Amulet:The Stonekeeper - Kazu Kibuishi

Image accessed 18/6/13

 

Kibuishi, K. (2008) Amulet: The Stonekeeper, Graphix, USA.

 

Amulet: The Stonekeeper was written and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi and is the first of 5 graphic novels in the Amulet series. In addition to The Stonekeeper, there is The Stonekeeper's Curse, The Cloud Searchers, The Last Council and Prince of the Elves. Amulet is on the Premier's Reading Challenge Years 6-9. 

 

A tragic accident claims the life of Emily and Navin's father. In her grief and due to financial worries, their mother leaves the family home and instead seeks refuge in a house owned by her great-grandfather. The house is very dirty and in a state of disrepair. There is so much work to be done to clean it up and make it livable for the family but together they tackle the mess.

 

While they are looking around their new home, we are introduced to mysterious creatures looking through vents and creeping around the house (image accessed 18/6/13). During their investigations, Navin and Emily find a beautiful stone necklace which Emily immediately puts on and claims as her own.

 

Throughout the night, the necklace awakens and warns Emily that her family is in danger. True to its word, Emily's mum is swollowed by a monster in the basement. In a race against time, Emily must accept the power of the Amulet bestowed on her by her great-grandfather. Can she harness the power and accept the help she needs from her great-grandfather's friends (image accessed 18/6/13) to save her mother's life?

 

 

 

 

 

 



Ultimate Spiderman: Power and Responsibility - Brian Michael Bendis

Image accessed 8/4/13

Bendis, B.M. (2000) Ultimate Spiderman: Power and Responsibility, Marvel Publishing Inc, USA.

Ultimate Spiderman: Power and Responsibility was written and adapted by Brian Michael Bendis, co-adapted by Bill Jemas and illustrated by Mark Bagley. It is on the Premier's Reading Challenge Year 6-9.

Like my previous review of Batman, Spiderman, image accessed 8/4/13, has also recently been made into a movie franchise which has created a renewed interest in the superhero. It has had multiple comic book adaptations, television shows as well as graphic novels and computer games. The plot of the 2012 movie, The Amazing Spiderman follows this graphic novel very closely.

The novel begins with an introduction to Osborn Industries. Norman Osborn who eventually becomes The Green Goblin, image accessed 9/4/13, is testing a new wonder drug called O2. The unexplained drug has had some very good testing results on spiders and he finds this very exciting.

Peter Parker who is the alter-ego of Spiderman is shown as being weak and bullied at school. His parents were killed in a plane crash and he lives with his aunt and uncle. 

Peter's class goes on an excursion to Osborn Industries, where the class is attacked by spiders. Peter is bitten by a spider and collapses. Peter seemingly recovers but starts having some unusual side effects, like superhuman strength, tougher skin, increased muscle tone, acrobatic skills, sticky fingers and finally the ability to spin and shoot webs.

Peter grows increasingly angry and frustrated at the world. His relationship with his aunt and uncle suffers greatly. After a fight with Peter, his uncle is robbed and subsequently killed. This leads to Peter harnessing his gifts and deciding to use his powers to fight crime. He learns about the evil Green Goblin when he attacks Peter's school. This is when Peter's crime fighting adventure really begins. Can he overcome The Green Goblin?

Marvel publishes many different superhero characters. Visit the Marvel Spiderman character page to learn more about Spiderman's adventures. 

The site also details characters such as Thor, Wolverine and Captain America. You can learn more about these Marvel characters by browsing on the Marvel home page.

The Batman Strikes! Crime Time - Bill Matheny

Image accessed 6/4/13

Matheny, B. (2005) The Batman Strikes! Crime Time, DC Comics, Canada.

The Batman Strikes! Crime Time was written by Bill Matheny, illustrated by Terry Beatty and Christopher Jones and coloured by Heroic Age. It is on the Premier's Reading Challenge Year 6-9.

This graphic novel has 5 sub-stories, Penguin Rising, City of Bats, Outlaw and Disorder, Without a Chance and Deadly Partner.

