[BOOK REVIEW] The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

Title:  The Polar Express

Author:  Chris Van Allsburg


Genre: Christmas / Traveling / Fantasy / Magic


Year Published: 1985


Year Read: 2010

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“The Polar Express” is a fantastic book that proudly won the Caldecott Medal and is from the creative mind of Chris Van Allsburg.  This story is about how a young boy experiences the magic of the North Pole when he goes a magical ride on the Polar Express.  “The Polar Express” is a brilliant Christmas story that children of all ages will enjoy for many years.

Chris Van Allsburg has done a terrific job at both writing and illustrating this book with a passion.  Chris Van Allsburg portrays the boy’s enthusiasm at going to the North Pole in a way that a child would react to an amusement park, which is realistic and heartwarming at the same time.  Chris Van Allsburg’s writing is full of magic and wonder as the boy gives the readers in great detail about what a wonderful place that the North Pole is by describing the city’s lights and the factories that surround the city and the way that the text is set up will make any child want to go to the North Pole.  Chris Van Allsburg’s illustrations are extremely beautiful and magical, especially of the images of the North Pole with its city like lights and the beautiful image of all the elves gathering at the center of the city.  Also, the images of the different landscapes that the Polar Express passes through are extremely beautiful, especially of the images of the Polar Express going through the woods and the trees look so realistic and you can see various animals like wolves and rabbits go through the forest.

“The Polar Express” is truly one of the greatest masterpieces in children’s literature ever created as children will enjoy the experience of looking at the North Pole from a child’s perspective and enjoy the beautiful illustrations of the North Pole itself.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since there is nothing really inappropriate for small children.

* 1986 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Nominee for Picture Book - Honor Book
* 1986 Caldecott Medal
* 1986 Little Archer Award
* 1987 Kentucky Bluegrass Award
* 1988 Nevada Young Readers' Award for Primary Category/Picture Book Category
* 1991 Buckeye Children's Book Award for K-2

[BOOK REVIEW] Fear Agent Volume 2: My War by Rick Remender

Title:  Fear Agent Volume 2: My War

Author:  Rick Remender

Artist: Jerome Opena


Genre: Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Horror


Year Published: 2007


Year Read: 2012


Series: Fear Agent #2


Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Language and Gory Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 
 

  

Brief Introduction:

After reading the first volume of Rick Remender’s memorable “Fear Agent” series, “Fear Agent Volume One: Re-Ignition,”  I was getting more interested in seeing more adventures from Heath Huston, the last Fear Agent of his kind and I will definitely admit that “Fear Agent Volume Two: My War” was much better written then the first volume!

What is the story?

After the events of the first volume where Heath Huston and his new friend Mara Esperanza time travel to the past to stop the Tetaldian Race from overtaking the world, Heath is injured extremely badly and it seemed like he was going to die until the “Jellybrains” aliens (aliens who look like giant brains in a huge container) gave him a new body.  Afterwards, Heath leads the alien race to battle only to see Mara killed before his very eyes and him taking a time jump before he could save her!  Unfortunately, in the present, Heath then realizes that the Dressite Empire is closer to Earth and he must do everything in his power to stop them while realizing some dark surprises awaiting him!

What I loved about this comic:

Rick Remender’s writing:   After reading the first volume of “Fear Agent,” I was actually intrigued to see what would happen to the characters next, especially after the heart-thumping conclusion of the first volume.  Now after finally reading the second volume, I was practically on the edge of my seat trying to see if Heath and Mara succeed in their mission to defeat the Tetaldian Race to save Earth!  Rick Remender’s writing is as usual hilarious and exciting at the same time as there are many action scenes of Heath defeating various aliens to accomplish his goal.  I also loved the way that Rick Remender developed the characters in this book, especially Heath Huston’s character as we finally get an insight about his life before the alien invasion and his relationship with his former wife, Charlotte.

Jerome Opena’s artwork:  When I started reading this volume, I was actually surprised that there is a different artist in this volume from the last volume as the first volume had Tony Moore as the artist.  But then again, when you read comic books for so long, you will notice that artists change in many storylines.  Jerome Opena’s artwork is extremely well done in this volume as landscapes of the alien worlds are done in vivid detail and I loved the way that the alien machinery is illustrated as they look truly advanced.  I also liked Heath’s Fear Agent suit as it is orange with blue stripes which makes Heath look so distinguished from any other hero uniform.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this book:

I was torn between giving this volume a four star rating or a four and a half star rating since I think that this volume was better written than the first volume since this volume actually does explain a bit about Heath’s back story before he became a Fear Agent.  But, due to the confusing plot lines in this volume, I had to settle for a four star rating on this volume.  One of the problems I have with time travel stories is that sometimes it is never mentioned about when one time period has ended and another time period has begun.  So, I have often gotten confused with the storyline because of the constant time travel that Heath and Mara had to do throughout this volume.  Also, the beginning of the volume was a bit difficult to get through because 1) it was a bit too wordy, so it took a long time to get to the full story of this volume and 2) there was so much going on such as Heath trying to explain to the “Jellybrain” aliens about why he came from the future and the battle with the Tetaldian Race that I found myself getting confused about what was happening at that moment.  For anyone who does not like strong violence or strong language in a graphic novel, this volume has strong language such as uttering the “s” word several times and also, the violence is much gorier in this volume as there are images of being cut open.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, even though there were many confusing moments in this volume, “Fear Agent Volume Two: My War” is a great volume to read more about the “Fear Agent” series and I cannot wait to read the third volume of this great series by Rick Remender!

[BOOK REVIEW] The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss

Title:  The Butter Battle Book

Author:  Dr. Seuss


Genre: War / Food / Satire



Year Published: 1984



Year Read: 1996

Publisher: Random House

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 6+ (Themes of War)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Being a huge fan of Dr. Seuss’ works over the years, I was in that mode where I wanted to read everything that was written by him and I remembered reading “The Butter Battle Book” many years ago when I was little.  Well, I stumbled upon “The Butter Battle Book” again when I got older and at first, I was a little hesitant about reading this book again because of its war themes and I usually do not like reading books about wars, but after reading this classic book by Dr. Seuss, I actually found myself really enjoying this book!  “The Butter Battle Book” is definitely one of Dr. Seuss’ most impactful and darkest stories ever told!

The book starts off with a grandfather character telling his grandson about the great battle between the Zooks (orange uniformed people who ate their bread with the butter side down) and the Yooks (blue uniformed people who ate their breads with the butter side up).  The battle between the Zooks and the Yooks started when one of the Zooks shoots off the grandfather’s Snick-Berry Switch with a slingshot and the grandfather goes to Chief Yookeroo to get a better weapon that can beat out the weapon of the Zooks.  Unfortunately, the Zooks keep on making better weapons than the Yooks, while the Yooks constantly try to build a better weapon to match with the Yooks’ weapon, which causes the book to come to a surprising conclusion!

 

Wow…just wow…

Who would have ever thought that I would ever come across a Dr. Seuss book that discusses about war?  Well, I have come across other Dr. Seuss books that have a heavy message (“The Lorax” and “The Sneetches”), but this was what I called one of Dr. Seuss’s darkest books since it discusses about a topic that is often serious to many children…WAR.  It was also surprising that this book was actually a parody of the Cold War (the war between the United States and the Soviet Union) as both the Zooks and the Yooks tried to best each other with having a better weapon than the other side.  Even though I do not usually read books that have war themes because of the whole “only one side can win in this war” mentality that is constantly being shown in these types of books, this was one of the few war books that I had read that actually had a brilliant moral to the story:

WAR I S POINTLESS!

Since the premise of this book is about how both sides do not like each other because they spread their butters a different way on their breads, you might be thinking to yourself about how ridiculous this all is and why both sides could not reach a compromise about spreading their butter on both sides of the breads.  But, what I loved about the way that Dr. Seuss wrote this book was that both sides were not portrayed in a positive light since the Zooks seem like bullies and the Yooks are prejudiced towards the Zooks for buttering their breads differently and that might sound a bit odd, but it was appropriate enough to bring the theme of this book home.  The reason why I have such a huge dislike for wars is because both sides that participate in the wars can be shown in a negative light if they believe that fighting is the only solution to whatever problem arises instead of sitting down and talking about the problem and coming to a reasonable solution that can benefit both sides.  I loved the way that Dr. Seuss made a statement about how ridiculous the war between the Zooks and the Yooks really was because having a war about who has the best weapons seems like a ridiculous reason for countries to fight each other and we can easily see that through the Zooks and Yooks’ actions throughout this book.  Dr. Seuss’ illustrations may look a bit darker than usual, but still has the usual creative flair as the Zooks are always shown in orange jumpsuits while the Yooks are always shown in blue jumpsuits and I also loved the different weapons that each side has, especially the Zooks’ weapon that was called the Eight-Nozzled, Elephant-Toted Boom-Blitz which looks like a machine that has eight nozzles and is being carried by two mean looking purple elephants.

