This wacky series, featuring the psychedelic art of Darin Shuler, gives a nod to past styles while creating a world all its own.
Dog, an anthropomorphic character with bright yellow skin, a pink ball balanced on the end of his snout for a nose, and two dangling ears, begins the first story by encouraging his friend, Hat, a slouchy green accessory with a face, to pick him up by the ears. He can fly! Pull harder Hat! Their story really begins with the two in the packed shop of Lady Olio. Hat is encouraging Dog to buy All the Things and they leave the shop with a bright pink bag full of random stuff. Unbeknownst to Dog, he’s had an accident in the shop and the polka dots on his shirt are disappearing, one by one. They catch sight of the dots falling down a sewer and the two friends support each other in a wild journey underground to retrieve Dog’s spots. Fortunately, the miscellany of things Dog bought in the shop come in handy, and Hat has a few bright ideas to help out as well.
In their second adventure, The Lunar Eclipse Picnic, the story starts with their new friend and roommate Ant. After a dream from his childhood, Ant is determined to visit his cousins, the Moon Ants, and Dog insists on going along, despite the objections of Hat, “The world has rules! The rules keep us safe! That’s the way it is. Or it wouldn’t be that way.” Their journey involves strange picnic food, a journey to the moon dimension, and some journeys into the past of Hat, as well as Ant and Dog, to relive their past experiences. Dog, clad in his red-on-white polka dot shirt, bright blue pants, and green apron, takes his turn at encouraging Hat and Ant to follow their dreams when they get discouraged and they have a marvelous, if odd, adventure.
Shuler’s style reminds me of children’s picture books from the 70s and 80s, like the ubiquitous Sweet Pickles stories. However, his colors are brighter and each page is positively crammed with art. Lady Olio’s shop is bursting with knick-knacks and oddments, the sky is cluttered with stars, Dog’s sink overflows with dishes, and his picnic basket overflows with strange food, like french-braided spaghetti (which turns out to be useful, as well as tasty). Colors clash and spark across the pages, from the vivid blue of Lady Olio, almost hidden behind the piles of stuff in her shop, to the militant and bright pink pig, who guards the staircase to the dream dimension. The dream bunny is a fluffy, marshmallow-like pink creation, who floats disturbingly about the room with a blank stare. Ants in shades of green, red, and brown march across the pages, and Dog’s bright red polka dots leap about from place to place in the bright muck of the sewer. The retro 70s look of the art, combined with the crowded pages and goofy, nonsensical storylines, make me a bit doubtful as to who is the correct audience for this series.
The text is laid out in a bold font and is fairly sparse and simple, with short sentences and a mostly intermediate level of vocabulary. That and the silly nature of the stories seems to make them aimed at a younger audience. However, the eclectic illustrations, crammed with bits and bobs and random articles, keep this from being workable as a book for an emerging or beginning reader; they’re simply too busy for most young readers to track the action and text simultaneously. If you have slightly older or more fluent readers who like I Spy type art and this younger style of silly, meandering story, this could be just the right selection for them.
Dog & Hat and the Lost Polka Dots, book 1 ISBN: 9781797206882
Dog & Hat and the Lunar Eclipse Picnic, book 2 ISBN: 9781797206899 By Darrin Shuler Chronicle Books, 2022
Publisher Age Rating: 6-9 NFNT Age Recommendation: Easy Readers (5-9), Middle Grade (7-11)
Every Little Kindness is a gorgeous wordless picture book that shows how a small act of kindness can spread. The book opens with a girl preparing posters of her lost dog to place around town. Along her way, she offers an apple to a street musician. A passerby sees this gesture and follows suit by picking up garbage. This action is seen by a small boy who in turn buys a balloon for a girl whose balloon has floated away. The chain of kind deeds continues throughout the book and comes full-circle when someone returns the lost dog to its owner.
The illustrations, created in pencil, ink, acrylic, and watercolor are primarily gray hues with accents of red, yellow, and blue. The city setting is muted and soft, while the doer of each kind action is highlighted with an article of red. This draws the eye to the important action in this wordless story. The effect of the color scheme is also to show how hope and beauty can be found even in dreary surroundings, or difficult situations.
