's drawings are rich in expression and imagery -- like overlaying pages with what look like shards of glass when Hester is remembering her past -- and the drawings flow very naturally even for someone with little to no experience reading manga. It was greatly appreciated that a short, easy to follow manga tutorial was placed at the start of the book.

There were a couple of typos and minor edits needed, which I am assuming will be corrected in the final version, but overall, this was a fantastic alternative to the original novel, which stays true to Nathaniel Hawthorne's messages on hypocrisy, sin, guilt, and judgment.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an eBook proof copy of this book in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give. 

Navigating Early

Vanderpool, C. (2013). Navigating Early. NY: Random House 
            Children's Books.
Free ARC received through NetGalley -- Thanks, Random House! Release date January 8, 2013

YA Adventure

QuickNEasy, 315 pages, ages 10-14 (though older kids will enjoy it)

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads

OUTSTANDING. This is the best book I've read in a while, and I've been reading a whole lotta books lately. John is the narrator and main character of the book, but who really steals the show is Early, who could be the younger brother of Owen Meany -- or even Owen Meany himself.  These two characters are richly created and their voices are authentic, perfectly fitting for young teenaged boys.  They are flighty -- but also deep -- and most of all REAL.  They are imaginative and surprising and Early was absolutely fascinating with his quirks and perspectives.  He clearly is a genius, but he's awkward and thinks waaaay outside the box.  Probably Asberger's, but I appreciate that Vanderpool didn't try to label him as anything but unique.

John and Early are each dealing with loss, and since John is narrating, we get to feel him work through his feelings towards his dad and his mom and struggle with a broad -- and completely understandable -- range of emotions. By story's end, John has reached new conclusions about his life circumstances, and the reader just wants to hug him for getting there so well.

Navigating Early is layers of story -- really, it's several stories within a story.  This can often have disastrous results, but Vanderpool weaves the story perfectly so that everything connects, and no character is included by chance.  There are parallels that readers will love and recognize at face value, but there are also parallels that require deeper thinking.

This is a stand alone book (whoo hoo!!!) that ties-up its loose ends, makes surprising and wonderful connections, and leaves the reader with plenty of thinkin' material.

Clean-O-Meter rating is a perfect 10.  There is no vulgar language, sex, or sexual situations. There is mild violence (mostly suggested violence).  Immature readers younger than 10 could be a little scared at a few different points. 

Crossed (Match Trilogy, #2)

Condie, A. (2011). Crossed. NY: Dutton Books.
YA Lit/Dystopian, Sci Fi

I gave this 3 out of 5 Stars on Goodreads

This book felt like a placeholder because it is one as the middle book of the Matched trilogy. I'm glad that Reached (Matched #3), comes out next week so I can quickly determine if the middle book woes are quickly forgotten.

I did like that in this installment, the chapters altered between Cassia’s point of view and Ky’s point of view.  This was very helpful because Ky has a lot going on in his head that explain his actions.  If not for that, we might think he was a jerk or at a minimum, slightly off his rocker.  Xander is a character in absentia for the most part, but it’s clear that he’ll be coming back full throttle in the final book, Reached. One new and quite interesting character who is introduced is the wild and beautiful Indie.

The violence is ratcheted up a bit from Matched, but it only makes sense that it would be as this story takes place in war zones.  The book gave us a lot of background information about the formation of the Society and its original intentions, as well as a deeper look into Ky’s life.  Ky and Cassia are getting to know each other a bit, and they are both finding their own and the other’s imperfections. 

Condie does a good job of building a haze around most every character so that it’s difficult to tell who is trustworthy.  I am hoping that much of the disjointedness of characters and events will become more cohesive in the third book; hopefully these weren’t insignificant and while reading book 3, we’ll have that awesome “Aha Moment” when we’ll think ourselves so clever for remembering said insignificant detail from book 2. 

Having said all that (and my, didn’t I say it eloquently?), hoping that all the boring and disconnected stuff in this book matters in its sequel doesn’t make earn a 5 star review.  There is definitely potential for the story to kick into high gear and rock ‘n’ roll again, so I will definitely read the third book in the series.

My Clean-O-Meter rating for this book is 3.5 out of 5 (where a 5 is squeaky clean).  The violence factor is increased with lots of death – especially of children and teens, but there aren’t graphic descriptions of the actual deaths or the bodies. No vulgar language (perhaps a “d**n” or two), no sex but a fair amount of kissing which is not explained in more detail than lips being pressed together.  There is just a hint of innuendo that maybe just maybe more than kissing happens, but it’s a stretch.  And there is one situation that isn’t explained, so the reader could infer that two young people had a child together out of wedlock. 

