Lizjonesbooks

Sue Eves (pixzzzart )tagged me for this one--
Thanks, Sue!
Haven't done one of these in awhile!

The rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to Sue's blog once you've posted your three sentences.

Mostly what I have sitting here are art books.
But I do have one!


My copy has a kind of ragged dust jacket, but the illustrations in this edition are lovely! If you haven't had the pleasure of reading the Oz books (there are dozens!) you owe it to yourself to find a few. While the movie was wonderful in its own way, there's so much more going on in the stories.

So:
"So that when Dorothy walked across the floor she stumbled over the bar, not being able to see it, and fell at full length. She was not much hurt, but in her fall one of the Silver Shoes came off, and before she could reach it the Witch had snatched it away and put it on her own skinny foot.
The wicked woman was greatly pleased with the success of her trick, for as long as she had one of the shoes, she owned half the power of their charm, and Dorothy could not use it against her, even had she known how to do so.
The little girl, seeing she had lost one of her pretty shoes, grew angry, and said to the Witch, "Give me back my shoe!"
"I will not," retorted the Witch, "for it is now my shoe, and not yours."

So, now I tag:

cocoskeeper  
fandoria  
darklingwoods  
whiskersink  
tltrent  

(and sincerely hope they haven't already been tagged-- if so, don't worry about it!)

And I tag *you* if you're reading this and want to play!



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I've been reading a book on the Ancient Celts this week, and so have taken my subject choice from the stories. This is an image of Cernunnos, Celtic god of the forest and abundance. I've based this on a cave drawing of a human-stag figure from 13,000 BC. It predates stories of Cernunnos, but fits nicely from a symbolic angle.

With the forest greening around us, and the fruit trees giving every indication of making this year abundant-- he seemed like the logical choice!

Disaster can be an impetus to growth. Forest fires leave a devastated landscape, true-- but in a few months, the land rejoices. The green is greener and more lush. Seeds that lay waiting in the soil for years are finally cracked open by the intense heat, and begin to sprout.

If you survive the fires in your life, you have many good things to look forward to.
You have only to keep moving to find them.

“ What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying
down.” –Mary Pickford

During all the misery of the past week on the farm, there was one bright spot-- I won copies of all the books (so far) in Tiffany Trent(tltrent)'s Hallowmere series. I was delighted to have something good to look forward to. I was still in bed with flu the day they arrived and too dizzy to move around, so I sat there and devoured them all in an afternoon.
 


All I can say is--- WOW.

Tiffany seamlessly combines steampunk, gothic horror, Celtic mythology and vampire stories to create a unique and convincing world. I was impressed by the way she was able to keep alliances between the characters ambivalent throughout the story, which is no easy feat. She also skillfully navigated the different social strictures of Victorian society, and showed how it played out in the relationship between the characters. There were many times when I had to step back and say-- Corrine is doing these things because of the social environment of her times. It's *not* what I would do, or what anyone I know would do now. I'm not sure I could manage to write a story in which characters had such different (behavioral) reactions to things than I would-- and if I tried, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get it right.
This gets it right.

The language was lovely. The descriptions of the worlds of the fey and the human world were so real I felt I could step through the pages and be there with the characters. I also kept running across words here and there and thinking, I haven't heard that one in awhile and it's exactly right for that spot!

All in all, these books are superb! Not for the faint of stomach, perhaps-- but if you love a good scary story, you won't want to miss out on these! I can't wait to read the next in the series...

Thanks so much, Tiffany!
:D

Our family has had a difficult week. It included having to put down our last three sheep, all of whom were much more like pets than livestock, and we're still feeling pretty low about things.
After I posted, it occurred to me that drawing the eclipse image for last week's "Homage" made perfect sense. I'm chasing that ring of light around the edge that tells me if I hang in there, the darkness will move on.
When I saw this week's theme, I thought-- but we *couldn't* save them. And there really are some things worse than dying. I had a hard time finding an acceptable angle on this topic, as a result.
Then I came across this, while looking for something for National Poetry Month, and suddenly I knew what I needed to draw. It's probably 15 years old, but I can relate to its theme better today than when I wrote it.

