Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (Manga)

CLAMP. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.  Del Rey, 2004. Paperback $10.95, ISBN 978-0345470577.

What’s it about?

Princess Sakura has lost all her memories, and will die if she doesn’t recover them. Enter her childhood friend, Syaoran, who pleads for help from Yuko, the space-time witch, and two men from disparate worlds.

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Princess Sakura is first in line to succeed the throne of the Kingdom of Clow, and is in love with her childhood friend Syaoran, who is unaware of how she feels. She’s no ordinary girl.  She possesses a little-understood power that has the capability to change the world. This same power brings adversity to her life, however, in the form of a strange symbol formed on rock. When she steps on it, she is struck down and robbed of all her memories, never able to articulate how she feels to Syaoran.  Sakura’s memories are scattered. Fragments exist in many different worlds, and Syaoran must collect them to save Sakura’s life.  Syaoran enlists the help of Yuko, the space-time witch and two men from different worlds, the ninja Kurogane and the magician Fai, and begins his desperate search.  

CLAMP is a group of critically acclaimed and prolific Japanese manga artists.  Their artwork is well-known and respected for its detail, creativity, beautiful lines and breath-taking settings and character design. The artwork in this volume looks a bit rougher than usual, and this stylistic difference helps create urgency. Sakura is quickly running out of time, and the Syaoran has to visit many worlds if he wants her to survive. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is serious in tone, but there are moments of humor, particularly with Kurogane and Fai, whose disparate personalities provide some levity. The translation is solid, with sound effects are translated alongside the original Japanese.  Del Rey provides readers with some information about honorifics at the beginning of the book. The plot twists and grows more complex with each new volume, which may potentially confuse some readers, but boggles the mind (in a good way!) of the rest. This is overall a rich, gorgeous manga with likable protagonists and intriguing secondary characters.

 Genre: Fantasy, romance, adventure

Reading level/interest level: Grades 6 through adult

Subjects: Memory loss, other worlds, heroes, quests

Read-alikes:

CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura

CLAMP’s Xxxholic

Inuyasha

Pandora Hearts

Series information:

Complete series spans 28 volumes. It’s also an anime that aired 52 episodes between 2005 and 2006. The first volume of XXXholic crosses over with the first volume of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. 

Rapunzel's Revenge

Hale, Shannon and Dean Hale.  Rapunzel’s Revenge. Illustrated by Nathan Hale. Bloombury, 2008. Paperback $15.99, ISBN 978-1599902883.

What’s it about?

In this graphic novel fractured fairy-tale, Rapunzel is not a dainty damsel in distress--she rescues herself with her whip-like braids. After her escape from the tower, Rapunzel teams up with the brave, impetuous Jack to free Rapunzel’s mother from the evil Mother Gothel’s mines.     

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Mother Gothel and Rapunzel live in luxury, in a 78 room villa. But Rapunzel becomes curious about the world outside.  When Rapunzel sneaks out on her twelfth birthday to see what lies beyond the great wall, she discovers that Mother Gothel is not her mother. In fact, she stole her from her mother, enslaved and starved in the mine that lies beyond the wall of the castle.  Rapunzel is briefly re-united with her mother and after she angrily confronts Mother Gothel, she is taken away and imprisoned in an enchanted tree, which towers impossibly high over the forest floor.  Rapunzel is trapped for years, having little to do but grow her hair and learn to use it as a lasso and a swing. Finally, her hair grows long enough to allow her escape, and she meets with a young man, Jack, who sees her use her braids as a weapons. He is impressed with her fighting abilities and they team up to fight against the evil Mother Gothel and her far-reaching influence, attempting to free Rapunzel’s mother from slavery.

Rapunzel’s Revenge is a fun fractured fairy tale set in the Wild West. Rapunzel is not helpless a traditional damsel in distress —she’s a strong, feisty heroine who can hold her own.  The Hales put a fun spin on Rapunzel’s story by introducing another fairy-tale character, Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk), who turns out to be Rapunzel’s romantic interest.  The energetic artwork of this graphic novel is colorful and funny—and sometimes frightening, as when Rapunzel is nearly eaten by an enormous rattlesnake. This is a well-paced, witty read that is perfect for reluctant readers, fairy-tale enthusiasts, and anyone who likes their adventure with a generous helping of adventure.