Bruce Wayne is the alter-ego of the superhero Batman, image accessed 8/4/13. He has a butler named Alfred who is his only family as both of his parents were killed. Alfred always insists on calling Bruce, Sir. Much to his annoyance! 

Batman has had many characterisations over the years including television shows with both real people and animation, movies, video games, books and comics.  

SKREEEEEE!!!

City of Bats begins with an introduction to Dr Kirk Langstrom who is formulating a potion which will turn him into a Man Bat, image accessed 8/4/13 and video accessed 8/4/13. 



Using his bat sound SKREEEEE and serum which he spews from his mouth, Langstrom can turn people into evil bats like himself,

Can Batman work out where Langstrom has kept his formula so he can make an antidote to stop him before he takes over Gotham City?

The stories in this book are all short and introduce a new nemesis in each one. Penguin Rising features the Penguin, Outlaw and Disorder features the Joker, Without a Chance features Bane and Deadly Partner features Mr Scar Face.

There are 4 other graphic novels to read in The Batman Strikes series.

Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer

Image accessed 5/4/13

Colfer, E. (2007) Artemis Fowl, Penguin Group, England. 

Artemis Fowl was written and adapted by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin. The art was created by Giovanni Rigano and the colour by Paolo Lamanna. It is on the Premier's Reading Challenge Year 6-9.

Colfer describes Artemis Fowl on page 1 as being a 12 year old genius who has chosen to dedicate himself to criminal activities. He is definitely a genius! He is definitely a mastermind! He is definitely a criminal! But is he more a villain or a hero?

Artemis is determined to win back his family fortune. With his father missing and his mother mentally ill, Artemis has to rely on his bodyguard, Butler and friend, Juliet to help him on his quest. 

Artemis wants to get his hands on fairy gold but in order to do that, he needs to find and decode The Fairy Book to learn how to exploit the weaknesses of the fairies. The Fairy Book helps him to capture an elf named Holly Short, image accessed 5/4/13, who is a Recon Officer with magical fairy powers of healing. 

Artemis plans to use Holly as a bargaining chip to get the gold. But before he can, he must fight trolls and angry elves. It seems that fairy magic is essential for this mission. Will he get the gold or is there something more important that he also wants? 

There are eight books in the Artemis Fowl series, three of which have been turned into graphic novels - The Artic Incident and The Eternity Code are the other two. 

Visit the official Artemis Fowl website to learn more about this series. 

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

Image accessed 4/4/13

Tolkien, J.R.R. (1990) The Hobbit - An illustrated edition of the fantasy classic, Random House Publishing Group, USA. 

The graphic novel edition of The Hobbit was adapted by Charles Dixon and Sean Deming and illustrated by David Wenzel. It is on the Premier's Reading Challenge Year 6-9.

As The Hobbit was originally published in 1965, hobbits have been depicted in many different ways over the years through book covers and movies. According to J.R.R. Tolkien on page 1, image accessed 4/4/13, a hobbit is a little person, smaller than a dwarf. They are inclined to be fat in the stomach, dress in bright colours, wear no shoes because they have leathery soles of their feet and have thick warm brown hair.                                                   

This is a story of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who lives in a place called The Valley of Rivendale. Baggins was not an adventurous hobbit, much preferring the quiet life. One day he was visited by a wizard called Gandalf, image accessed 4/4/13, who invited him on an adventure. Not too pleased with this invitation as he wasn't a brave sort, he declined very quickly.

Gandalf didn't give up though! With the allure of stolen money, jewels and untold wealth, Bilbo armed with a map, key and the company of dwarves decides that he will join Gandalf on the dangerous quest to Middle Earth to reclaim the treasure now guarded by dragons.

Needing bravery beyond his wildest dreams, Bilbo's adventure brings forth confrontations with trolls, stone giants, goblins, evil wolves, giant spiders and fire breathing dragons. Can he overcome his fears and help win back the stolen treasure?  

The Hobbit is a prelude to the J.R.R. Tolkien's series, The Lord of the Rings. There are three books in this series - Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Together with The Hobbit, they have also been recently made into movies.

To learn more about this series, visit J.R.R. Tolkien's best books.