Throwback Thursday! This review was first written for my Special Topics in Librarianship: The Graphic Novel class in September 2014.

Title: Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies 
Edited by: Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly
Published: 2000 by HarperCollins

About the Book:

A treasure and a treasury!

Innovative cartoonist and renowned children's book artists from around the world have gathered to bring you the magic of fairy tales through the wonder of comics. The stories range from old favorites to new discoveries, from the profound to the silly. A treat for all ages, these picture stories unlock the enchanted door into the pleasures of books and reading!

The Artist Librarian Review:
Editor Art Spiegelman is well known for his WWII graphic novel Maus.  I loved how all the art has a retro flair or vintage feel to them ... in fact, "The Gingerbread Man" by Walt Kelly was drawn in 1943, but all of the art feels like it could have been created over 50 years ago. I almost couldn't believe the copyright date says 2000.

The one that stood out to me the most was the "Fairy Tale Road Rage" and "Once Upon a Time" by Chris Ware -they're actually the last endpages, but it's amazingly witty. First, "Road Rage" is the instructions for the board game on the front endpages. I have to leave a small excerpt of the snarky directions:

"The smartest of all children will then deduce that, due to the similarity of these colors, some sort of relationship exists between the playing pieces, the spaces on the board, and the spaces on the storyboards. This child should be immediately excused from play and be signed up for top-level government service, as he or she is obviously more gifted than the adults who currently hold such positions."

The instructions also have a small six panel comic of two adult game collectors preparing to play the game.

"Once Upon a Time" is one of the most clever comics I've ever read. It's a circular, interconnecting comic of sorts. On each side of the page, there is a 8 panel comic with focus on a certain character (a frog, a wolf, a princess, and an old lady). You then flip the page a quarter turn (90 degrees) to read the next story. It's bittersweet, but definitely in the spirit of fairy tales. Though you can start anywhere, first I read the one I could clearly read with the pages open and facing me like a normal book. The art is simply illustrated but there's an adorable aspect to the work.

"The Fisherman and the Sea Princess" had some of my favorite art from that collection and that story ... wow. Kind of angsty and a bit reminiscent of the Cupid and Psyche legend (with Pandora's Box threw in).

Anyway, an interesting collection of stories. Definitely check it out if you have the chance. It's not just for children! =)

(c.) 2015 by Revell

They both wanted quieter, safer lives. But crime never sleeps … and killers keep killing.

After years as a Chicago homicide detective, Lisa Grant is ready for the kinder, gentler life of a small-town police chief.  But the discovery of a human skeleton by a construction crew at the edge of town taxes department resources.  Enter ex-Navy SEAL Mac McGregor, the detective sent by the county to assist on the case.  As they work to solve the mystery behind the unmarked grave, danger begins to shadow them.  Someone doesn’t want this dead person telling any tales –and will stop at nothing to make certain a life-shattering secret stays buried.

Mrs. Bookworm's Review: 

Irene Hannon is the bestselling author of more than forty-five romantic suspense and contemporary romance/women’s fiction novels, including the Heroes of Quantico, Guardians of Justice, and Private Justice series.  Her books have garnered dozens of honors, including two coveted RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America.  She is also a two-time Christy Award finalist.

(c.) 2003 by Dark Horse Comics

This review was first written for my Special Topics in Librarianship: The Graphic Novel class in September 2014.

Title: Usagi Yojimbo: Duel at Kitanoji (Book 17)
Author/Illustrator: Stan Sakai
Published: 2003 by Dark Horse Comics

Usagi Yojimbo (Book 17) Duel at Kitanoji is the collected issues #53-60 of Usagi Yojimbo, Volume Three.  Published in 2003, over 10 years after Stan Sakai began this fabled series, it’s safe to assume that Sakai has hit his stride in his writing and illustration style.

Compared to other contemporary comics I’m familiar with, Sakai uses a traditional style of panels.  In this book, I never observed any bleeds or open panels; only simple, rectangular and square-shaped closed panels bound by gutters.  Though using only a single color (black) in his illustrations (minus the color cover), Sakai is a master with pen and ink.  He judiciously incorporates linework, hatching, and other techniques to create a variety of patterning that helps to identify different characters and figures (e.g. the group of mountain bandits in “Vendetta” all sport unique designs on their happi coats and tunics).

He is also able to get a variety of tones and shades by varying the weight and spacing of his lines.  On page 62, to illustrate a montage type of sequence in “Images from a Winter’s Day,” Sakai uses thin, sketch-like linework to depict Usaji speaking with various people as he searches for a Patriarch’s son.  A normally-inked Usagi walks in the center of this panel, illustrating his travels and the time passing as his journey continues.  Sakai also incorporates some manga iconography or symbols, but my favorite is one I think he made up himself!  In “Vendetta” on page 27, he uses a huge black question mark superimposed on a white exclamation point to describe the surprise the mountain bandits have at being surrounded by law enforcement officers, which I thought was very clever.

