Wordplay - a review

Wordplay
by Ivan Brunetti
Toon, 2017

I've had to wait a few months until I was allowed to post this review I wrote for School Library Journal.  If you haven't seen Wordplay yet, be sure to check it out!


★BRUNETTI, Ivan. Wordplay. illus. by Ivan Brunetti. 40p. TOON. May 2017. Tr $12.95. ISBN 9781943145171. K-Gr 2–The fun begins with the title—Wordplay—a compound word for a book about compound words. Annemarie and her classmates work on their assignment to compile lists of compound words. "How about housework?" asks a boy. "YES!" responds the teacher as Annemarie quietly giggles, imagining cheery houses vacuuming and dusting. Each new word conjures up another humorous imagining—two boys playing catch with a foot (football) or a calendar page taking a nap (daydream). Brunetti's cartoon art is rendered in a modern, intentionally naive style—largely two-dimensional, with a childlike simplicity that will resonate with the book's audience. Panels vary in size but are symmetrical and clearly delineated by white borders. Word bubbles are white with simple black text. Compound words appear in red. In addition, children of many races and ethnicities are prominently featured. As with all of the publisher's offerings, this work contains tips for sharing comics with kids and is labeled with grade, Lexile, guided reading, and reading recovery levels. VERDICT An amusing language arts lesson in a comic book format, perfect for individual or small group sharing. What's not to love?

All images and content © copyright 2007-2014 TOON Books. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2017 School Library Journal, the property of Media Source, Inc.  Reprinted here with permission.

Teachers Guide for Wordplay here.

Free Comic Book Day

Today is Free Comic Book Day!

• Find a participating comic book store near you by clicking this link. 
• Can't find a store near you? You can download free comics for kids and teens including  Molly Danger , Simpsons Comics Free-for-All, and selections from Top Shelf's Kids Club at ComiXology.

What are you waiting for?

Molly Danger - comics in audiobook?

Recently, I reviewed an audiobook version of a comic book.  It sounded crazy to me, but it works!  Below is my review as it appeared in the April/May 2014, issue of AudioFile Magazine.

MOLLY DANGER

Jamal Igle

Read by Olivia DuFord, Robin Miles, Lance Roger Axt, and a Full Cast

Crunch! Kaboom! Pow! A superhero action comic in audiobook format? Yes! With sound effects including crashing cars, screaming citizens, beeping computers, and whirring helicopter rotors, AudioComics brings this new series to life with a full cast of narrators. Likable Molly Danger is a super strong, immortal 10-year-old alien who is never far from action. Orphaned when her parents' ship crashed to the earth, she was recruited by the Danger Action Response Team (D.A.R.T.) to fight the evil Supermechs, who threaten Earth. Quiet music accompanies Molly's sad and lonely backstory scenes, while techno pop and suspenseful music highlight battle and chase sequences. Multiple narrators and excellent special effects make it easy to follow this fast-moving audio comic. L.T. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Children • 1 hr. • Audio Program • © 2013

Copyright © 2014 AudioFile Magazine. Reprinted with permission.

• Listen to a sample of the book at Audible.com

• Want to see the print copy of Molly Danger?  In honor of Free Comic Book Day, you can get a free digital copy of  Molly Danger/Princeless now at Comixology. 

• FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is May 3, 2014, and Molly Danger is one of this year's offerings.  Click here to find a participating comic book store near you.

Bill The Boy Wonder - a review

Nobleman, Marc Tyler. 2012. Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman. Ill. By Ty Templeton.  Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

Batman.  Who doesn’t know Batman in one format or another? The 1960s TV show, the incredibly popular Dark Knight movie series, cartoons,  and of course, the original comic books which first appeared in 1939, bearing the name of Batman creator, Bob Kane. 

Every Batman story is marked with the words “Batman created by Bob Kane.” 
For almost thirty years, fans did not suspect otherwise.  But that is not the whole truth.  Bob Kane himself said so.
A Finger had a hand in it, too.