The sun sits low on the edge of the hill

Golden furry overheated bees
that swarmed, fierce and distracted,
settle at last in a rock crevice
and leave us to wander freely.

Jack's run, busily sifting pollen and silt,
loses depth with the light's ebb
shrinks to the soft talk of water over rocks
where small feet step out a dry crossing.

Berries melt so that fireflies
climbing green among the thorns
ignite the children's purple hands
until
blackness in the brambles spreading above
claims them for its own distant hive
and marks them as stars, irretrievable.

I've had an odd sort of week, so I'm giving you a(late and)odd sort of image for this week's topic. As I thought about what I wanted to do for "homage", the memory of watching a total lunar eclipse a few weeks back with Dan and the kids kept popping into my mind.

No, I have no idea why.

But in keeping with my theory that between any two points(logical or mathematical) you can draw a straight line, I punched "homage" and "eclipse" into google to see what popped out.
Some of it was random and not very interesting.... and then I came across this article by British mathematician Simon Singh, and was intrigued.
Sadly, the article doesn't mention the date it was written, so I have no idea which eclipse he's referring to here (other than the 1919 one, of course). Maybe someone more versed than I in astronomy can take a stab at it!
I did skip last weeks I.F. topic, only because I have The Perfect Image for pet peeves on a currently inaccessible computer. Someday I will get around to posting it...

...Get to vote for a candidate who says exactly what she means.
Who is a truly good and decent human being.
Who didn't have any particular designs on getting into office because she already has a successful career she loves, writing award winning YA novels.
Who will have less time to devote to her writing passion if she's elected, but who feels that it's more important that she contribute to the common good than have an uncomplicated life.

Voters in Ellsworth Maine have that chance with Carrie Jones.

Image credit, Tori Winning

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2358011.stm
Arthur C. Clarke is gone.

Do you ever have days when your to-do list feels more substantial that you do?

You know, as much as I love snow, there comes a time...

I did make this available on cards and mugs and etc. over at cafepress. Here's the link:
http://www.cafepress.com/lizjonesbooks

Once again I find myself short on time for Illustration Friday, so I've combined two topics. I'd originally thought to do a version of the 12 dancing princesses for "Multiples" but as I was reading variants of that one, I came across the story of Kate Crackernuts, and was intrigued. Originally, both the girls were named Kate, though Joseph Jacobs renamed the queen's daughter Anne for his version to avoid confusion.

So-- multiple Kates, and multiple princes-- one sick, one well. I kind of liked the parallels, and I liked Kate Crackernuts herself. Here I have her bring her sister along when she follows the prince to the fairy dancing ground, rather than sitting under the trees cracking nuts. I figured they'd have more nuts if they both gathered...

"Leap" is the fairies dancing the poor prince's feet off, of course.
peta_andersen has a very interesting commentary on this story over at her blog, if you'd like to read more.

Since I'm on a science bender this week, I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce one of the Western PA SCBWI's brightest lights-- Dr. Fred Bortz.

I became acquainted with Dr. Fred's work when our conference chair celebrated his winning the 2002 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for young readers (for his work, "Techno-Matter: The Materials Behind the Marvels"). Techno-Matter was also named to the LA 100 and the New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age, and was designated best grade 7-12 science book of the year by the Society of School Librarians International.

I went on to read some of his books, and was impressed by his enthusiasm and diverse knowledge, and especially, for his ability to relate complex ideas in simple terms. His books make the fascinating worlds of physics, astronomy and engineering accessible to everyone. If I'd had his books as a kid, I might have gone into the sciences myself. But I'm happy to have them now(and so are my kids)!

Fred addresses universally popular topics, like the existence of life on other worlds, great catastrophes, and how things work.