I also enjoyed the episodic nature of the series.  Even though I came into Usagi Yojimbo “mid-series,” I didn’t have any problems following along with the story.  Each issue seems to contain one story arc, occasionally branching into more than one issue (e.g. “Crows” has 3 parts).  However, the narrative reminded me a bit of of Abarembo Shogun, a Japanese television show my dad and grandparents loved to watch.

Sakai’s work also reminds me of Brian Jacques’ Redwall novels.  They both use anthropomorphic animal characters, don’t shy away from showing the consequences of combat (including death), and incorporate elements from historical worlds and codes of honor: Jacques’ drawing from medieval Europe and their knights, while Sakai draws from Feudal Japan and their samurai.  Having loved Redwall since middle school, I think I’ve found a new series to fill the void left by Jacques’ death several years ago.  I can’t wait to read Usagi Yojimbo from the beginning.

Have you heard of Usagi Yojimbo?  Do you have a favorite book or comics series featuring anthropomorphic characters?

This month is getting pretty busy!  With just about three weeks of the semester left and my lack of posting last month, I thought I'd have to take a break from blogging.  However, I just realized that I actually have some old reviews I haven't posted and material from my LIS classes from last semester I could blog about.  So if you guys are interested, I'll post from time to time about some of my required reading lists for my Library & Information Science classes. 

*Note - I don't necessarily recommend every title listed, this is meant to be a sample of reading lists from my LIS classes. As always, please do your own research before reading or purchasing titles for yourself or before giving them to your children.*

Special Topics in Librarianship: The Graphic Novel:

"... explore Graphic Novels and Comics in libraries for all ages with an emphasis on children and young adult titles. We will study collection development, programming, the history of graphics, censorship, and booktalking. A particular focus will be on Asian and Asian American titles including web comics and online comic resources ... This course is intended for librarians who plan to provide or already are providing library services in either a public or school library; teachers; and anyone else who is interested in graphic novels for any age." (Syllabus excerpt) 

Required Reading List:

Weeks 1 & 2 (Introduction and General Comics History):
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Week 3 (History of Asian American Comics and Graphics):
Any Usagi Yojimbo comic book by Stan Sakai
Usagi Yojimbo: Duel at Kitanoji (Book 17) Review

Week 4 (Hawaii Comics and Graphics):
Any comic book by Jon Murakami

Week 5 (Elementary Age Graphics):
Smile by Reina Telgemeier
Any Little Lit book edited by Art Spiegelman
Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies Review

Week 6 (Non-Fiction Graphics):
March, Vol. 1 by John Robert Lewis & Andrew Aydin.  Illustrated by Nate Powell.
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

Week 7 (DC and Marvel):
Your choice, one of each featuring Batman and Spider-Man:

Batman comic book
Batgirl: Vol. 1: The Darkest Reflection Review
Batman: Li'l Gotham: Vol. 1 Review
Spider-Man comic book
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol.1 Review
Spider-Man: Blue

Week 8 (Collection Development):
None (midterm due)
Booktalk Assignment - "3 Graphic Novels Princess Leia Would Read"

Week 9 (Webcomics):
Your choice, any webcomic

Week 10 (Manga):
Attack on Titan, Vol. 1 by Hajime Isayama
Attack on Titan, Vol. 1 Review

Week 11 (Middle School Graphics):
Boxers by Gene Luen Yang
Saints by Gene Luen Yang
Ichiro by Ryan Inzama

Week 12 (Intellectual Freedom & Censorship):
Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan. Illustrated by Fiona Staples

Week 13 (Outreach & Programming):
None

Week 14 (High School Graphics):
Night Fisher by Kikuo R. Johnson
Night Fisher Review

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen. Illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks

Week 15 (Graphics for Adults):
A Bride's Story, Vol. 1 by Kaoru Mori
A Bride's Story, Vol. 1 Review
Stargazing Dog by Takashi Murakami
Stargazing Dog Review

What are your favorite comic books or graphic novels?  Have you ever read any of the ones listed?

Official Logo (c.) DreamWorks

Back in October, I posted my reaction to stills released of the upcoming (at the time) Dawn of the Dragon Racers short. If you remember, I theorized the character models would be re-used in the upcoming season 3 of DreamWorks' Dragons series. Well, it looks like my guess was practically correct!

This past Sunday at Wondercon 2015 in Aneheim California, DreamWorks Animation revealed more details of the upcoming season of their popular How to Train Your Dragon tv series.  Season 3, Dragons: Race to the Edge will be aired exclusively on Netflix and takes place a few years before the events in the second How to Train Your Dragon film.  Fangirlish.com interviewed the executive producers of the series, giving us an article with the most details of season three thus far.  Berkians (How to Train You Dragon fans) will have to hang on until June, when the first thirteen episodes of the season are released, but DreamWorks has given us some official images for the fandom to speculate and theorize over.