Genre: Fractured fairy-tale, Fantasy, Adventure, Humor

Reading level: 3^rd grade

Interest level: Grades 5 & up

Read-alikes:

Levine’s Ella Enchanted

Napoli’s Zel

McKinley’s Beauty

Awards:

ALA Notable Book for Children

On YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens list

Utah Book Award

Subjects: Fairy-tales, slavery, heroes, magic

Series information:

Calamity Jack 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Arthur A. Levine, 1999. Tr. $ 24.99,  ISBN 978-0439064866

What’s it about?

In the sequel to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, students of Muggle-born parents have been attacked—and petrified-- by a mysterious and powerful sorcerer who reopened the Chamber of Secrets, which holds a deadly beast. Harry finds himself (and Hagrid) under suspicion, and works with Ron and Hermione to figure out who (or what) is behind these attacks.

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets opens with Harry spending his summer with the horrible Dursleys. Things begin to look up when Harry is brought to the Weasley’s home to spend the remainder of the summer.  When Harry and Ron are unable to board the train to Hogwarts, they decide to steal the Weasley’s enchanted car and fly to school. They crash into a valuable tree, the Whomping Willow, and are nearly expelled. More trouble is brewing, however. Threatening messages begin to appear, warning students that Chamber of Secrets has been opened and the heir of Slytherin will kill Muggle-born students. These are hardly empty threats—Muggle-born pupils are attacked, and petrified. Harry finds himself under suspicion, and when he, Ron and Hermione investigate the Chamber of Secrets, (breaking countless school rules, of course) they again face a deadly struggle.

The books in the Harry Potter series become more sophisticated as the characters (and Harry Potter fans) get older.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets casts Harry in a different light by creating doubt among his friends in regard to his intentions. The readers ask themselves as well: is Harry the heir of Slytherin? His ability to speak Parseltongue is disturbing, recalls the sorting hat’s comment that Harry would do well in Slytherin. The attacks on the Muggle-born, as well as the attitudes of Slytherins (particularly the Malfoys), is the wizard-world equivalent to racism. Wizards who are Muggle-born are considered inferior by some to those born into wizarding families. Characters with a strong moral fiber, of course, don’t buy into this and find the use of the epithet “Mudblood” despicable. This book is darker in tone than Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but is not without humor, particularly in the situations involving the character of Gilderoy Lockhart, who is the new instructor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lockhart is a self-aggrandizing author of several books that detail his heroics without a smidge of humility. However, it quickly becomes clear that Lockhart has very little skill or knowledge of magic, and probably fabricated the majority of his heroics. His “healing” of Harry’s broken arm is hilarious as well as disturbing. Instead of mending the bones, Lockhart removes them, and comments “The point is, the bones are no longer broken.”  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets contains a satisfying mix of mystery, humor, and fantasy that ends with an unexpected twist. The conclusion is a bit too pat, and the book’s arc is very similar to the first book. Still, this is a diverting read with plenty to enjoy.  

Genre: Fantasy

Reading level: 7^th grade

Interest level:  Grades 4-9

Subjects: Wizards, Magic, Boarding School, Good vs. Evil

Awards:

ALA Notable Book for Children

Children’s Book of the Year British Book Award

Booklist Top Ten Fantasy Novels for Youth

Read-alikes:

For children: Collins’ Gregor the Overlander series

Dahl’s BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, & Matilda

Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series

For adults:

Grossman’s The Magicians

Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series

Many Harry Potter fans also enjoy the TV shows Dr. Who and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Series information:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Companion books:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Quidditch Throughout the Ages

Tales of Beedle the Bard

Fruits Basket (Anime)

Fruits Basket. Studio DEEN production, 2001. English version released by Funimation Entertainment, 2002.

What’s it about?

Tohru Honda meets the Sohma family, and discovers their secret. The Sohmas are cursed, turning into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac when hugged by a member of the opposite sex.

