Let's Get Graphic- Reviewing 5 different Graphic Novels
1. Frizzy- Claribel A. Ortega
Frizzy is an eye opening story that though contains some very heavy themes is ultimately a charming and light-hearted choice for a graphic novel. Marlene is a young girl struggling with her cultural identity, physical appearance, controlling her emotions, and even the grief for her departed father. Marlene loves her curly hair but her family and her culture fixate on outward appearance and especially over what it means to have good hair. As it turns out, this feeling about hair is really an internalized micro-agression due to generational trauma. But Marlene learns to break that cycle. 
This graphic is more of a balance of dialogue and narration. We hear directly from Marlen's point of view through the graphic novel. The images act as an enchancment to the story and accomplishes portryaing emotions that would owtherwise have to be specifically state in a novel. One example is the look on Marlen's face when she sees her Tia Ruby at the Quincinera. Though it's never said at this point, it's clear that Marlene idolizes her Tia Ruby becuase she is an example of an adult women who is beautiful and happens to have curly hair just like Marlene's. The illustrations are exremely adorable, endearing, and yet simple at the same time. Bousamra's art style is full of bright colors and she effectively characterizes the setting and backdrops with in the novel as well as the characters.
Children 8 and up will understand that this is a story about self acceptance, adressing and voicing your emotions and not falling victim to perfectionism.
2. The Stonekeeper (Amulet #1)- Kazu Kibuishi
This first installment of the Amulet series tells the story of an unasuming young girl and her younger brother as they moved into a mysterious family home and discover a brand new world awaiting them. Emily finds herself the new keeper of an old stone relic that possess magical powers. Coupled with her grandfathers inventions Emily and her brother, Navin, trek through this new world to save their mother after she's abducted by an alien monster. But danger is lurking around every corner...
The story of The Stonekeeper is super fast paced but the illustrations of this graphic novel match this action packed context of the story. The images themselves are drawn and displayed in a manner that is just so cinematic, this graphic novel plays out more like a movie than anything else. There many instances throughout the novel where there are multiple cells or even full pages without any text, showing a sequence of events not unlike a movie. Establishing shots, close ups, and masterful lighting all contribute to filmic feel of this graphic novel. For that reason it also has inklings of comic books and the dramatic nature of them. One example is simply a sell of a foot stepping in the rain soaked ground to establish the mood and tone of the scene.
Children 7 and up will find this story enjoyable and easy to follow. It is a classic science fiction adventure with magic and fun mechanics and characters, like Miskit the pink robot rabbit. The characters, plot, and illustrations make it very reminiscent of old kids adventure movies or stories. It's also the first in a 9 book series.
3. In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers- Don Brown
Though this entry is a huge dramatic shift in tone from the others on the list, it is a masterful example of an informational graphic novel. In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers recounts and teaches the events of the 9/11 attacks. It includes the immediate response and fall out, the attack on the Pentagon, the racism middle easterners experienced, the attempts to find Bin Laden and ends with the first year anniversary gathering that occured on September 11th, 2002.
The graphic novel balances back and forth between narration typed in some sort of typewriter font and speech bubbles displayed in a font meant to resemble handwriting. Somehow both small decisions go a long way to add to the tone and efforts to invoke emotion. The handwriting scrawl of the speech bubbles give it a more personal touch and reminds the readers that this was reality for a lot of Americans during this time, some of the words in these speech bubbles are direct quotes from those who spoke them, such as former president George. W Bush. The typewriter font for the narration give it a professional feeling that demonstrates that this is a very serious topic. The illustrations themselves are impressive. The illustrative design of, say, "the pile" or the debris from the tow towers is drawn in a way that makes it feel as vast and hopeless as it must've felt for those trapped underneath it and those who were desperate to find their loved ones. The art style employed by Brown includes a watercolor approach with scratchy and erratic lines as well as gray and blue color scheme except for the the rare occasion to depict fire or the American flag. This was done in a way that so effectively invokes a feeling like September 11th and the aftermath of it is now a memory. But it's not faded or distant. It's also purposefull that the lines on the illustrations are pointy and harsh and not round or cherubic like something of a cartoon, this further adds to the severity of the topic.
Seeing as it is a very intense topic, and that any children would obviously not been alive when 9/11 happened, this could act as in introduction to what happened that day. Though it is explained with respect, severity and tact, it is not over complicated or hard to understand. Younger children would do well to be aided by an adult when reading this graphic novel. But children in 5th grade or higher could most likely read this on their own.
Though this is not neccesarily a series, Don Brown has written and illustrated similiar graphic novels that feature other devastations of history including. Hurrican Katrina, Syrian Refugees and the American Dust Bowl, to name a few.
4. Garlic and the Vampire- Bree Paulsen
Garlic and the Vampire is a very sweet story of an anthropormorphic garlic who is full of anxiety but somehow is chosen to be the one who journeys to the abandoned castle to rid it of the vampire that has taken residence there. What follows is a lovely graphic novel that tells a story of overcoming your fears and anxieties.
Children, upwards the age of 7, will find this novel very easy to comprehend. This is the first book in a duology. The second graphic novel in this series is called Garlic and the Witch.
5. Adventures in Cartooning- James Strum, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost
The text and the images actually match each other quite aptly. There are not many words per page and the words, generally speaking, are not very complicated. Similarly, the illustrations are purposefully rudimentary as they are meant to convey the idea that anyone can take their doodles and create a story with them. The message is clear: you don't have to be a talented artist to make a graphic novel or comics. This is less of a narrative story and more of a how to. It's a story that informs on how to be a storry, or perhaps more aptly, how illustrations can tell a story. It' sort of like story-ception. Because the narration of this book is very meta and post modernist. There are many times where the characters acknowledge that they are drawings within a story.
By that metric, this is a very easy concept for children to understand. Children as young as 5 could probably follow along if not with the instruction on how to make graphic novels then certainly with the "fake story" withinn the story.
This book is the first in four part series that include: Adventures in Cartooning: The Activity Book, Adventures in Cartooning: Christmas Special, and Adventures in Cartooning: Characters in Action.
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