Probably one of the most controversial things about this book was the abrupt ending.  I will not tell you what happens at the end since I do not want to spoil this book for anyone, but you will be left wondering about what happens next after the events of this book.  I will admit that I was actually mad at how the book ended, but then since this book was written during the Cold War, it is understandable about why the book ended the way it did.  It makes me wonder about if they ever thought about making a “Butter Battle Book” movie, will the conclusion be changed in the movie and how will they go about it?  Also, the theme about the Zooks and the Yooks going at war with each other might be a bit disturbing for younger children, especially if they do not understand about the motives of wars or if they do not like seeing characters fighting each other.

Overall, “The Butter Battle Book” is easily one of the best books about anti-war ever written and anyone who is a fan of Dr. Seuss’ works or would love to read about how terrible wars are will definitely not be disappointed in this book!  I would recommend this book to children ages six and up since the war themes might upset younger children.

[BOOK REVIEW] Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title:  Divergent

Author:  Veronica Roth

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Year Published: 2011

Number of Pages: 487 pages

Date Read: 10/4/2012

Series: Divergent #1

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Violence)

“Imagine living in a dystopian world where you get to choose which society you want to live in and how you want to act.  And also, imagine that that one decision about choosing the society you want to live in could possibly change who you are forever!”

After I had finished reading both “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire,” I just had to check out more dystopian future titles that are aimed at young adults!  Well, I have managed to stumble upon this new book called “Divergent” which is author Veronica Roth’s debut novel!  “Divergent” is definitely one of the best dystopian future novels I have ever read since “The Hunger Games!”

Taking place in dystopian Chicago, Beatrice Prior, who had just turned sixteen-years-old, must go through a ritual where she must choose a faction to live in.  The following factions that she must choose from are Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful), Erudite (the intelligent) and Dauntless (the brave).  However, when Beatrice takes the aptitude test, she realizes that she is not normal and during the choosing ceremony, she chooses to go with the dauntless faction!  Even though Beatrice renames herself “Tris” and starts to enjoy the tough life of the Dauntless, she soon realizes that because of what happened during the aptitude test, she might be in great danger and also, she will soon realize that not everything is perfect in the dauntless faction and she may have to become brave to save the people she cares about from a terrible situation!

 

This honestly must be the third book (behind “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire”) that deals with a dystopian future that has a corruptive government…  Anyway, for a debut novel, Veronica Roth has certainly done an excellent job at writing this story about a brave young teenage girl named Beatrice Prior who must learn to be brave when a disaster is about to attack everyone she cares about.  I really enjoyed the way that Veronica Roth detailed the world that the characters live in as they have to choose the factions they want to live in and forget about their old factions if they decide to choose a new faction.  It slightly reminds me of choosing political parties to stick with, although “Divergent” deals with choosing a society you want to live in while choosing political parties determines which party you agree with their methods in politics.  It was also interesting seeing so many similarities in this book compared with “The Hunger Games” which includes:

·        Strong Heroine.

·        Dystopian Future.

·        Corruptive Government.

·        Heroine has a love interest.

·        Heroine has a symbol that defines their character (Katniss from “The Hunger Games” has a mockingjay pin while Beatrice from “Divergent” has a flame in a circle tattooed on her body that defines the dauntless)

I was on the edge of my seat whenever I saw Beatrice trying to survive the initiation to become a dauntless because the trials were always dangerous as it included jumping off a moving train with no fear and fighting other initiates to the death to prove how tough she is.  I enjoyed the way that Veronica Roth wrote Beatrice Prior as being a brave heroine who is willing to do anything to save her family and friends and how she matured throughout the book was a truly brilliant experience to see! 

 

For anyone who does not like strong violence in any novel, there are some scenes that have some unsettling and violent moments including one scene where a character has their eye stabbed by a pair of scissors.  Also, I often had trouble with sympathizing with Beatrice Prior herself as she sometimes comes off being a bit unsympathetic throughout the book.  There were many times in the book where she wished harm onto other people (even though some of them deserved it) and she has often lied to her friends many times throughout the book.  Also, Beatrice seems to lose her temper too many times in this book when her friends and family are trying to help her out and even though I understand the dystopian world that Beatrice lives in, I felt that she should try to listen to other people’s opinions first before always jumping to conclusions about a certain situation.

   

Overall, “Divergent” is a truly brilliant book that really kept me interested in what is going to happen to each character all the way through the end!  I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who really enjoys reading dystopian novels with your typical corruptive government storylines that you cannot help but enjoy reading over and over again!  Now, I am off to read the next book, “Insurgent!”

