Girl Stories by Lauren R. Weinstein

Lauren had some tough times growing up.  First of all, she was the only girl who was still playing with Barbies at 13.  All of her friends got too cool to play dolls with her anymore.  Than, she wasn't popular and got picked on all the time in school.  There was one boy in particular who was always mean.  Lauren tried to get in with the popular crowd, but it didn't turn out so well.  Her parents drive her crazy and when Lauren finally does get a boyfriend, it turns out it's not all it's cracked up to be.  In a series of short stories, Lauren tells stories from her life from middle school through high school that any girl will be able to relate too.

 I appreciated that Weinstein was very honest.  She is telling personal stories from her life, and not everything would easy for someone to admit.  She's been in a fair number of embarrassing situations.  I think probably most kids go through situations like this, but don't want to talk about because they feel alone and it IS embarrassing.  This is a great graphic novel for a middle school or new high school student to read and see that other people's lives aren't perfect either, and that you can make it through.

I wasn't a huge fan of Weinstein's illustrating style.  She actually uses several different styles, since she's writing these stories at different points in her life and trying out different ways of drawing.  Everything is kind of grotesque looking, and the coloring felt strange to me.  Weinstein's style is cartoonish, certainly not going for detailed realism.  This is just a personal preference.  I think when it comes to graphic novels, I like the detailed realism better.  Not liking the artistic style did not take away from the stories, however.

Wonderland by Tommy Kova, illustrated by Sonny Liew

Here we are again in Wonderland, but Alice is nowhere in sight.  Now we get the story of Mary Ann, the White Rabbit's housemaid Alice was mistaken for.  Mary Ann enjoys her job, as she likes everything to be clean and tidy at all times.  Things quickly go down hill as the White Rabbit is accused of being in league with the Alice monster and the Queen of Hearts orders his head to be removed.  Mary Ann and the White Rabbit are on the run, and in the process fall down a treacle well and discover that the Queen of Hearts isn't the only queen left in Wonderland after all.

This was fun.  I think it would be less fun if you haven't read Alice in Wonderland.  There are lots of jokes that play off assumed knowledge of Wonderland, like the treacle well and the jabberwocky, the Cheshire cat and the disturbance that Alice caused when she was there.  None of that is explained.

While Mary Ann likes keeping things clean and tidy, she begins to get frustrated with everyone claiming that she's "theirs."  The White Rabbit calls her his maid, but the Queen of Spades decides Mary Ann will be her handmaid, never asking Mary Ann herself, of course.  When the group goes to Sir Edward to get some new clothes made, Mary Ann begins to think that she might like to work in a place like that, but when she tries to ask about it, the Queen of Spades cuts her off by asking if Sir Edward is finished attending to HER handmaid.

Mary Ann is always being told what to do by other people, even though she's far more sensible than most of them.  It has a nice ending with the White Rabbit acknowledging her as a friend, not as a maid.

It is illustrated by Sonny Liew, in a colorful cartoonish style.

A nice story, appropriate for middle grade or lovers of Alice in Wonderland.  Wonderland is the first in a series, and there are three volumes currently available.

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

Trella is a scrub on the first level of the Inside. She is one among tens of thousands that work in the lower levels that keep their society running smoothly. While Trella psychologically survives by keeping to herself in the pipes, other scrubs like her only friend Cogon look to prophets that speak of Outside and a Gateway that will free them. Eventually Trelly is persuaded to meet with the newest prophet Broken Man, who has requested her by name. It seems that he used to be an Upper, someone who lives on the second or higher levels. Scrubs both hate Uppers for the their seemingly posh lifestyle and fear as the population cops or Pop Cops who deal out them punishments are all Uppers. Broken Man manages to pique Trella's curiosity via Cogon to go and steal some discs that he has left in his room on the fourth level. It isn't long before Trella is immersed in an intrigue that could take down the entire system that she has grown up in. She'll need all the help she can get from of Logan and Anne-Jade twin Tech Nos who allow her to ghost around the technology of the upper levels, Jacy an information shark who doesn't like her much, and Riley a smart Upper who is starting to mean more to her; as Cogon has been captured by the Pop Cops and slated for execution. With all the scrubs hope resting on her shoulders, will finding the Gateway give Trella the answers she seeks?

VIRALS by Kathy Reichs

Fifteen year old Tory Brennan is the great-grandniece of famous forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, whom she idolizes. Unfortunately for Tory she lives on a small island off the coast of South Carolina on a science compound affiliated with some university. She has just moved in with her rather clueless genius dad Kit and her only outlet for her grief of losing her mother are forensics, dogs, and the three other teens living on the island: Hi a sarcastic authority defying flashy dresser; Shelton, token person of color who happens to also be a techno-whiz; and Ben, sullen sixteen and supposedly a hottie. They go to a ritzy private school on the mainland, where none of them fit in (shocker). The only thing that makes school tolerable is her education, friendly cutie Jason, and her secret crush Chance the most popular and richest kid at the school (of course).

