Amulet Book 1: The Stonekeeper

By Kazu Kibuishi

After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids’ mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals.

Eventually, they enlist the help of a small mechanical rabbit named Miskit. Together with Miskit, they face the most terrifying monster of all, and Em finally has the chance to save someone she loves.

This is a graphic novel pointed at elementary aged children (6-12 years). I never would have picked this up if I hadn’t repeatedly seen it being checked out at the library where I work. It was so popular it got me curious. It’s a quick read with good illustrations. The story is more adult than I was expecting, dealing with loss, responsibility, and grief along with battling magical and mechanical creatures. It was interesting to me, and had the same kind of feel of a sort of Alice in Wonderland, but darker and without the overt whimsy in it. Emily is a very serious young girl who feels the burden of being the oldest and watching out for her brother and mother now that her Dad is gone. I can understand why it is so popular, and I have a nephew who doesn’t necessarily love reading, and he grabbed onto this series and devoured it and got his friends reading it too, which tickled me pink! It’s a great book to pick up for reluctant readers.

I give it a 3.25 out of 5

The Odyssey

By Gareth Hinds

 Homer’s classic comes to life in this full color graphic novel by Gareth Hinds.

So this graphic novel is a fun alternative for kids in getting them into the classical greek mythologies. I believe there is another one that is about Beowulf.  I do have some warnings though: it is a graphic novel. If you aren't familiar with them, most of them are like adult primetime, and sometimes a little more...revealing. There are naked men and women, not fully portrayed, but enough to make this girl pretty uncomfortable and itchy for her handy Sharpy to pen in some clothes. There is also a few scenes of gore that were fairly grimace-worthy, but it is a book about war and death and cyclopes and strange creatures. But when Polyphemus bites a dude's head off and the main color on the entire page is red...I get squeemish. So, while this is an alternative to get kids interested, I'd be mighty careful in letting them read it.

I give it a 3 out of 5 because of the graphic nature of this well, graphic novel. But that's sort of like giving demerits to Babe Ruth for hitting a homer...no pun intended.