Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists, edited by Chris Duffy

Premise: What happens when you take fifty of today’s cartoonists and you have them interpret and illustrate fifty classic nursery rhymes? You get a collection like this of reimagined stories for people of all ages.

You’ll see familiar stories such as Hey, Diddle Diddle, Little Boy Blue, and Jack and Jill, along with not so familiar (at least to me) such as The Donkey and For Want of a Nail, but each one puts a fresh spin on a classic story in only a few frames.

Themes: Many classic nursery rhymes have themes of doing right and fearing punishment for wrongdoing, political satire, and propaganda. While this is true for some, most are rhymes either spoken or set to music simply to help children go to sleep. Rhymes and music can also help children with reasoning and learning ability, helping to improve math and reading skills.

Pros: At first I thought this would just be another book of nursery rhymes, but as I flipped through the pages I realized the work and artistry that went into each story. Some of the stories, such as Hector Protector, took four lines of source material and elaborated it into an even more interesting story than I would have ever thought. Many of the rhymes are reinvented, such as the clones of One, Two, Buckle My Shoe or the rock band babysitting of There Was An Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. Others, such as The Itsy Bitsy Spider, were straightforward illustrations of the nursery rhyme we already know. Quite a few of the stories were funny, and every page is pretty.

Cons: A few of the stories have language that will be difficult to understand for young readers, and in some cases, as with The Owl and the Pussycat, the changes in language over time can be confusing or vulgar by today’s standings without the appropriate explanation. In at least one story, Jack Be Nimble, there is a word that I wouldn’t want my child saying (stupid).

Recommendations: I found Nursery Rhyme Comics to be a visually stunning collection of humorous and inspiring interpretations of classic rhymes for people of all ages. I think I enjoyed it even more than my son. A few of the stories might be a little more mature than intended, using language that is either inappropriate or antiquated, but discerning parents can easily skip over them or help younger readers understand them better. I am glad this book is in our home to be read as my children grow, but also so I can enjoy these stories with them. I love this collection. Do yourself and your family a favor and get a copy to read to your kids before bed.

Nursery Rhyme Comics on Goodreads
Buy Nursery Rhyme Comics from Amazon

 

Dear Creature Giveaway

You read my review of Dear Creature by Jonathan Case and now you have a chance to read it for yourself. I will be giving away an ARC of Dear Creature by Jonathan Case. I enjoyed this graphic novel of a poetic sea creature battling with his inner desires as he woos a kindred spirit. I hope you will enjoy it as I did.

Simply leave a comment on this post to enter the giveaway. You can also copy and tweet the following message on Twitter for a second entry:

Dear Creature by @Jonathan_Case Giveaway from Tim’s Book Reviews @timlewis: http://wp.me/p1TbyB-5L Read his review while you’re there!

That’s all you have to do to enter. Multiple comments on this post will not increase your chances of winning. Twitter post will only give you an additional entry, so you must leave a comment on this post to win. I will pick one person at random to win this enchanting story.

And the winner is…

Using a random number generator in an Excel spreadsheet with all the entries, the winner of the Dear Creature Giveaway is Vanessa! Thanks to everyone for entering. Keep your eyes peeled for more giveaways in the future.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. Odds of winning depend upon the number of eligible entries received. Sweepstakes open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are 18 or older. To enter, fill out entry on this post beginning at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time (PT) November 7, 2011. Sweepstakes ends at 11:59 p.m. PT November 30, 2011. Void outside of the 50 US and DC and where prohibited by law.

 

Dear Creature by Jonathan Case

Premise: Dear Creature is a graphic novel starring Grue, a sea monster living in the remains of an atomic submarine who is the only one of his kind. His inclination is to feed on young lovers, with sarcastic crabs urging him on to eat his leftovers. But when he starts finding pages of Shakespeare in soda bottles he learns the flowing language and begins to yearn for finding the person sending out those pages as his kindred soul. He finally finds her, but Giulietta is an agoraphobic recluse living in a broken dry dock boat with her sister and nephews, afraid to go out into the world.

Our poetic sea monster goes to her and she immediately opens her heart to him until she discovers that he had something to do with the death that Joe, her nephew, is being blamed for. Her sister, Zola, wants justice for her son, and Henry is a policeman who will do whatever it takes to follow through with that, even if it means giving up his badge. Grue is captured and Giulietta is put in an institution until the conclusion of the story that you’ll just have to read for yourself.

Themes: The most obvious theme in Dear Creature is the passion of romantic love and the extent one is willing to go to for it. Grue must overcome his monstrous desires to close the gap between him and Giulietta (as in Shakespeare’s Juliet), but it means facing his past deeds and the obstacle of their obvious differences.

Our poetic sea monster must make a moral decision and choose between succumbing to his hunger or becoming the more civilized and loving being that he wishes to be. With Giulietta being his motivation, he uses the inspiring language of Shakespeare to express his desires to her while the scavenging crabs urge him on to his more base inner cravings.

You would think that this story is all about Grue and his inner struggle, but Giulietta, who is considered crazy by just about everyone, is actually the character who makes the most impact on people’s lives. Giulietta is the one who reached out to Grue with Shakespeare and changed him from a monster to a poet. Giulietta goes with Zola and Robert to come to America and finds a love for poetry with him, but she stays with Zola after Robert never returns, and holds out for her sister to eventually help her find a husband. As she explains to Grue:

“My bottles brought you and Zola got a husband. That’s all I wanted.”

Pros: It wasn’t until I got to the end and I read the humorous Invertebrate’s Guide to Iambic Pentameter that I realized that Grue was actually speaking in iambic pentameter the entire time. It was done so fluidly that I had to go back and reread more of his dialogue to make sure. It makes me appreciate the subtleties in this story, with interesting characters and beautiful language to match the stunning art. My favorite parts were of the crabs playing the part of the devil on our hero’s shoulder, pressing his buttons to get him to kill, but mostly irritating him at all times. They brought humor to the dark side of Grue’s nature as a sea monster.

Cons: I loved the illustrations, but after seeing the cover I wanted the entire thing to be in color. This isn’t really much of a con because the whole thing has the look and feel of an old newspaper comic, but I just liked the color palette of the cover enough that I wanted more.

Recommendations: Dear Creature is an enchanting visual story that said many profound things in so few pages, and it even left me with a greater appreciation for Shakespearean poetry. It is odd to use so many different words to describe something, but this story is dark, romantic, humorous, and inspiring all at the same time. There was just a true sense of humanity in every character that I hope to see more from Jonathan Case.

Dear Creature on Goodreads
Jonathan Case’s website
Dear Creature website
Buy Dear Creature on Amazon