30. Amulet: The Stonekeeper

Amulet: The Stonekeeper
By Kazu Kibuishi
Scholastic, 2008

Awards

• YALSA Best Books for Young Adults (2009)
• Rhode Island Children's Book Award (2010)
• Library Journal's Graphic Novels for Reluctant Readers (2010)
• Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award: Junior Division (2011)
• Oregon Library Association Reader's Choice Award: Junior Division (2011)
• #4 on Goodreads "Best Graphic Novels for Children" (2013)

Genre
Adventure, Low Fantasy,  Steampunk

Review
After their father dies in a car crash, Emily, Navin, and their mother move from the city to a family home "in the middle of nowhere" that their mother inherited from her grandfather, Silas Charnon.  After moving in, the family discovered Silas's workshop where he built what he called puzzles, but were really game machines of some kind.  Here Emily finds an amulet that was hidden in his workbench.  During the night, the family hears noises coming from the basement and go to investigate.  Their mother is abducted by some kind of monster and taken through an opening in the wall into a strange land; and the children soon chase after her, trying to save her.  The amulet springs to life and attacks the monster.  The children aren't able to save their mother at that time, but the amulet speaks to them, instructing them to find their great-grandfather's home in this land, called Alledia.  After finding Silas, he tells Emily he intended the amulet to be hers and that she take over his role of controlling the amulet and gaining power to rule in Alledia.  The children then set out with robots made by Silas to find their mother and cure her from the poisonous monster.  The colorful drawings and cute, quirky robot characters are entertaining and make the reader hope for the children to succeed on their mission.

Opinion

A book that engages the readers from the beginning, this is a great book for tweens.  The story makes the reader want to continue the series, because it leaves many questions unanswered at the end of the first book, but they seem answerable in books to come.

Ideas

There is a small steampunk theme in this book with the machinery built by the children's great-grandfather and the robots, but I am unsure if that theme extends through the series.  This may be a good book for a steampunk display or just to engage reluctant readers in an easy to follow adventure.

25. Bone, Book 8: Treasure Hunters

Bone, Book 8: Treasure Hunters
By Jeff Smith
Scholastic, Inc., 2008

Genre
Graphic Novel, High Fantasy, Humor

Awards
None known for individual book; the series has received many awards and nominations.

Review
Fone Bone, along with his cousins Phoney Bone and Smiley (with a hidden baby rat creature), are traveling with a queen and Princess Thorn in disguise to get into the city of Atheia.  Many people are trying to take refuge in the city because ghost circles have begun swarming the surrounding towns and desert, forcing evacuations.  Upon entering the city, the group learns that the leaders of Atheia have banned worship of the dragons and demand that only Ven is worshiped, such a change from their old beliefs where people believed that the dragons created the earth, were responsible for life and death, and taught Ven, the first human queen everything she knew.  Guards were ordered to demolish any dragon shrines seen and to capture any dragon worshipers to be burned at the stake.  While the others are hiding and trying to find out more information about those loyal to the dragons and some secret group the queen is part of, and try to figure out how to restore balance between their world and the dream world, Phoney Bone is concerned with finding treasure somewhere in the city while Smiley frequently visits and plays with their smuggled baby rat creature.  All may be lost when Princess Thorn is captured along with the Bone cousins and the queen sees and approaching enemy army of Pawans and rat creatures.  The army belongs to the queen's sister, Briar, who is working to tip the balance toward the dream world, and her master, The Locust.

Opinion
I was lost for this entire book.  I don't think the books in this series, or at least this one in particular, can stand on their own.  The characters are not "reintroduced" in anyway and the plot seems to continue strait from the last book.  This was odd for me having read comic books previously that, though they are a number in a series, don't necessarily depend on their predecessors to tell their story.  The humor in this book is likely appropriate for tweens familiar with the series, but was mostly lost on me.  The artwork is interesting; the humans are fairly realistically drawn and reminded me of how people were drawn in Avatar, the Last Air Bender.  This, contrasting with the more cartoonish drawings of the Bone cousins, the giant bees and the rat creatures made for an amusing idea of what the world of this comic is like.

Ideas
If the first book in the series is available, I feel like it may be a good way to introduce tweens to a graphic novel if they've never read one.  The lively colors, glossy pages, and pressing adventure story will likely keep them entertained.  However, I would recommend suggesting something else if the first book is unavailable as they may be as lost in the story as I was and get discouraged.

24. Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute
By Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Random House Children's Books, 2009

Genre
Adventure, Graphic Novel, Humor

Awards

• Kid's Indie Next List "Inspired Recommendations for Kids from Indie Booksellers" Winner (2009)
• IRA Children's Choices: Young Readers (2010)
• Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices Winner (2010)
• New York Stated Charlotte Award Nominee (2012)

Review
A group of three students, The Breakfast Bunch, discuss with each other what their lunch lady does outside of work.  Mostly they speculate that she has a lot of cats, but one of them jokingly suggests she's a secret agent! If only he knew how close the truth he was.  The lunch lady has a secret lair in the "boiler room", concealed by a large sliding fridge in the school kitchen.  Here she tests out new gadgets made by her assistant lunch lady, like the Spatu-copter (a helicopter spatula), Chicken Nugget Bombs, and Fish Stick Nunchucks, and monitors classrooms on her her huge monitor with secret cameras (Milk-cams).  In this first installment in the Lunch Lady series, she battles evil robots lead by a cyborg substitute teacher.  All these mechanical villains were created by a disliked science teacher to send away the most liked teachers in the school and replace them with cyborg substitutes that made the students do so much extra work, they would all end up liking the science teacher the best, and vote to give him the Best Teacher of the Year award.  When the Lunch Lady learns that there is something fishy going on with the new sub, she follows him after school (with the Breakfast Bunch following her to see what she really did after school was over).  Here the Lunch Lady and the children are surrounded by the robot army, but are saved by the Lunch Lady's food-weapons and one of the children's science projects.  The book ends with a cliff hanger, promising more food fights in the future.

Opinion
This is a funny little story that may have students thinking about what their teachers, school janitors, or bus drivers do after work! The story incorporates a school figure that students probably don't think about too often.  The author had very creative ways to incorporate school lunch food into funny weapons and used Batman's Batcave from the cartoons as a heavy influence on the Lunch Lady's lair, making it easily recognizable to comic book and cartoon fans.

Ideas
Having readers write a short story or draw out their own short comic strip may be a fun project.  There is also a secondary story involving a boy in the Breakfast Bunch being bullied, but learning to stand up for himself.  Despite it being a secondary element, it could still have an impact on students concerned with bullying.