His latest book explores the emerging field of Astrobiology (the study of possible life on other worlds) from its diverse roots in mythology and astrology, modern astronomical observations of other planets within our solar system, the SETI program, and observation of the flexibility of living organisms (resistance to freezing injury in hibernating creatures and frozen transplant organs, bacteria that live in extreme environments, etc). His user-friendly descriptions keep readers intrigued with the topic, and hint at the fascinating landscape of ideas that a little more reading on each subject could provide.

Dr Fred discusses these issues in school visits, as well-- his current presentations are:

Our Next Planet: Why, When, and How People Will Settle Another World

and (coming soon!)
The Truth About Space Aliens

(I think my kids would love that one!)

I asked Dr. Fred a few questions about his work.

So, I'm curious-- what's with the bowtie?

I didn't wear bowties until my friend designed the logo and then the person who drew my caricature in Dr. Fred's Weather Watch decided I needed one. I decided at that point that I would learn to tie a bowtie--it's more scientific to tie it yourself.


Great Logo--love the question marks and exclamation points!

It illustrates that questions are central to science, though the "wow!" factor is always important.

What was it like to win the AIP award for Techno Matter?

The prize was very nice ($3000, an inscribed Windsor Chair, and a trip to Boise to accept the certificate--coincidentally at a time I was already planning to visit Idaho Falls for a major talk).

What was your favorite experience researching your books?
What could be better than an expense paid research trip to Hawaii's Big Island and a world-class astronomical observatory on Mauna Kea?"



Beyond Jupiter: The Story of Planetary Astronomer Heidi Hammel.

Readers can discover a lot about Heidi and my research in writing the book (a Hawaiian travelogue that includes a drive around the coast of the "Big Island" to Volcanoes National Park and then up Mauna Kea to live with the scientists and spend three nights working in a magnificent observatory at the peak. ) at my website.



Heidi's life story is as remarkable as her scientific one. She met and overcame numerous personal and professional challenges, and is flourishing in mid-career at age 48 (next month). Her biography is one of ten in the "Womens Adventures in Science" series, discussed in detail at http://www.iwaswondering.org ("was" = women's adventures in science)

That sounds like a fascinating story. I loved the photoessay of this trip on your site-- it really makes me feel like I'm there with you observing the research (and the youtube song about Mauna Kea scientists was great!)

I understand you also do reviews of science books for adults?
Yes--I review popular science books for adults for a number of major newspapers, and I have an archive of my reviews (plus a few guest reviews) at The Science Shelf (http://www.scienceshelf.com).
My latest was "What Bugged the Dinosaurs? Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous" by George Poinar Jr. and Roberta Poinar, featured on the Health and Science page of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

I will definitely be checking that out-- I'm always looking for good science books.
Is there any kind of a mailing list I could use so I don't miss anything?
I send updates to Science Shelf subscribers every 4-6 weeks.
You can find an e-mail link to subscribe on most pages of the site.


Want to learn more about Dr. Fred's work? Visit his website!
There's a lot to learn-- more than I can squeeze into a single blog entry.
You can find a complete list of his books here.

Happy Exploring!
:D

After some pondering, I did add Gravity to my cafepress shop:
http://www.cafepress.com/lizjonesbooks

You'll see it's on tees and little stuff-- I'm doing posters from home now, so let me know (comment here or email) if you want a poster of this one!

Gravity is a theory. And it's a lot more complicated that "If you drop it, it will fall," as it turns out.
Here's an illo dedicated to all the people who have made understanding gravity part of their life's work over the centuries.

And here are a few links for anyone who'd like to learn more about
what we already know, and where we might be headed
in our understanding of that which keeps us grounded.

This theme could be interpreted so many ways, but as I was thinking about what I wanted to paint this week, the story of The Lady and the Tiger kept appearing in my mind's eye.
The choices you make in life may make you happy beyond your wildest dreams, or they may consume you.
The only thing you can be sure of, in the end, is transformation.