Every Little Kindness is a stellar example of the power of a wordless book to communicate both a plot and theme with absolute clarity. Not only is this book a joy to experience, but it is an excellent tool for helping young people practice visual literacy. The illustrations are winsome, drawing the reader into the story of each character, especially the lost dog and its owner. Overall, this book is an excellent addition to any collection for young readers.
Every Little Kindness By Marta Bartolj Chronicle Books, 2021 ISBN: 9781797207926 Publisher Age Rating: 5-8
Death has no friends since his touch is deadly. He goes about doing his job until he is assigned Sparkles the last unicorn, who dies in an unsafe publicity stunt. Sparkles meets a giant cupcake and a dragon who explains that Sparkles must go back and fulfill the purpose of unicorns to spread joy and laughter. After a hilarious bit of back and forth, Sparkles and Death work out an agreement and a tentative friendship. Neither of them have ever had a friend before, though, and they aren’t quite sure how it works. However, they do a great job introducing each other to new things like cupcakes and videogames.
On the other hand, the Lizard Bros are aliens trying to convince humans that climate change is real and needs to be addressed. When they get no positive responses, they accept a proposal from Sparkles’ old manager to become famous in order to get their message out. When Sparkles is kidnapped to be tortured in front of a live audience, Death convinces the Lizard Bros to let them both go if they can win the Xtreme Cupcake Convention Competition, where Death and Sparkles get to show off their new friendship skills.
This was a longer book than I was anticipating at 359 pages, especially since some pages have almost no words while others are dense with text. There are plenty of fart jokes for the younger readers as well as cupcake references. I loved the way the author worked life skills into the story and how well the soft illustrations matched the tone. I wasn’t convinced that the lizard aliens added much to the overall story, but their message is a good one.
This is the first volume in a new series and it would do well in any middle school or public library. It is a good introduction to the concept of death and how to overcome its effects in everyday life by continuing to live and interact with the world. There’s also a good message about climate change hidden within that can get young readers thinking about that in their own lives.
Death & Sparkles, Vol. 1 By Rob Justus Chronicle Books, 2021 ISBN: 9781797206356 Publisher Age Rating: 10-14
NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13)
Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria love working with cars. You name it, they can fix it. But the team’s favorite cars of all are lowriders—cars that hip and hop, dip and drop, go low and slow, bajito y suavecito. The stars align when a contest for the best car around offers a prize of a trunkful of cash—just what the team needs to open their own shop! ¡Ay chihuahua! What will it take to transform a junker into the best car in the universe?
(Publisher Description)
Lowriders in Space By Cathy Camper Art By Raul the Third ISBN: 9781452128696 Chronicle Books, 2014 NFNT Age Recommendation: Tween (10-13)
Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria love working with cars. You name it, they can fix it. But the team’s favorite cars of all are lowriders—cars that hip and hop, dip and drop, go low and slow, bajito y suavecito. The stars align when a contest for the best car around offers a prize of a trunkful of cash—just what the team needs to open their own shop! ¡Ay chihuahua! What will it take to transform a junker into the best car in the universe? Striking, unparalleled art from debut illustrator Raul the Third recalls ballpoint-pen-and-Sharpie desk-drawn doodles, while the story is sketched with Spanish, inked with science facts, and colored with true friendship. With a glossary at the back to provide definitions for Spanish and science terms, this delightful book will educate and entertain in equal measure. (Publisher description)
Lowriders in Space By Cathy Camper Art by Raul the Third ISBN: 9781452128696 Chronicle Books, 2014 NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16)
“If you write and draw, you just need a pen and a notebook. And a good pair of shoes.” Attributed to Anton Chekhov, this idea flows throughout Japanese Notebooks, a graphic novel from the artist known simply as Igort. With equal parts journal, multi-media scrapbook and existential musings, the book succeeds as both a captivating memoir and meditation on Japanese culture.
Thanks to a chance meeting with a representative from the Tokyo-based manga publisher Kodansha, Igort had the opportunity to experience the grueling life of a manga creator first hand through a scholarship that allowed him to work and live in Tokyo for six months during the early ’90s. His time spent there forms the foundation for Japanese Notebooks. Whether visiting a Shinto shrine, connecting with renowned manga creators like Yoshiro Tatsumi and Jiro Taniguchi, or contemplating apparent contradictions in Japanese culture such as its long traditions of both violent war and peaceful meditation; Igort reveals a multi-layered Japan that often lies just beyond his grasp as he tries to capture it through text and image. In the words of the artist himself, “This book is the story of chasing a dream, and surrendering upon finding that dreams cannot be grasped.”