(c.) DreamWorks - The dragon riders finally aged up on the tv show

  The new character designs for Dragons: Race to the Edge, which are the same or quite similar to the framing scenes of the Dawn of the Dragon Racers short. Astute fans quickly noticed changes such as Hiccup's braids and red tunic. Hmm ... Astrid did tell Hiccup and Toothless in Dawn of the Dragon Racers, "I always knew red was your color." 
I binge watched the first two seasons of Dragons last year and thought it was one of the better television shows on the Cartoon Network.  Though there still was a lot of silly humor, there were some episodes that had great character developments. Now that they've aged up the characters, I'm hoping that we'll see Hiccup and Astrid's relationship transition from friendship to the solid, romantically-tinged one hinted at in HTTYD2. That's one of the things I appreciated about the first two seasons --Hiccup and Astrid's friendship and support of each other was highlighted over a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship, which I felt was appropriate for their age at the time (no older than 16 in the tv show).  I also hope that Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut get more characterization other than just comic relief as they were in HTTYD2, but we'll see.

(c.) DreamWorks - Toothless & Hiccup

And the Berkians on tumblr.com celebrated ... ;-)

I'm rarely on tumblr, but it seems the majority of Berkians/HTTYD fandom hang out there ... Apparently the fandom exploded over Hiccup's *new* rust red tunic as seen with kingofthewilderwest's post.

My favorite tumblr reaction, however has got to be suicunesrider who wrote: 

"ever since the new Race to the Edge images, there’s been great debate over whether Hiccup looks better in red, or green. but we all know this is petty, and does not matter. for we all love him for what he has on the inside. And would never squander over feeble appearance... also he looks best in black ..."

The post was accompanied with a picture of Hiccup in his HTTYD2 black and brown leather flying suit. =P

Basically, the only thing I'm bummed about is that the series is exclusively on Netflix, which my family doesn't have.  Netflix has released past seasons of their exclusive dramas such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black on DVD. Though I don't know of any of their children's programming released on DVD, I hope Dragons: Race to the Edge will be one of them (I'll be the first in line to purchase).

(c.) 2015 by Bethany House

Title: Dauntless [Valiant Hearts #1] 
Author: Dina L. Sleiman
Published: 2015 by Bethany House Publishers

The Artist Librarian Review: 
Dina Sleiman's debut medieval YA novel is sure to appeal to teens (and adults) who enjoy both romance and a bit of action! I admit I only have a basic understanding of the Robin Hood legend: The thief who steals from the rich to give to the poor. By necessity, Lady Merry Ellison falls into a similar role after her peasant band of young survivors latest hit turns up a chest of gold intended for the king’s tax. Forced to flee, the “Ghosts of Farthingale Forest” return near their old home in Wyndeshire. But what happens when Timothy Grey, a remnant of Merry's past, reappears?

Sleiman introduces three distinct teenage protagonists: Merry's physical skills in acrobatics, archery, and hand-to-hand combat brings to mind contemporary heroines such as Katniss Everdeen. But like Katniss, her emotional strength and vulnerability are juxtaposed to great effect. Timothy reminds me a bit of Prince Hans of the Southern Isles from Disney's Frozen, but in good ways! For example, just as Hans has twelve older brothers, as the Baron of Greyham's ninth child, Timothy has no large title to inherit. A scribe for the Earl of Wyndemere, Timothy's pursuit of a position of status leads him into conflict with his childhood friend, Lady Merry. One of the characters who I wish had more "page time" was Allen. A peasant who rose to become one of Merry's most trusted advisers, he is bound to become more prominent in future books. Romantic triangles can be somewhat infamous in YA literature, but I felt that both Timothy and Allen were both valid suitors and the "triangle" wasn't too bothersome for me. The romance was appropriate (and still "sigh-worthy") for the maturity of the characters. Definitely recommended for fans of Lisa T. Bergren or Melanie Dickerson!

Dauntless touches on more weighty topics as well: Are all leaders in authority placed there by God? Should Christians submit to unjust rulers or subvert them through even violent means? What does it mean to be feminine? Where is God when evil occurs? Do the ends ever justify the means? I appreciate it when YA literature doesn't underestimate their audience.

I had high hopes for this book and I have to say, Dina Sleiman has given us a dauntless beginning to her Valiant Hearts series! I can't wait to read more from this author! While waiting for Chivalrous (Valiant Hearts #2), I think I'll read up on Robin Hood ...

If you want to learn more, check out Dina Sleiman's guest post!

Do you have any medieval fantasy or medieval historical fiction you'd recommend?  Let me know in the comments!

[Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author for review purposes.]