Bill the Boy Wonder is the story of that Finger, Bill Finger, the co-creator and long-time writer of Batman.

First forced to hide his identity as a Jew (his real name was Milton) to obtain work during the Great Depression, later writing in obscurity while Batman illustrator, Bob Kane,  rose to fame, and finally working (if only half-heartedly) to gain his duly deserved recognition, Nobleman chooses to present Bill, The Boy Wonder as a story with three parts, "Secret Identity 1 – Bill," "Secret Identity 2 – Writer of Batman," and "Secret Identity 3 – Co-creator of Batman."  This well-sourced and researched biography is as fascinating as it is entertaining,

Bill liked to ride through the city to think.  As the bus picked up passengers, Bill picked up plots from street scenes and daydreams.

He recorded stray facts – the boiling point of mercury, the Chinese character for virtue, what happens when a dog’s nose gets cold – in what he called his “gimmick book.”  He routinely skimmed it for a spark that might ignite a story.  In time he had a library of gimmick books at his Fingertips.  He even let other writers – his competitors – hunt for story ideas in them.

Though brimming with details and quotes, Nobleman moves the story along with the talent of a comic book writer.  A six-page Author’s Note adds details and period photographs.

Ty Templeton, a Batman artist himself, was the perfect choice to illustrate this fascinating look at Bill Finger’s work and the work of other talented artists, writers and fans who struggled to garner for him the credit he deserved.  The end papers are dramatic and inspired, and the illustrations are done, of course, in comic book style with white text box insets.

from Ty Templeton's site

Even if you’re not a Batmanian, you’ll love this book. It's clear that it was a labor of love for the author.

• Kirkus' review of Bill the Boy Wonder

(I'll be showing this one at my book club meeting!)

Can’t get enough of Bill The Boy Wonder?  Check out these great sites:

• The official site of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Co-Creator of Batman - the publisher's site containing puzzles, games, a contest, educator resources and more!
• Noblemania  - the author's blog
• An interview with Nobleman and Templeton that appeared on The Comics Cube blog

 and just for fun,

•  artist Ty Templeton's plug for the book

As I was reading this book, I could see a small child wearing the Batman symbol on his tee-shirt and his Crocs, and my own children were planning an opening night visit to the theater to see the Dark Knight’s latest incarnation.  Bill Finger’s now not-so-secret-identity lives on.

Today's Nonfiction Monday roundup is at Practically Paradise.

Mangaman

Houghton Mifflin Trade and Reference Division
 Distinguished book publishing since 1832

Lyga, Barry. 2011. Mangaman. Illustrated by Colleen Doran. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
(Advance Reader Copy)

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a manga reader, but when I saw the premise of this young adult comic book, I dove right in!

Barry Lyga's concept is genius and Colleen Doran pulls it off perfectly!  Mangaman is not a manga book.  It's a traditional comic book into which Ryoko, a character from the manga world, lands when he accidentally falls through "the Rip," a portal between the manga world and the "real" world of Western-style comic books.

The only character drawn in typical 2-dimensional manga style, Ryoko's is painfully aware of his manga trappings - effeminate appearance, visual thoughts that float above his head (particularly embarrassing in high school),

OH. EM. GEE!
Do you see that?
It's a head!
in the air!

"speed lines" that appear whenever he moves quickly, painfully poking nearby classmates (and later requiring "sweeping up" by the custodial staff), a habit of walking in the wrong direction,

I did it again, didn't I?
Left to Right.
Why can't I remember that?

and, especially telling, eyes that turn into hearts whenever Marissa Montaigne appears.

You could call this a parody of manga, but it's much more than that. If you're even remotely acquainted with manga comics, Mangaman is hysterical.  For the non-manga reader, this may be just what you need to finally "get it!"

(Right to Left, Why can't I remember that?)
Recommended for mature readers.



If you're having trouble accessing the video, you can see it at mangamanlives.com or Barry Lyga's website.