View the book trailer - thanks Penguin!





And just a teaser for Reached, click here to see the trailer on EW.com

And if that's not enough, Ally Condie has released the first 45 pages of the book- I'm hooked!  Reached - Ally Condie - Penguin Group (USA)

Monsters of Men

Ness, P. (2010). Monsters of Men.  NY: Candlewick Press

YA Lit / Dystopian, Post-Apocolyptic

Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of the Year for Fiction (2010); Carnegie Medal in Literature (2011)

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads

This was a spectacular trilogy, and if I could do half stars, I would have given just this book 4.5 out of 5. The story and ideas and format remain original, and this third installment of Chaos Walking is a real roller coaster ride.  It gets very intense, then the intensity seems to resolve itself, and just when you’re feeling calm, you’re thrown for a loop again.  It’s like slowing to the end of the ride, when your heart stops racing and you’re beginning to recover and suddenly, you are jerked forward and going through the whole ride again.

In Monsters of Men, a third narrator voice is added, and I honestly didn’t like it.  (reason one for the 4.5) I found myself just skimming through every time this narrator came up.  I don’t think Ness could have eliminated this voice because the perspective is critical, but it just kind of bored me the way it was written.  It was probably a good thing to have that happening every so often because the rest of the book was so emotionally exhausting.  

As with the other books, there were plenty of surprises and unexpected twists – and lots of death and gore, as would be expected in battle.  Mayor Prentiss is extremely interesting in this installment. . . I just love to hate that guy.  Mistress Coyle is another character who gets even more interesting and does something very shocking and unexpected.  Actually, the Mayor does too, but I didn’t find his action as believable as Mistress Coyle’s.  Ahhh, it’s so hard to talk about this book without revealing anything. 

The second reason I made this book less than 5 out of 5 stars is the ending.  It seemed to me that perhaps the ending was done so that there would be the option of a continuation or spin-off of the series. That makes me crazy. Perhaps Ness left it the way he did so the reader could decide what happened, but I don’t like that angle.  I want a conclusion, firm and clear and it seems like most of the time, books with loose endings end up getting more sequels, and they are usually inferior.  A major character dies in Monsters of Men, and I can’t see how the series could be any good without that character in it.

As with the other two books, the Clean-O-Meter rating stays at a 3.0 – 3.5 out of 5 on the scale. It’s violent -- but it’s about war and could be way more graphic and doesn’t go there -- but there is only “substitute” swearing (for example, “effing” in lieu of the full F Bomb) and there is no sex, sexual situations, or sexual references.  It gets closer this time – there is GASP a kiss and people imagining being GASP naked with others.  (Clean-O-Meter Ratings: 1 – naughty, naughty. . . . . .5 – squeaky clean)

The trilogy’s curse is its length (over 1600 pages for the three books), and I’m afraid that will turn-off many a reader.  But if you start it, you WILL finish. 

The Whale Rider

Ihimaera, W. (2005). The Whale Rider. New Zealand: Bolinda Publishing.

YA Lit / Fantasy

I gave this 5 stars on Goodreads.

I listened to this audiobook on a recent road trip and was immediately swept up in the beautiful and engaging story.  The narrator was perfectly suited with a voice that absolutely connected me to the events. The ONLY negative comment I can make is that in listening, I had a hard time with the tribal names of people and places.  As such, I cannot tell you the names of the main characters, their tribal name, their ancestors names, or even the main town central to the story.

It doesn't matter. The story is sweeping and wonderful, with rich, deep characters with whom the reader becomes acquainted.  The writing is so good that it is painful . . . painful to be a fly on the wall and not able to shake the grandfather by the shoulders. Painful to be the little girl who aches for his love. Painful to be the whale, yearning for its connection to the ancients.  

But the story isn't all about pain. It's about respect, patience, love, compassion, family, and relationships between man and nature and the past and the present.

The  story reminds us that anyone can be a leader and that narrow thinking can have dire consequences.  It is a genuinely moving story that will stay with me a long time. 

This is gets a Super Clean rating on my clean-o-meter.  There is no obscene language, drug use or references, sexual depictions or sexual references; however, there is a fairly graphic depiction of what happens when a large group of whales beaches itself and the humans behave badly, like some humans do.