Graphic Novels (Week 5)

 Babymouse: Queen of the World - Jennifer and Matt Holm

Holm, Jennifer L., and Matthew Holm. Babymouse: Queen of the World. Random House, 2005. 

Babymouse is an anthropomorphic mouse who wants to go to a sleepover hosted by the popular girl Felicia Furrypaws. She gets an invite but ditches her best friend, Wilson, and lets Felicia have her book report in exchange. She learns that it wasn't worth it in the end and heads to Wilson's house after all. This is the first book in a series of 20 total graphic novels and includes other Babymouse series such as the Big Adventures of Babymouse, Little Babymouse, and Babymouse: Tales from the Locker. I like the use of pink in the book! The entire color scheme was black, white, and pink. Pink was used as an accent color in cupcakes, the heart on her dress, or backgrounds in daydreams to name a few scenarios. The illustrations were cartoony and added to the humorous effects of the book! When Babymouse gets her invitation, she dances from left to right on the frame saying "I'm invited!" repeatedly until the text is interrupted with a dash and she is right in front of her teacher where she is reprimanded for not turning in her book report. I think the plot makes sense and is easy for children to understand. I feel that they would understand the feeling of not being invited to something they want to go to. 

Noodleheads See the Future - Tedd Arnold

Arnold, Tedd, et al. Noodleheads See the Future. Holiday House, 2018.

    This book is about a couple of humanoid noodles named Mac who are very... simple-minded. Mac and Mac go into the forest to collect some firewood to surprise their mother so she can bake them a cake. In the forest, they see Meatball who predicts the pair will fall on their bottoms because they are cutting a branch they are sitting on. This leads the boys to think Meatball can see the future and Meatball uses this to con them out of their firewood for some acorns. The boys plant the acorns but manage to dig a bunch of holes which their mother can use to start her garden. This is a fairly easy read with a large typeface and no more than 10 words per speech bubble. The book is also split into five chapters that are easy to summarize. The illustrations are effective at telling the story. The book opens with Mac and Mac showing the top of their heads to illustrate that they don't have brains. This makes the visual gag of being outsmarted by a meatball make sense since Meatball most likely has a brain. The plot is pretty straight forward so I believe it will make sense to children.

Stargazing - Jen Wang

 Wang, Jen. Stargazing. Colored by Lark Pien, First Second, 2019.

    Stargazing is about Christine and Moon and their blossoming friendship. Christine feels under pressure to remain perfect for her family and Moon sees visions that are caused by a tumor growing in her brain. These visions where she has celestial beings come to talk to her and she believes that she belongs in space. This is probably my favorite book that I have read so far this semester. I absolutely loved the story and the art style of the book, especially the drawings in Moon's books that reflect her visions. Other illustrations that I think are wonderful are how lyrics flow across the page during dance sequences and montages. I think this book would be suited for older children (9-13).  I think there are subtle clues that children might not pick up on that make the ending confusing. The main one that comes to mind is that Moon often is seen staring off into space and these episodes turn out to be seizures. As an adult, I look back at these and think, ahh of course, but I can imagine that as a child I would have been frustrated.