This quest for meaning is a solitary one, and Igort conveys his isolation visually through multipaneled frames that often feature a lone figure engulfed by his surroundings. I was struck by the emptiness of such spaces, especially the almost vacant Tokyo streets and public buildings that should be brimming with the hustle and bustle of large city life. Igort’s choice of color palette also parallels the action and emotion within the storyline, with bold primary colors adding intensity to illustrations and photographs of troubling societal issues while soft tans, greens and yellows convey the calm of the natural world. In other instances, the switch to a monochromatic color scheme effectively demarcates sub-narratives and samplings of other work. Different stylistic renderings, ranging from noir to cinematic to more traditional Japanese artistry, further differentiate story threads and flashbacks. Igort also showcases his versatility through realistic sketches that capture intimate portraits of the people he meets and the historical figures he studies while in Japan.
For readers interested in gaining a behind-the-scenes perspective of manga and graphic novel production, Igort provides insight into the amount of work and commitment required, examples of ground-breaking artists and the methods they use to create their craft. The inclusion of editorial critiques also serve as great instructional tidbits for aspiring writers and illustrators to absorb. Of course, Igort does not always follow the rules, instead pushing the format’s boundaries. I appreciated the subtle humor behind his decision to place a frame in which his editor advises him to use text sparingly near subsequent text-heavy pages. And it works.
Because the graphic novel contains nudity and addresses violent topics such as rape and murder, it is more appropriate for older audiences. Igort treats all subject matter sensitively, and recommendations to younger readers should be made on a case-by-case basis for those interested in graphic novel creation, the manga industry, and Japanese culture or history. The opportunity to explore a multi-layered Japan, as well as Igort’s personal experiences and insights, make for a worthwhile and enlightening read.
Japanese Notebooks: A Journey to the Empire of Signs by Igort ISBN: 9781452158709 Chronicle Books LLC, 2017
Genie, a purr-fect orange cat, has disappeared after a series of earthquakes. Lupe Impala, Elirio Malaria, and El Chavo Octopus must close their garage and follow tiny paw prints to track down their missing furr-end. Along the way they discover more than they bargained for: a giant corn maze, a tricky coyote, a weeping mother, and Mictlantecuhtli: the Aztec god of the Underworld. The Lowriders must rely on their mechanical skill and creative thinking to outwit their latest foe.
Lowriders to the Center of the Earth is the punny, adventure-filled sequel to Lowriders in Space. The series follows the adventures of three best friends/mechanics as they navigate their world in their tricked out ranfla, or lowriding car. Spanish phrases are seamlessly integrated into the text, adding cultural flavor and making the story more fun to read. Readers may well find themselves reading out loud—I certainly did! Translations for the text are offered at the bottom of each page, while a handy glossary of all terms and phrases can be found at the back of the book.
I love puns and Lowriders to the Center of the Earth is full of ‘em. English puns, Spanish puns, and BILINGUAL PUNS! Camper does an excellent job of writing dialogue that seems naturally bi-lingual; it’s never awkward or forced. Conversations feel authentic and characters are well developed. Science and cultural history are also interwoven into the story. While the three mechanics are on their journey, they encounter geology lessons, Aztec myths, Mexican wrestling, and a Day of the Dead celebration. The narrative almost resembles a Magic School Bus plot, albeit one that is hipper, a little edgier, and infused with Latino culture.
The coolest thing about the artwork is that it was created using a humble material: ballpoint pen. Raul the Third’s drawings have great detail and a street art flair. Some of the coolest panels combine Aztec imagery with Mexican wrestling Lucha Libre costuming. The colors are simple and effective; blue, red, and black pop off of the cream colored pages. The drawings are stylized like notebook doodles but sophisticated enough propel the story forward. Young readers might be inspired to create their own ballpoint comics!
Teachers and librarians might be interested in sharing the downloadable activity kit that accompanies Lowriders to the Center of the Earth (http://www.chroniclebooks.com/landing-pages/pdfs/Lowriders_ActivityKit.pdf). The kit includes a Spanish language activity, drawing activity, and comic creation activity. Put some printouts on a table with pens and paper and you have an instant activity station!