As the four kids don't like to spend additional time at school, they tend to cruise around the different islands that the university owns. Eventually they come across some dog tags and take it upon themselves to discover who they belong to. While investigating they end up in an abandoned lab, where they save a wolf dog that Tory had a 'moment' with and has a soft spot for. They discover that the dog was given a virus that infects them and after bouts of sickness their senses are enhanced and they have all developed a pack sense that allows them to communicate with one another. They end up calling themselves the Virals, because that's super original. In the mean time they are also discovering that the owner of the dog tag's daughter was murdered so they are now investigating that and people are out to get them. And if that isn't enough for you - Tory is trying to fend off the good intentions of her dad's girlfriend to get her into a debutante ball, figure out her feelings for Chance, stay away from the mean girls of the school, and not get killed.

Queen and Country by Greg Rucka

Tara Chace is the number two minder in the SIS, she is deadly with a weapon, extremely intelligent, and a bit of a hard ass. That's not to say that she doesn't have her issues, it seems that she's become so focused on work that her personal life is taking a nose dive. She has issues with sleeping and alcohol, and her therapist believes that the job is slowly killing her off inside.

I read the "Definitive Edition," which means that I got the first three volumes in one go.

"Operation: Broken Ground" - Illustrated by Steve Rolston
As a favor to the CIA, Tara is sent to assassinate a weapons dealer. While she completes the mission, she is almost captured and the terrorists deduce who she worked for. They retaliate, but end up killing the wrong people. The assassins soon focus in on Tara and her bureau is not prepared to back her up.

"Operation: Morningstar" - Illustrated by Hurtt, Brian; Bryan Lee O'Malley; and Christine Norrie
After the disaster of Broken Ground, Tara feels a bit lost. She questions what she is fighting for and is losing sleep and drinking more, she is ordered to see a therapist for evaluation. During this time of self-doubt an informant is executed in Afghanistan. Minders one and three are sent to find any information he left behind before hundreds are killed, while Tara is left adrift and feeling inadequate and in need of purpose.

"Operation: Crystal Ball" - Illustrated by Leandro Fernandez
SIS is informed that someone has volunteered information on a terrorist attack right after Sept. 11, 2001; Tara is sent to question him and discovers that there's a plan to use biological chemicals on an unknown event. SIS is left scrambling with not a lot to go on and this is especially true when the relationship between Tara and minder three is complicated when they start sleeping together and no one approves.

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham

Snow White, acting as envoy for Fabletown, appeals to the Sultan of a far away land for help.  At first she is ignored, but then she is tricked to seeing him in his rooms.  It turns out that the Sultan holds a grudge against women.  He marries a woman every night, and then has her killed in the morning.  To make the Sultan want to keep her alive, Snow White tells him stories of how the different refugees came to Fabletown.

I LOVED this!  I like fairy tales, and I love reading twists on fairy tales.  We get to hear stories after the fairy tales we are familiar with have ended, but before they came to Fabletown.  We learn what happened to Snow White after she married her prince, what happened to Frog Prince after remarried his princess, what happened to the witch that got burnt by Hansel and Gretel, and so on.

For the most part, these stories were very dark.  These are not Disney fairy tales; they are much more in the flavor of Grimm fairy tales.  There's a lot of violence, cruelty and revenge.  I recommend this for older high school students, 10-12 grades.
 
I loved the illustrations.  There were eleven different illustrators for this volume, so each story that Snow White told had a different style of illustration.  In particular I liked the pictures in the first story, "The Fencing Lesson," which were done by John Bolton.  Beautiful, detailed, full color pictures. 

Anna reviewed the first couple volumes of Fables before, if you'd like to check that out.

Graphic Novels for Girls Month

Happy February everyone!  Who's getting snowed in?  Or perhaps a better question would be "is there anyone who ISN'T getting snowed in?"  Anyway.  Anna and I have been doing a lot of graphic novel reading lately, focusing on graphic novels with female protagonists.  Girls like graphic novels.  Really, they do. I think there's still a conception that girls don't read graphic novels, long carried over from "girls don't read comic books" which also isn't (and wasn't) true.  Shojo manga gained popularity with girls, and while those are fun, not all girls are looking for light romances.   If we as librarians don't show girls all the different kinds of graphic novels that are out there, they'll never know the fabulous that they are missing!

Thusly, we declare February Great Graphic Novels for Girls Month.  We will review all different sorts of graphic novels, from all different genres, with female protagonist or that we think will appeal to girls.  Please let us know if there are any graphic novels you think would be great for girls.