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Tohru Honda has had it rough—she was recently orphaned and is living in a tent, which, unbeknownst to her, is on the property of the Sohma family. Although Tohru is still in high school, she has been supporting herself by working night janitorial jobs. When classmate Yuki (a handsome boy known as “Prince Yuki” to hordes of sighing teen girl groupies) and his older cousin 27-year-old Shigure Sohma discover her living situation, they invite her to stay in their large home. Tohru also meets their cousin Kyo, an irascible boy who sees himself as Yuki’s rival. Tohru discovers the Sohma secret: many Sohmas are cursed, turning into animals from the Chinese Zodiac whenever they are touched by a member of the opposite sex. When Tohru sees which animals Kyo (the cat) and Yuki (the rat) transform into, Kyo’s rage toward Yuki makes more sense. In Chinese zodiac legend, God invited all the animals to a banquet. Rat was a trickster, and told Cat the banquet was the next day. All the other animals made it to the banquet while Cat slumbered, and the first 12 animals to arrive became the animals of the zodiac.  As the story unfolds, Tohru realizes that this curse is no laughing matter—there is a darkness and cruelty to this family, one that affected Yuki and Kyo deeply. The specifics will be revealed later in the series, and are only hinted at in the first four episodes.

Although Fruits Basket is a popular anime, and one that is tween and teen friendly, it has a few flaws. The pacing is slow in the first episodes, which is unfortunate, because this sets the tone for viewer, who might not give the anime a chance after the first episode, which largely consists of Tohru’s backstory. It picks up when more characters are introduced, particularly Shigure, Kyo, and Kagura. When new Sohmas are introduced, the viewer is just as curious as Tohru—what zodiac animal are they? There is plenty of comedy, but this shojo anime is overall a supernatural romance, and appeals largely to girls. 

Genre: Supernatural romance, Fantasy, Comedy

Interest level:  Grades 5 and up

Rating:  TV-PG

Subjects: Chinese Zodiac, family relationships, high school, romance

Dub or Sub?

In this anime, the dub is weaker, although it is not terrible. There are decent English language voice actors (Laura Bailey does a great job), but some voice actors drove me nuts. If you don’t mind subtitles, watch this anime in Japanese.

Is it also a manga?

Fruits Basket is also a complete series of manga. There are 23 volumes, the last published in 2007. The manga is actually a bit better than the anime, which sometimes suffers pacing problems.  

Similar anime & manga titles:

Gakuen Alice

Vampire Knight

Fushigi Yugi

D.N. Angel

Ouran High School Host Club

Series information: 26 episodes in the anime 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Arthur A. Levine, 1997. Tr. $20.25, ISBN 978-0780797086

(Published in the U.K. as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)

What’s it about? (In case you’ve been stranded on a desert island or studying orangutans for the past 14 years)

Harry Potter is the boy who lived, having survived Voldemort’s attack, which orphaned him, and also made him a legend in the wizarding world. Reluctantly raised by his muggle (non-magic folk) relatives, Harry is surprised to meet a giant named Hagrid, who tells him that he is wizard and will study his craft at Hogworts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

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Harry Potter was orphaned as a baby and brought up by his loathsome aunt and uncle, the Durselys, who treat him as a sub-human. When he turns eleven, however, everything changes for Harry. A larger-than-life visitor, Hagrid, scares the daylights out of the Dursleys and tells Harry some exciting (and disturbing) news. Harry is a wizard, and mysteriously survived the attack that killed his parents and left him with a lightening-shaped scar on his forehead. The attack was at the hands (make that wand) of an evil, powerful wizard, He That Shall Not Be Named, aka Voldemort. Because he survived, Harry is a legend, and there are hints throughout this first book in the seven book saga that Harry is destined for great things. In the first book, he makes his mark in Quidditch (a game that seems like a cross between basketball and baseball, if either sport was played on broomsticks) and risks his life with his friends Ron and Hermione to prevent the powerful sorcerer’s stone from falling into the wrong hands.

Harry Potter deals with some heavy subjects, namely his mistreatment at the hands of the Dursleys (which was essentially child abuse), his parents’ deaths, and the sinister rumblings of Voldemort. This is not an overly serious book, though, because it is infused with humor and breathtaking world-building. Rowling does a fantastic job of creating the world of witches and wizards, which co-exists with the Muggle (non-wizard) world. Her descriptions of the Hogwarts are rich and detailed, and transport the reader into this magical world.  The characters, while not particularly layered, are enjoyable and relatable. The good characters have flaws enough to make them quirky, even the heroes, while the bad characters (with a key exception) are bad through and through.  