“Bajito y suavecito” (low and slow) might be the way Lupe, Elirio, and El Chavo travel, but it’s not the way this graphic novel reads. Although Lowriders to the Center of the Earth is a sequel to Lowriders in Space (2014), the story can stand alone, leaving readers furiously flipping pages to find out if these amigos will rescue their gato and get their ranfla back to the garage!
Lowriders in Space; Lowriders to the Center of the Earth, Book 2 by Cathy Camper Art by Raul the Third ISBN: 9781452123431 Chronicle Books, 2016 Publisher Age Rating: 8-12
It’s always a busy day at Cartinflas Used Cars/Carros Usados. Lupe Impala (mechanic extraordinaire), Elirio Malaria (small, winged, and talented detailer), and Flapjack Octopus (fastest car washer north of the Salton Sea), exemplify teamwork in all that they do and the customers appreciate it; too bad that their boss is a jerk. They hope someday to save enough money to open their own shop. And they want a car to get around in—”They’d seen some cars blast by fast…and others that could shift and drift… but they wanted a car that would go low and slow…bajito y suavecito.” They don’t get paid a lot, so their best chance, as they see it, is to to use their teamwork, talents, and free resources to win the Universal Car Competition, “the most mechanically inventive, exquisitely detailed cosmic car wins!”
In Cathy Camper and Raúl the Third’s world, the streets are filled with dust, faded signs, and anthropomorphic creatures. The pages of Lowriders in Space are textured and faux stained by coffee, setting up a base layer of worn-in atmosphere. The panels and characters are drawn in shades of black, blue, and red, like a tri-color ballpoint pen wielded by a very imaginative and car-obsessed Mexican-American dreamer. It’s gritty and hopeful, sparkles shine out from under a layer of dirt, and street art and old-school handpainted billboard art inflect style that matches the tone of the tale.
Throughout the book, Lupe, Elirio, and Flapjack joyfully code-switch, and their Spanish phrases are translated in footnotes and a glossary at the back. The friends have to travel far beyond their streets to find the key to winning the Universal Car Competition. In search of the perfect steering wheel they embark on a cosmic journey through the universe, powered by old rocket parts found in an abandoned airfield. Their lowrider whooshes and flames, and they meet every small bump in the road with a smile and a can-do attitude.
The joyfulness of Lowriders in Space, partnered with its matter of fact embrace of Mexican-American culture, makes it a shoo-in for younger readers who want to read something with some diversity and a great sense of fun. They’ll have a blast taking in all the details of the cityscapes, learning some Spanish vocabulary and phrases beyond what they got in Dora, and maybe have an urge to help wash the family car afterwards. And as the title page states that this is Book One, hopefully this is not the end of Lupe, Elirio, and Flapjack’s adventures.
Lowriders in Space, volume 1 by Cathy Camper Art by Raúl the Third ISBN: 9781452128696 Chronicle Books, 2014 Publisher Age Rating: Ages 8-14
Okay, so I very rarely buy books anymore. But, when I started reading my library’s copy of Tim Leong’s book of comics facts and figures told through charts and diagrams, I knew that I must have it for always and forever in my personal collection. Super Graphic: a Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe is a book that readers will return to again and again.
Leong, founder of my favorite now-defunct comics publication, Comic Foundry, put together this visual guide full of interesting topics that readers didn’t even know they wanted to know more about. Wondering who’s who in Sin City? Well, a bubble chart will spell it out for you. Want to know more about the multiple Earths that exist in the DC Universe? A two-page spread of the multiverse will let you know that we live on New Earth and Batman is a vampire on Earth 43. And, it’s not all superhero information, either – there is a Chris Ware sadness scale and a line graph mapping oppression and rebellion in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. My favorite? A network diagram leading us through a “If You Were the Punisher, What Would You Do” situation. Spoiler alert – “kill him” is always the answer.
This book will appeal to all readers due to the extremely fun, visual nature that the book imparts in addition to the fact that Tim’s book doesn’t contain information about really specialized or specific areas of the genre. In other words, the comic book references throughout are pretty mainstream and will be easily understood and appreciated by both dedicated comics fans and readers who are only vaguely aware of their existence.
