There are so many intriguing plot lines in this story and I want to find out more about ALL OF THEM. I am a big fan of Vaughan's ability to create multidimensional characters solely through the words he gives them. The illustrator is excellent in this graphic novel, but Vaughan amps it up giving us clear-cut characters through their distinct syntax. Hell, he successfully anthropomorphized a pride of relatively similar looking lions giving them noticeably different and interesting personalities.

An excellent start to a Romeo and Juliet story taking place in the stars.

A simple look at being good and being bad with a fun twist in the end.

Age: Preschool-Kindergarten
Animal: Bird
Emotions: Pride

Such a great artistic use of negative space to create the main, almost invisible character. The moral seemed a little slight (be yourself!) but that artwork is just la bomba.

Age: 3rd-5th grade
Deep thinker: purpose in life

Lucky feels like she is at the deep darkest rut in her life. It's been 2 years since her mother died and her guardian from across the waters is showing signs that she wants to move back home to France, leaving Lucky in an orphanage without her friends and without her beloved dog. Cleaning up at a group counseling center, Lucky often hears about people's "higher power" and how they realize their higher power only after they hit rock bottom. Seeing the signs of her rock bottom, Lucky ventures out to find her higher power.

The characters were very real, unique, interesting, and well written. However, the plot took awhile to develop with Patron focusing most of her writing on character development. I can see that it has the thematic substance to be a Newbery winner but I would not suggest this to a child for free reading.

Age: Infant-1st grade
Art: Dance
Animal: Flamingo

Awash in pink with lift-the-flap fun, Idle adds another dimension to wordless picture books. A little girl imitates a graceful flamingo as the flamingo dances around. The lift-the-flaps are expertly used not to show something hiding but to show stillness and movement. Both girl and flamingo will freeze in place, holding a pose. Lift the flap over the flamingo and it peeks over to see if the girl is moving. Lift the flap of the girl and she peeks at the flamingo. So adorable!

I feel bad giving this book a bad rating because a friend gifted this to me but I had a really hard time reading it. It was hard to see past the quick (and apparently totally acceptable for the times! [which doesn't make it easier to ignore]) sexism, homophobia, and racism scattered throughout the text. Por ejemplo:

She had explained homosexuality to [Mike], after he had read about it and failed to grok it--and had given him practical rules for avoiding even the appearance...Fortunately Mike's male water brothers were all decidedly masculine men, just as his others were very female women. Jill hoped that it would stay that way; she suspected that Mike would grok a 'wrongness' in the poor in-betweeners anyhow--they would never be offered water (374-5).

Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's at least partly her own fault (376).

To have discovered in herself unsuspected latent Lesbian tendencies would have been entirely too much (381).

[Dawn] made no sound, but in only a second or two a warm, full tear splashed on his chest--was followed quickly by another...and another--and still more. She sobbed almost silently. Jubal cursed and reached for her...and cooperated with the inevitable (495)

The last quote refers to Dawn desperately wanting to share her soul through sex with Jubal and can only convince him by forcing herself to cry. Not the strongest example of misogyny but still kinda weird. Racism was obviously present with a Muslim character's nickname as "Stinky." More misogyny occurred with Jubal, a secondary character, and his three women assistants that lived with him at home. They had shifts of servitude where Jubal would scream "Front!" (and center, I presume) and the woman on duty would have to appear immediately to appease his will. However, they were "sassy" and could speak back to him but it felt like such a disguise for sexism, especially considering the other instances in the book.

All this sexism, homophobia, and racism is even worse because it occurs in a future world. This blatant antagonism towards difference (from white males) isn't acceptable now, and certainly wouldn't be with the educated people that are represented in this book. My feminist soul could not be silenced in order to read this classic sci fi novel. It's unfortunate because there is a great discussion of who god is and spirituality.

One more thought: the writing style was so wonky at times that it was hard to read. One character, Jubal, was clearly Heinlein and enjoyed espousing his thoughts on everything under the sun. He would go on philosophical rants that would be egged on by clueless characters ("what do you mean?", "go on...", "That doesn't make sense to me."). My own personal taste in fiction is that discussions such as these should be organic and not like a nonfiction essay.

Age: Middle School-High School

Sanderson brings an easily devourable mystery situated in a gearpunk world. I rarely consider reading the next in a series (because there are so many books out there!) but this series will definitely be kept on my radar due to the many intriguing mysteries left at the end of the novel. The first half or so of the book is a build up of the mystery behind never-before-seen kidnappings (or killings) at a school set in an alternate United States known as the United Isles. Joel is attending Armedius Academy, a prestigious institution that schools children in the art and warfare of Rithmatism, a battling technique using chalk, geometry, and art to attack the vicious wild chalkings that have been contained on the island of Nebrask. Joel would give anything to train to be a Rithmatist but a set-back in his early years denied him this option, forcing him to study as a normal student. When the attacks begin, Joel is pulled into the mystery surrounding wild chalklings and the danger that may be escaping Nebrask. The second half (or last quarter) of the book is an explosion of action so if that's all you care about, keep trucking through the back story because you will be delighted with the ending.

I love the concept of parallel worlds and Sanderson surely provides, especially with real historic names that exist in his world. The characters were interesting but not stunning feats of literary genius. The most intriguing part of this book is the mathematics behind Rithmatism which are brought to life through the artwork of Ben McSweeney that show textbook-style diagrams and descriptions of each Rithmatic drawing and tactics. Also, each chapter has the chapter number integrated in a mystical creature which is SO FANTASTIC. Well done and I'm really looking for the next one.

Age: 1st-3rd grade
Science: Physics
Animals: Farm (goat, chicken)

I liked the rollicking cadence throughout and I loved the repeated phrase "in the name of science!" which many kids will want to repeat themselves, I'm sure. However, it's not explicitly clear that the last barrel is left half full in order to float across the moat. I always wonder how these key details are missed by editors.

Nature: Water, park

A simple to-do about the goings-on in a park throughout the day. This will be a nice book to read to a wider age range because the younger kids will enjoy the assortment of people and the older kids will enjoy the concept of time passing.