* 2011 Goodreads Choice for Favorite Book of 2011 and for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction
* 2012 ALA Teens' Top Ten Nominee
* 2012 Children's Choice Book Award Nominee for Teen Choice Book of the Year
* 2012 DABWAHA Romance Tournament for Best Young Adult Romance
* 2014 Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee

[BOOK REVIEW] The Little Old Woman and the Hungry Cat by Nancy Polette

Title:  The Little Old Woman and the Hungry Cat

Author:  Nancy Polette

Artist:  Frank Modell

Genre: Animal / Food / Greed / Manners


Year Published: 1989


Year Read: 2011

Publisher:  Greenwillow Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Some Scary Moments)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

I have read many versions of “The Greedy Cat” which was a Scandinavian adaptation that came out in 1909 and one of my favorite versions of this tale was Margaret Read MacDonald’s adaptation called “Fat Cat.”  Now, I had picked up another version of the classic folktale called “The Little Old Woman and the Hungry Cat” which was written by Nancy Polette along with illustrations by Frank Modell and in this tale, a greedy cat ends up eating everything in its path until it swallowed the old woman and mayhem ensures!  “The Little Old Woman and the Hungry Cat” is a fantastic adaptation of the old folktale that fans of the “The Greedy Cat” will enjoy!

When an old woman leaves the house and tells her cat to not eat the sixteen cupcakes that she baked, the cat ended up eating the cupcakes anyway and goes out of the house.  While the cat is out of the house, he meets up with a man and his pig and a wedding procession and he ends up eating them up.  When the cat finally comes back home and the old woman realizes what the cat has done, she tells the cat to get out of the house.  But, then the cat decides that the old woman looks tasty and then eats her up!

Can the old woman and everyone that the cat ate get out of the cat’s belly?

  

I have always loved the folktale “The Greedy Cat,” so seeing so many different variations of this tale was a treat for my reading soul!  Nancy Polette has done an excellent job at retelling this ancient folktale as the story is much more simplistic than its earlier interpretation.  I loved that in this interpretation we have an old woman who stands up to the cat while in the other version of this folktale “Fat Cat,” there was a mouse who lived with the cat and I enjoyed seeing the different roommates that the cat lives with in each adaptation.  Also, the idea about a cat eating up everyone he meets up with was quite outrageous and interesting at the same time and it is that surreal aspect that I find in many folktales that makes me really enjoy reading various folktales, including this one!  Frank Modell’s illustrations slightly resemble James Stevenson’s illustrations as they are simplistic yet humorous at the same time.  I loved the illustrations of the cat itself as it is gray and large and the scene where the cat starts eating everyone and grows bigger was done extremely well in detail.

Parents should know that the scenes of the cat eating people who get in his way might be a bit disturbing for smaller children.  However, in this version, the illustrations are shown in a less menacing way, so small children might be able to get through this book.  But parents should still read this book before they read it to their children.

Overall, “The Little Old Woman and the Hungry Cat” is a fantastic retelling of the ancient folktale that many fans of folklore will enjoy for many years!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the scenes of the cat eating the people might scare smaller children.

[BOOK REVIEW] Max's Christmas by Rosemary Wells

Title:  Max's Christmas

Author:  Rosemary Wells


Genre: Christmas / Family / Humor


Year Published: 1986


Year Read: 1993

Publisher:  Dial Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 3+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository
 

I actually first saw “Max’s Christmas” on a video from Weston Woods and from then on, I was so intrigued by this story!  “Max’s Christmas” is a cute children’s book by Rosemary Wells and it is about how Max tries to see Santa Claus for the first time!  “Max’s Christmas” is a truly wonderful story that children can easily read for Christmas!

When Max’s sister Ruby tells Max that Santa Claus is coming to their house, Max keeps asking Ruby about who Santa Claus is and can he see him, although Ruby tells Max that he cannot see Santa Claus since no one has.  But, Max still wanted to see Santa Claus despite his sister’s warnings and he decides to go downstairs and wait for Santa Claus to come.

Will Max be able to see Santa Claus?