Critics of the Harry Potter books point to the “flat” characters and pedestrian writing as the reasons they dislike the books. I agree the writing of the first book wasn’t the best, and could have done with more editing. However, the plot and setting shine through anyhow. With the exception of most of the “bad guys,” I disagree that the characters are flat. Maybe a tad stereotypical, but each has very human vulnerabilities. Hermione seems insufferable at first, and never stops being overly concerned with her grades, but she also turns out to be someone who cares about what others think, puts her neck out for others, and ends up showing that she’s very brave, and can use her knowledge under pressure. Besides, the genre is fantasy, not realistic fiction. Fantasies are full of archetypes. Some say Rowling “ripped off” ideas from literary classics. But all literature references previous ideas to varying degrees. I don’t think she plagiarized or copied ideas; I think she paid homage to previous authors.

Genre: Fantasy

Reading level: 5^th-6^th grade

Interest level: All muggles, particularly those in grades 4-9

Subjects: Wizards, Magic, Boarding School, Good vs. Evil

Awards:

Winner of the United Kingdom’s National Book Award (1997)

ALA Notable Book

New York Public Library Best Book of the Year (1998)

Read-alikes:

For children: Collins’ Gregor the Overlander series

Dahl’s BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, & Matilda

Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series

For adults:

Grossman’s The Magicians

Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series

Many Harry Potter fans also enjoy the TV shows Dr. Who and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Series information:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Companion books:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Quidditch Throughout the Ages

Tales of Beedle the Bard

See my book trailer here!

Bone: A Modern Graphic Novel Classic

Smith, Jeff. Out From Boneville. Graphix, 2005. Tr. $10.99, ISBN 978-0-439-70640-7

What’s it about?

 The Bones, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone have been banished from Boneville, where Phoney’s latest selfish scheme has gotten them in big trouble. The three of them get separated, and Fone Bone must face perils including rat creatures, a dragon, and a mysterious cloaked figure that wants something from Fone Bone.  

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Cousins Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone are in big trouble. They’ve been chased out of town, thanks to the greedy and unscrupulous Phoney Bone’s latest scheme, and find themselves lost in a desert, with no water in sight. A swarm of insects engulfs them, and the three become separated. Bone follows the adventures of Fone Bone, who encounters frightening creatures, such as the voracious rat people, as well as kind ones, like the beautiful Thorn and her ultra-tough grandmother, (who bears a resemblance to Popeye) take in Bone. Eventually, the cousins cross paths, and find themselves tested by the strange new land. Bones, you’re not in Boneville anymore.

The Bone graphic novel series began as a well-received comic in the early nineties. Its strengths are in its artwork, humor, and fast-paced storyline. The rat creatures are particularly memorable, with their quasi-Bigfoot appearance and humorous squabbles. The plot has the feel of several fractured fairytales strung together to form a whole adventure story. The characters are exaggerated and sometimes surreal, more hilarious caricatures than complex beings.  Phoney Bone’s schemes, such as combining a slaughterhouse with a petting zoo, are ludicrous, but this works with the tone of the tale.  Bone is hardly meant to be realistic! Hand Bone to tween boys, especially those who enjoy humor and adventure, as well as tween and teen girls and older graphic novel enthusiasts looking excitement and laughter.

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Humor

Reading level: 4^th grade

Interest level: Grades 4-9 --and beyond

Awards/reviews:

Publisher’s Weekly starred review

On ALA’s list of the Top 25 Graphic Novels for Young Adults   

The Comic’s Journal Book of the Year

Series information:

Vol 2: The Great Cow Race

Vol 3: Eyes of the Storm

Vol 4: The Dragonslayer

Vol 5: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border

Vol 6: Old Man’s Cave

Vol 7: Ghost Circles

Vol 8: Treasure Hunters

Vol 9: Crown of Thorns

Bone Prequel: Rose

Read-alike graphic novels:

Spy vs Spy

 Asterix

Simpsons comics