Odd Duck

Title: Odd Duck
Author: Cecil Castellucci
Illustrator: Sara Varon
Publisher: First Second (:01)
Copyright: 2013
Price: $18.50
ISBN:  978-1596435575
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: Theodora is a very particular duck. She wakes up, exercises in the pond with an object on her head (generally a tea cup), and goes about her errands. She does everything a good duck is supposed to do from eating the right food and reading the right book. She does add a little something odd to her errands though, but she doesn’t think this makes her strange. Her life is perfect and she hopes it remains that way.

Enter a new neighbor. Chad is almost the complete opposite of Theodora. He has ruffled feathers, swims crazily, and considers himself an artist. At first, she rebels at the idea of getting to know him, but one night, she finds him stargazing like her and they immediately hit it off. A friendship blossoms and they do a lot together. One day someone exclaims how odd the new duck is. Who is it though and will Chad and Theodora’s friendship survive this comment?

A colorful tale of friendship is told in this hybrid (part comic, part book). Ultimately, this book sends the message of being true to yourself and the importance of friendship in a simple work that goes sweetly with the perfect cup of tea (or not when it comes to kids).
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Recommended Audience: elementary and up.
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Things to be aware of: Nothing. Kid friendly
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Further Thoughts: Adorable! Sweet! Cute! All of these words describe this simple hybrid book. Theodora is very particular and you know that something is going to upend her perfect world. Chat couldn’t be farther from her style, but they hit it off becoming close friends (although, it looks like more than friends in this kid tale). It is a great friendship tale, even if it is a very familiar tale.

The art is probably what helps this stand out and ducks. It’s about ducks who are similar to humans, but they still eat bland duck pellets. Theodora and Chad and the other ducks come to life in the art. There is lots of color and each duck seems different from the next. I also enjoy their curving, cartoony arms. It’s perfect for kids.

I suspect there will probably be more. I could see a story involving Chad teaching Theodora how to fly (or to overcome her fear only hinted at in this work), but maybe not. Maybe, they are just going to have this tale and be done (but I doubt it).

My only quibble with this book is a small thing. Theodora and Chad are friends, but they are awfully touchy-feely. They hug a lot and for the errands portion of the story they are linked, which, considering preschoolers having boyfriends and girlfriends, kids will latch onto it and believe there is more to this than the story lets on. On the other hand, I do enjoy the idea that you can be anything as long as you have a friend who cares about you. Theodora was so sure of herself at the beginning of the story and continued to stay that way. Chad came after and neither wanted to change the other. These are positive role models of friendships, and possibly romantic relationships geared perfectly for children.

Make room for this one on your children’s graphic novel shelf. So cute.
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Source: Netgalley Request

Machine of Death: The Review

Well, we first visited the topic of the book Machine of Death around when it was published. Some updates on it before I (The Philosopher Musican) give a review:

It has begun to see a wider distribution. In fact, it has slowly been appearing in major bookstores. It has also just garnered a more high-profile review at The Onion A.V. Club.

The editorial team also released an e-book version for free under the Creative Commons Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 license at the start of November.

So, now, its profile is still growing. But, most of the issues Little Librarian highlighted in her previous post are still present. We still haven't seen a NY Times review, nor has it been on their best-sellers list. The professional titles still haven't touched it (as far as Little Librarian knows).

Now, here's a review for you:

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Title: Machine of Death

Editors: Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, & David Malki!

Publisher: Bearstache Books

Copyright: 2010

Price: $17.95

ISBN: 978-0-982167-12-0

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Summary and Some Thoughts: It's a fairly large collection of stories about, to quote the comic that inspired the anthology, "a world where everyone knows how they're going to die". This is all thanks to the "Machine of Death" of the book's title. It works basically the same in each story: you put your finger in a slot on the machine, it gets a small blood sample, and spits out a piece of paper. Written on it is how you'll die. You can't change it. Of course, the machine is extremely vague, so the information it gives isn't always useful; in the stories, it tends toward irony instead of straight predictions.