I've been thinking about all the celebrations this month that spread a blanket of light and warmth over a cold season.
Worldwide, people will be celebrating Mardi Gras or Carnival, and some (especially in Ireland) just finished celebrating Imbolc, AKA Candlemas. And of course, we can't forget Lunar New Year.

Whatever you're celebrating this week, I hope you have a light-filled and joyful time.





Oh-- and if you love lunar new year, and want to learn more about China--d_michiko_f has a contest going right now where you can win a copy of her new book about China!
Here it is:


Good luck!

This one's for you, jamarattigan!



So, the Grimm Brothers didn't really write this one down, but I swear it's true.

When he was young, Tom Thumb harbored dreams of being the Indiana Jones of evolutionary biology. When he read about primordial soup, he figured he knew just the spot to begin his research-- so he got on his scuba gear and prepared to get a first hand look at some  soupy flora and fauna.

He didn't realize his mistake until the nearsighted giant (a recently minted vegan) mistook him for a lump of eggplant, and slurped him down.

The scuba gear got him through the worst of it, and he went on to have other, largely non-scientific adventures.

The giant(who had bad indigestion) decided to leave off the eggplant when he made soup in the future.

I think this is the longest I've gone without drawing an illustration friday challenge since I started, back in 2005. My excuse is that I was coding my website and I had to figure out how to do that before I could work on it. But it's all done now, except for the very important step of having Dan-the-computer-guru make sure it all works, so I'm back.

Maybe it's the Pennsylvania in me, but when I thought of Stitch and Plain, I knew this was the image I had to do. Amish women are usually quilting something when they aren't working, and I can't help but think they're quilting their world into every piece they make.

And of course, the people who live in the houses at the base of the seam she's stitching must have some Tales and Legends of what she's doing up there....
(I know, that's cheating. I'll do another Tales and Legends image this weekend that's more on topic!)

When I decided to write this entry, I didn't know Brian Selznick was going to win the Caldecott for The Invention of Hugo Cabret. But it doesn't surprise me. Nor am I surprised at the discussions of what it means to have something other than a picture book win the Caldecott. We're living in interesting times, after all.

As a writer and illustrator much given to despair at the glutted picture book market, I'm glad to see the industry publishing titles that incorporate the length and depth of novels with the luminous visual storytelling of picture books. I hope that what I'm seeing is not just a fad, but the birth of a new genre.

As a child, I wondered why grown up books didn't have pictures. How dull. When my reading skills hit midgrade level, I read those "dull" words-only stories voraciously, and no longer cared that the books were without images.

Still, an intriguing cover image would draw me back again and again as I read, and I would try to fit what I saw to the words within. And the world of picture books never lost its enchantment-- I savored childhood favorites, as well as books like Kit Williams' Masquerade, that offered ideas for adults in a format usually reserved for children. I pored over an exhibit of medieval books of hours in college.

Later I discovered graphic novels-- Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize "Special Award" winning Maus (the award committee wasn't sure how to classify it), and Alan Moore's more traditional comic series, Watchmen. I thought of Hugo Cabret as a graphic novel-- likewise Clive Barker's Abarat-- because both incorporated images throughout the usually forbidden turf of the novel.

The first book to arrive in my mailbox for this year's Cybils graphic novel nominees was Ruth McNally Barshaw's wonderful Ellie MacDoodle. How cool, I thought. A graphic novel without frames, for the younger set.

It had images throughout. The story didn't work without the images, even though it wasn't organized in the traditional comic style panels. My kids immediately snagged the book and sang its praises-- my oldest said that even though it had a girl for a main character, the boys in his class would love it.

But as our panel discussed what makes a graphic novel, we sadly concluded that it didn't fit, and shipped it off to the midgrade panelists. I learned that Hugo Cabret and Abarat were not graphic novels either. Current graphic novel definitions include serialized art as the mode of storytelling, without breaks for long chunks of text outside of the visual format, even though there may be captions within the serial artwork.

The problem is that I'm not sure the hybrid stories, like Ellie, and Hugo, and Abarat, really fit under the general heading of midgrade(or YA), either.

A story which relies significantly on visual storytelling has a different shape and mode of expression than an imageless novel. It has the advantage of incorporating some of the nonverbal context for ideas, leading to some ambiguity in interpretation that may not be there in the novel. It has the possibility of using visual double entendres and symbols. It may not fare as well in detailing character's thoughts and conversations, or in rich language... or perhaps it might.

In any case, my feeling is that is a different beast from either the graphic novel designation or the novel designation, and deserves a place of its own on the shelves.

If you read comics, you know that many comic authors and illustrators are less than thrilled with the "graphic novel" designation. Some see it as taking a form meant purely for enjoyment and making it fodder for dissertations. Others see it as a way for publishers to make a buck in a new and interesting way. Both criticisms are valid. However, I think it's worth looking at this process from a different angle-- perhaps a historical one.

The Gutenberg press brought books within the reach of ordinary people, but at a price. The gorgeous illuminations of the books of hours, with their many hued inks, were too expensive to mass-produce. Books became largely monochromatic. In the 1900s, better printing technology brought a resurgence of color, though mostly still limited to shorter publications--book covers, magazines, comic books, 32 page picture books, and the like.

Modern technology shrinks the price gap between black ink and colored ink, and producing full color books (though labor intensive for artists) is now reasonable. When I look at the graphic novel and hybrid/illustrated novel designations, I see a population of readers and publishers rediscovering and exploring the possibilities of combining images and text in 2-D storytelling.

These books rise out of the comic tradition in much the way that rock and roll rose out of the blues-- taking some of the same ideas, merging them with ideas from other sources, and then running in a new direction.

Will these hybrid illustrated novels eventually be re-defined as graphic novels, or find their own unique designation? Will our current understanding of graphic novels remain as it is, or return to the traditional comics designation? I wonder.

I think we will see this genre deepen and expand in the next 20 years, and I have no idea what it will bring to us-- but I'm very much looking forward to finding out.

Most of the following titles could be classified as fantasy, though the first of the bunch,



Sean Tan's The Arrival, uses fantastic imagery to explore the very real experience of coming to a new culture. Kelly Fineman has a good review here, with some sample images from the story.
I *loved* this book, and often come back to pore over the richly symbolic and moody images. I found that Tan's description (click on cover for "The Arrival") of how he approached the artwork and story added a lot to my understanding of the book and confirmed some suspicions about his influences. His work is so vivid and deep-- I can't wait to see what his next project will be!





The graphic version of Artemis Fowl does a nice job of illustrating the first volume of the popular novel series. Longtime readers will enjoy the full color version of the story, and readers unfamiliar with the books will be drawn into Artemis's shadowy world of espionage and magic, and want to read more.


I was delighted to discover the Babymouse books as part of the Cybils reading process.
Camp Babymouse is the title nominated this year. I think most kids could identify with Babymouse's fantasies of being the best camper ever, and with the hilarious mistakes she makes as she tries to achieve this goal. Babymouse reminds me a lot of Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)... which means I need to find and read the rest of the books in this series!


In the graphic novelization of Rod Espinosa's The Courageous Princess, Princess Mabelrose is happy with her life--until she attends a ball in a neighboring kingdom and learns just how small and unhip her own kingdom is. After this opening, you might think she was going to find her courage by proving herself to all the richer and prettier princesses... but you would be wrong.
When a dragon kidnaps Mabelrose and holds her for ransom in his faraway castle, the princess takes matters into her own hands and escapes from his hopelessly inescapable domain--and that is where the adventure really begins. A vividly realized world, charming characters and an unpredictable, interesting plot make this a great read for all ages.




I was very happy, but not a bit surprised to see Flight Volume 4 on the list of nominated titles.
Sometime last year, I discovered Flight 3, reviewed here by our own Gina Ruiz.
The cover art by Kazu Kibuishi floored me, and I decided that, whatever the book might contain, I had to own it so I could stare at the cover more conveniently. I was delighted to discover that it was just as good the whole way through--chock full of offerings from gifted illustrators and writers.
Likewise, Flight 4 has something for everyone. Flight 3 fans will be happy to see some familiar faces,and a myriad of beautifully crafted new stories, full of depth and life. The volume is consistently high in quality throughout; each story has a well realized visual world, strong characters, and tight and compelling storytelling. Readers new to graphic novels will find here many reasons to read more
in this genre.



I think what I loved most about Hatter M: The Looking Glass Wars were the moody images. I had a bit harder time working out the story-- I suspect that this is one where reading the original novel would help a lot. I did locate an interview in which Frank Beddor talks about this book.


The Professor's Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guilbert is a delightful tale on so many levels. Here I will defer to Elizabeth Bird's excellent review in School and Library Journal to give you the best reasons for reading this story. For myself, I loved the fantastic nature of the pairing (you could fall in love with a mummy? Really?), the crazy family relationships, and the happy ending.



I first encountered Robot Dreams in a glowing review by Kelly Fineman. Although I believe this made our list for the younger crowd, this story is very much an all ages tale. Adults may even have more reason to love it, as broken relationships and rebuilding are such strong themes here. One would hope that younger readers might remember its lessons of continuity and optimism when they come to breaking points in their own lives.



Rocketo Vol. 2 was a bit confusing to me at the outset-- I hadn't read Rocketo one, and the world of Rocketo is both very unusual and very detailed. Fortunately for me, there were some good pages of basic information included in the volume, and once I knew what was going on, I enjoyed it thoroughly. While searching for a good cover image to show you here, I discovered this excellent review by Matthew Brady.



Twisted journeys: Captured by Pirates ...What can I say about the twisted journeys series? I LOVED this! When I was a kid, the choose your own adventure books were just coming out, and I spent many happy hours trying out various alternatives in strange and fantastical worlds. Fortunately, I read fast, because my oldest(10 years old) snagged the book as soon as I put it down, and didn't let go of it until he went to get a glass of water and his 8 year old)sister spirited it off to her own room. The 6 year old isn't quite reading at that level yet, but he grabs it when he can just to look at the pictures. All in all, I would say it was a success. But if you don't believe me, or you want to read more reasons you should find a copy, see what Graphic Classroom had to say.

While there were other books worth reading on our list, I'm sorry to say that I was not able to locate copies, and so, can't offer any input. However, tomorrow I'll be looking at another category of story that I discovered during this year's Cybils process-- one that I believe deserves its own genre classification.

That is: the hybrid, or illustrated novel.

See the Cybils blog for more information on all of these titles and more--

Winners will be announced of February 14th!

Remember in my last post where I described this book from our graphic novel nominees?

As of yesterday, they have a livejournal blog!

Introducing:classcom

Go.
Read.
Friend.

Edited to Add--

jfmac, who writes for Classical Comics
(AND is working on The Tempest right now-- squee!!!!)
has started a blog here today!!

Go check him out!


Need a few more reasons?
Try these upcoming titles....






Sooooo cool!

I'll start by saying(again) how tickled I was to have been able to participate in the process of nominating books for the Cybils. When the only bookstore in the county is Walmart, and the local library's collection dates to the golden age of kidlit, it can be hard to keep up with what's out there now. So I felt like a kid on Christmas morning every time a new pack of books arrived on my porch, and pretty much read each on the spot (unless there was some pesky task I had to do, like make dinner;o) As they arrived, I found myself increasingly fascinated by the trends in content.



I wasn't a bit surprised to see titles like Garage Band and Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age on the list.
Teens and young adults are a huge chunk of the graphic novel/comics market, so a novel about a bunch of friends who are trying to make their dreams of rock stardom come true, and a collection of shorts about the horrors of early adolescence (many hilarious, at least for those of us who no longer have to deal with it on a daily basis) are right on target.


Cecil Castelluci and Jim Rugg's story, The Plain Janes focuses on American adolescence with a fun art angle (and some references to 9-11, if I'm not mistaken).
Here's a good review by Mary Lee Hahn.


Manga titles like Pichi Pichi Pitch 5: Mermaid Melody show Japanese adolescents immersed in a magical world but still dealing with school and relationship drama, while Lat's Town Boy takes a more realistic trip through the author's Malaysian adolescence starting with a move from the kampung (see his acclaimed novel, Kampung Boy)to the town of Ipoh.


I enjoyed the latter titles partly because, in addition to good storytelling,  they provided a window on other cultures that I would never get from a travel guide. Likewise, as I followed Yotsuba (volume 4) through her daily adventures(trying to ease a neighbor's broken heart, curing global warming by turning on all the air conditioners in the house, etc), I learned subtle details about Japanese daily life, as well as more basic information like how to read manga (a first for this directionally challenged westerner). And I laughed the whole way.


Other topics were more surprising. For instance, who would guess that in 2007 we would have two novels focusing on the creatures who participated in the early space program? Laika, by Nick Abadzis, follows the first Earth creature to be blasted into space, from her origins on the streets of Moscow to her tragic end. Relationships and politics intertwine to make a compelling (if tear jerking) tale.
Where Laika talks about the first dog in space, First in Space, by James Vining, talks about the first monkeys shot into space (and discusses what happened to the chimps after they returned home).  I'll admit I was a bit gun shy when I read this one-- I'd just finished Laika, and I wasn't sure whether the chimps would survive. This story knits together the events and characters involved in the early American space program with an equally bittersweet tone, even though the outcomes are different-- and it's well worth reading.


Another trend is towards turning literature classics into graphic novels, thus making them more accessible for struggling readers. I was blown away by Classical Comics, LTd's version of Shakespeare's Henry V. What is particularly good about this series is that there are three different texts available for each of the plays. The one I read was the original Shakespearean English version. As I made my way to the end, I remember wondering if kids who were reluctant readers would be drawn in, since the language was so difficult. Then I noticed that the publisher makes a common English version available, as well as one designed specifically for the comic format. If I were a lit teacher, I would be finding copies of all of their titles for my students!
Another well-loved title on our list was Manga Romeo and Juliet, but sadly I was not able to find a copy of this to compare it to the others, so I'll point you to committee members Gina Ruiz's review in Blog Critics Magazine, and to Mary Lee Hahn's review on her own blog.



Mary Lee Hahn has also reviewed the two Beowulfs on our list, though I think it's worthy of note that Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary's's script for the movie also became available this year-- and that version has other wrinkles on this theme. I found the visuals in Gareth Hind's book more appealing than the other, though perhaps Storrie's version offers more to the reader who would like to learn more about the history.
I knew nothing of Yu the Great (reviewed here at Graphic Classroom blog), Storrie's other nominated title, when I picked it up, but emerged with a keen desire to research it-- which is not a bad outcome for any book, especially if it's geared towards kids.



Other historical figures that warranted nominations include Harry Houdini and Satchel Paige. ..

And then there were the fantasy titles....

fodder for another blog post.

(you've been very patient with me, if you're still reading this far, so I'll quit while I'm ahead).

All in all, I was very impressed with the contents of our list, and I'm feeling very enthusiastic about this genre! Hope you find some good reads here.

Be sure to check out the main Cybils blog for the finalists in all the categories, as well as links to more reviews!

Click on the image to check them out!

It was tough to decide-- we had some wonderful graphic novels to choose from!

I will be posting reviews of books from our list all week.

The winners will be posted on February 14th-- good luck, everyone!