Each subject, shown in graph or chart form over a one or two-page spread, is somehow related to comics or the industry itself. Flipping through the book, readers will see that this reading adventure will be a totally visual experience. Everything contained within is very colorful, bright, and cleverly indicative of the subject matter. For example, an “Archer Appeal” section, comparing DC’s Green Arrow and Marvel’s Hawkeye, is done through using bullseyes and the characters’ respective colors to spotlight all the different arrows both archers use. A pie chart depicting the Gotham City Police Department’s utility bill ends up looking like the Bat-Signal.
Super Graphic is a dense book full of fun facts, interesting tidbits, and informational panels. Every topic is represented by interesting and eye-catching graphs and charts, and readers really must see it to believe it. This well-designed and researched book is a great addition to other reference materials on comics and manga such as DK’s DC and Marvel encyclopedias.
Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe by Tim Leong ISBN: 9781452113883 Chronicle Books, 2013
Bud just moved with his dad to New Mexico, where his dad will now be in charge of a new Radio Telescope Lab. The worst part about moving is starting a new school. On the first day he manages to catch the wrong bus — a bus that takes him to an intergalactic school named Cosmos Academy attended by aliens. Bud never counted on being the only human at his school, especially at a school where students are taught that their number one enemy is Earthlings! The only one who figures out that Bud is an Earthling is his new friend, Gort. Gort doesn’t see what the big deal is about Earthlings; Bud seems friendly enough. Together they do their best to hide Bud’s true identity while trying to figure out a way to get Bud home. Add in a myriad of colorful and eccentric alien characters and you get a romping good time in outer space.
First off, the cover is very appealing, with monsters chasing a kid in outer space with a flying bus in the background. Lots of kids are going to pick this up due to the colorful cover and the whole book being in color is a huge bonus. The story has aliens, sports (a really cool game called ZeroBall), friendship, and your average school setting. The story of alien abduction isn’t a new premise, but adding a school setting makes this a fresh story. The artwork is detailed and colorful, and even the scary aliens aren’t really that scary. This will be a favorite for fans of Amulet and Bad Island.
Earthling! by Mark Fearing ISBN: 9781452109060 Chronicle Books, 2012
This wacky series, featuring the psychedelic art of Darin Shuler, gives a nod to past styles while creating a world all its own.
Death has no friends since his touch is deadly. He goes about doing his job until he is assigned Sparkles the last unicorn, who dies in an unsafe publicity stunt. Sparkles meets a giant cupcake and a dragon who explains that Sparkles must go back and fulfill the purpose of unicorns to spread joy and laughter. After a hilarious bit of back and forth, Sparkles and Death work out an agreement and a tentative friendship. Neither of them have ever had a friend before, though, and they aren’t quite sure how it works. However, they do a great job introducing each other to new things like cupcakes and videogames.
Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria love working with cars. You name it, they can fix it. But the team’s favorite cars of all are lowriders—cars that hip and hop, dip and drop, go low and slow, bajito y suavecito. The stars align when a contest for the best car around offers a prize of a trunkful of cash—just what the team needs to open their own shop! ¡Ay chihuahua! What will it take to transform a junker into the best car in the universe? Striking, unparalleled art from debut illustrator Raul the Third recalls ballpoint-pen-and-Sharpie desk-drawn doodles, while the story is sketched with Spanish, inked with science facts, and colored with true friendship. With a glossary at the back to provide definitions for Spanish and science terms, this delightful book will educate and entertain in equal measure.
“If you write and draw, you just need a pen and a notebook. And a good pair of shoes.” Attributed to Anton Chekhov, this idea flows throughout Japanese Notebooks, a graphic novel from the artist known simply as Igort. With equal parts journal, multi-media scrapbook and existential musings, the book succeeds as both a captivating memoir and meditation on Japanese culture.
“You’ve GATO be KITTEN me!”
It’s always a busy day at Cartinflas Used Cars/Carros Usados. Lupe Impala (mechanic extraordinaire), Elirio Malaria (small, winged, and talented detailer), and Flapjack Octopus (fastest car washer north of the Salton Sea), exemplify teamwork in all that they do and the customers appreciate it; too bad that their boss is a jerk. They hope someday to save enough money to open their own shop. And they want a car to get around in—”They’d seen some cars blast by fast…and others that could shift and drift… but they wanted a car that would go low and slow…bajito y suavecito.” They don’t get paid a lot, so their best chance, as they see it, is to to use their teamwork, talents, and free resources to win the Universal Car Competition, “the most mechanically inventive, exquisitely detailed cosmic car wins!”