Oh my goodness! There is just so much about this book that I really enjoyed!  For one thing, Rosemary Wells’ writing is extremely simplistic and cute and even though there are only a few words on each page, it really brought out the innocence of children being excited for Santa Claus’ arrival.  I loved the way that Rosemary Wells had Max ask Ruby questions about who Santa Claus is and what he does by stating “What, who, when, where, how, and why?” It was just so cute seeing Max being curious about Santa Claus and how Ruby tries to answer Max’s questions the best she can.  The book is extremely easy for children to read through since there are only a few words on each page and I think that many children can relate to Max’s situation as he wants to see if Santa Claus is real or not.  I remember when I was small; I wanted to try to sneak out into the middle of the night on Christmas Eve just to see if Santa Claus was coming to our house!  Rosemary Wells’ illustrations are just truly cute as the main characters in this book are small white rabbits that have pudgy bodies and small eyes. My favorite images were of Max jumping up and down on his bed in his red pajamas as he looks extremely cute since he has a smile on his face and his round body is leaping off the bed.  I also loved the images of the Christmas tree that Max and Ruby have as it is small, but the way that the lights glow off the Christmas tree just made the image look truly beautiful.

Overall, “Max’s Christmas” is a truly wonderful book by Rosemary Wells for children who want to read about characters experiencing their joys of meeting Santa Claus and they will easily enjoy this book for many years! I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since the writing is extremely simple for small children to get a grasp on the story.

[BOOK REVIEW] Invincible: Ultimate Collection Volume 1 by Robert Kirkman

Title:  Invincible: Ultimate Collection Volume 1

Author: Robert Kirkman

Artists: Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley


Genre: Superhero / Action / Adventure

Year Published: 2005

Year Read: 2012

Series: Invincible #1

Publisher: Image Comics

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Gory Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 
 

Brief Introduction:

For a long time now, I had always believed that the only comic book companies that created superhero comics were Marvel and DC and it is true that they have been creating superhero comics for many years now.  However, when I found Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker’s latest creation and Eisner Award nominated series “Invincible” from Image comics; I was actually shocked that an independent comic book company would produce a superhero comic!  “Invincible” is a superhero comic book to be sure, but it was one superhero comic that had many plot twists that you would not normally see in any other superhero comic book and those plot twists really made this graphic novel truly unique and exciting to read!

What is the story?

Mark Grayson was a normal teenage boy who goes to high school, has crush on girls and has a dull after school job like everyone else. However, what makes Mark different from everyone else is that his father, Omni-Man is the world’s most powerful superhero and Mark seems to have inherited his powers!  After Mark discovers his powers, he finds the life of being a superhero fun; but then once a dark secret is exposed, Mark’s life will soon change forever!

What I loved about this comic:

Robert Kirkman’s writing!:  Now, I am not too familiar with Robert Kirkman’s work since “Invincible” is the first comic I have read by him,  but now that I had just finished reading this graphic novel, I am totally hooked on Robert Kirkman’s writing style!  Robert Kirkman has done a brilliant job at developing the characters to the point where we can really sympathize and care about their situations.  I loved the character portrayal of Mark Grayson as he is portrayed as being a free spirited character that enjoys having superpowers while trying to balance his life at school and I loved seeing that side of Mark as he knows he has responsibilities, but he still wants to enjoy life.  I also loved the way that Robert Kirkman would make parodies of superheroes in this comic such as the superhero team “Guardians of the Globe” being a slight parody of the Justice League and yet, these superhero teams are not like carbon copies of the superheroes we see in Marvel and DC as they seem to have qualities that separates them from the other superheroes.  Robert Kirkman also did a fantastic job at providing humor in this story as I found myself laughing at the statements being made by the characters, especially by Mark Grayson when he made comments about finding out about his powers for the first time and he just casually told his parents about his powers like it is no big deal.  What I really loved about Robert Kirkman’s writing is his ability to provide plot twists to the story and the plot twists were done extremely well as I was literally shocked at the various secrets that were exposed about the characters. 

Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley’s artwork:  Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley’s artwork is a bit unique as it has a simplistic look and yet during the action scenes, is drawn in an effective way.  I loved the artwork of the characters’ expressions whenever they are confused about something as their eyes are drawn as little black dots instead of having their normal eye shapes which really brings out the humor in the situations.  I also loved the coloring done by Bill Crabtree as the artwork looks extremely colorful and I loved the shadowing on the characters’ faces whenever they are in dark places such as being outside during the nighttime.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this book:

This graphic novel is surprisingly gory as there are many scenes of characters being torn apart and you can see blood squirt out everywhere and their innards being pulled from their bodies.  Anyone who does not like seeing gore in any graphic novel might want to skim over these scenes.

Final Thoughts:

“Invincible” is not your average superhero comic as it contains more humor and a lighter tone than what I usually see in superhero comics, but this is definitely one of the most unique and interesting superhero comics I have ever read and I am sure that many fans of superhero comics will definitely enjoy this graphic novel!