That's what all the stories have in common. They all explore the consequences of The Machine and what it brings to the world. Most of them see a world that isn't completely remade by The Machine. It alters society, but society usually adapts while still resembling the world-of-today (the exception to this is the story, "Loss of Blood"). The tone varies immensely throughout the book. There's sadness, despair, brightness, horror, and humor. Actually, there's a great deal of humor through many of the stories. They all deal with fate in some way, of course. It ends up reminding me of existentialism and absurdism, but that's a topic for later.

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Will Teens Like It: Well, I'm pretty sure this isn't a YA title. So many of the themes are adult (violence and mature subjects; there's not really any sex in it that I can recall) that I can’t at all recommend it for a teen collection. That said, of course some teens will like it. Teens willing to tackle the themes and length of the book could enjoy it. Teens who've heard of it online might well be interested in reading it as well. (This most likely belongs in adult collections folks! -LL).

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Things to Be Aware of: As I said above, I personally don't think this should go in a YA collection, but here are a few things that could get you in trouble with parents: The titles of some of the stories (after all, they're all causes of death; the standout here is "Exhaustion from Having Sex with a Minor." Surprisingly, though, the story itself isn't at all a problem, I'd say.), and some violent subject matter in the stories themselves (a decent amount of murder in various flavors)

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Personal Thoughts: With the recent A.V. Club review I'd love to say that this review is great timing on my part. Of course, that's not really the case. I've been struggling with writing this review for a while, actually. The truth is that there's so much diversity in the book. The many stories, despite the common premise, vary so greatly that I have had a hard time giving a good critical analysis about the collection.

Now, if it wasn’t clear, I loved this book. I'm a fan of many webcomics, so, yes, I'm already a fan of some of the authors. Even when I set aside my own personal views about some of the authors' other works, I can easily say that the entire collection is strong. Compared to what I've been reading recently, it was a fairly long read. I never actually got tired of reading it, though, and it wasn't at all difficult. I loved the philosophical explorations it leads to. As I said above, more details about that would have to go into a separate post (and I might well write one up), but either way, it's right up my philosophical alley.

Really, I’m having trouble coming up with any negative things to say about it. If you can get it into your library collection and get people checking it out, they’ll love it.

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Source: Review copy provided by one of the editors.

Bonus: It has been determined that in the first round of books sent out, a little slip was included that stated how you were going to die. In the review copy, we were surprised to see that there was no slip included, so it was determined that the prophecy from Little Librarian's undergrad days that "librarians don't die" must be true. :)

GROGs - The Novel is Silent

GROGs or 'Graphic Novel Reviews on the Go' is another feature you’ll find on this blog.

Developing a library graphic novel collection is difficult, at least to me. To be honest, I’ve found that while it is helpful that graphic novels are being reviewed, the reviews are not helpful. I’ve discovered that there is this difference between what a graphic novel reader thinks is cool and what a librarian thinks is good. As an avid reader, I’ve been on both sides, but have seen that this divide exists, so GROGs are my attempt to build a bridge between those that are recommended and those that are loved.

GROG reviews are basically the same as the ROGs in set-up and such. Same idea for the review, different format being reviewed.

ROG - Information Part 2

As you may remember, I mentioned I was going to start posting "Reviews on the Go" for books, movies, whatever. The book reviews portion is going over a slight makeover (even though I haven't gone that far with book reviews) and instead of just "ROG - Book", book reviews will be "BROG" (Book Review on the Go). The concept is the same ,but there was only a name change.

Reviews Basic Information

"ROG - [Book/thing]" ("Reviews on the Go")

• ROGs are short reviews for library professionals who don't have time to read all the reviews out there or have time to kill but want productive stuff to read or just want more info on a book. I find lots of book reviews on the net are very long winded and while they are oftentimes interesting, I hate reading the screen for that long.
• These reviews will include basic book information, short summaries (about five sentences), a short commentary by me (about five sentences), a "Will Teens Like it?" rating, things to be aware of, and maybe bonus stuff.
• If you want to use the ROG format, wait. I have to figure out how I feel about that.
  

There you have it. Keep an eye out for upcoming ROGs on Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, something Bluford High, Francesca Lia Block's new book, and Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott.