Review: The Dumbest Idea Ever! by Jimmy Gownley

 
Title: The Dumbest Idea Ever!
Author: Jimmy Gownley
Illustrator: Jimmy Gownley
Publisher: Scholastic Graphix
Copyright: 2014
Price: $11.99

ISBN: 978-0545453479
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: Being a teenager sucks, but for Jimmy, he's having a tough time. First he gets sick and misses school, then he gets sick AGAIN and misses more school. He stops caring about school and starts focusing on his comics. A friend suggests a comic book idea for him, but he decides it's the dumbest idea. Only when his first idea flops, does he give it a chance and lands on possibly the best idea ever. As Jimmy rise in fame, he's also dealing with normal teenage things like first loves and changing friendships.
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Recommended Audience: Middle School
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Things to be aware of: Nothing.
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Further Thoughts:  Jimmy Gownley is probably best known for his Amelia Rules series, which is very popular (it is in my library), so this will probably be snatched up by readers who love the series. To be honest, readers will probably read this because it's a Scholastic middle school slice of life graphic novel with praises from Jeff Smith (Bone), Raina Telgemeier (Smile, Sisters), and Jeff Kinney.

Take all that away though and you have a great biographical story about how Jimmy Gownley's teen years helped him become a graphic novel artist. He shows how he did research, practiced drawing, and had a good support system, including supportive parents. This graphic novel is perfect for any budding artist, writer, or creator to see how Jimmy survived his teen years and made it.

There are a few fantastical elements that help him. Jimmy talks to the Grim Reaper, showing at least twice how he thinks he wants to die, only to realize he wanted to press on. For me, this was a strong point in the story and helped me become invested in it. When it ended, I didn't want it to end. Thankfully there's an afterward that expands on it.


Overall feeling: Cartoonish art, inspiration, slice of life, and teen years combine for a powerful story that begs to be read multiple times and shared with friends. A must have.
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Bonus: Jimmy Gownley is from PA (according to the bio). He spoke at PaLA in 2008.
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Source: Library/Review copy

Sisters by Raina Telgemeir

Title: Sisters
Author: Raina Telgemeir
Illustrator:  Raina Telgemeir
Publisher:  Graphic (Scholastic)
Copyright:  2014
Price: $24.99
ISBN: 978-0545540599
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: Raina and Amara do not get along. Amara was not at all what Raina had in mind when she wished for a sister. Fast forward to the summer before high school. Raina, Amara, their brother, and mom are road tripping across states to visit family in Colorado. Camping and sightseeing should be fun, but not when everyone is cramped in a van and there is an "incident" with the front seat. It's a summer of realizations and growing for Raina.
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Recommended Audience: Tweens and up.
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Things to be aware of: None.
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Further Thoughts: Sisters is just what it is about: Raina's relationship to her sister. As a child, Raina makes the wish to have a sister and like any young child is so certain it'll be awesome. Sadly, she's confused when it isn't awesome. It'll probably prompt kids to ask what they might have been like when a brother or sister was announced. Readers will also understand the conflict of having that annoying sibling. Raina tells it like it is, but with wit and animation.

The art is boldly colored with strong lines. I love her art. It's animated, bright, and colorful. The story seems to move like a cartoon while dealing with life issues. At this point, if she illustrates it and writes it, I'll probably read it, which I know a lot of readers do too after how popular Smile was.

One thing I found interesting is how well this story holds up despite the story definitely taking place in the late 80s or early 90s (That make-up! The hair! A Walkman!). I'm sure readers will have some questions such as "why doesn't the van have a DVD player?", but overall, I hardly noticed those details. It was more about the family dynamics more than the time. The time period just helped showcase the family dynamic.

On the other hand, it felt slim for the size of the book. As in the story, which happens over a few weeks in summer with a ton of explanation flashbacks, seemed kind of slim. If you just wrote the text, it'd probably be a small book. I might have wanted a little more and I know for a fact, I'm not as crazy about this as the kids are. I can't explain why.

**SPOILER...kinda, sorta...**
What I'm most worried about is, if there is more, it'll be about her parent's divorcing. The end just felt like it was heavily foreshadowing it. It's like "I will probably read it, and it'll be handled well, but I just don't know if I want to read that."
**End Spoiler**

Overall feeling: If you haven't gotten this, what are you waiting for? The kids eat this up and love it.
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Source: Library

Pandemonium

Title: Pandemonium (volume 1)
Author: Chris Wooding
Illustrator: Cassandra Diaz
Publisher: Graphix (Scholastic)
Copyright: 2012
Price: $12.99
ISBN: 978-0-439-87759-6
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: Seifer Thombchewer (his last name from his grandfather who enjoys eating gravestones) thinks he leads a dull life. Seifer’s charismatic, he’s the star of the skullball team, and he has a loving family. Yet, he is drawn to the mountains, knowing that there is something over there and adventure is waiting. Adventure does come to him, though, in the form of kidnapping and being enlisted to pretend to be Prince Talon Pandemonium, Lord Defender of the Realm. The resemblance is uncanny, but there isn’t time to dwell on that as another force is determined on claiming part of the country. Pandemonium spends a lot of its first volume setting up the world and leaving us with way too many questions.
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Recommended Audience: Middle and High school readers
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Things to be aware of: violence, magic
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Further Thoughts: I know Chris Wooding for his YA work, which was a different kind of fairy story as far as I could tell. I’ve never read anything by him so this is my first exposure. Frankly, this title feels like a web comic type of story from the lack of back story to the art.

I picked up this title because it was a “Scholastic Graphic” title and thought “hey, this looks like something with potential.” My first glances, though, disappointed me. I wasn’t interested in the art and I thought it was rather weak. It looked like the artist’s first work, yet I found that as I read it, the art grew and seemed to be what the story needed, even if it is an odd pairing.

The story fits a web comic saga: spend time on the action and world building; then, start explaining stuff. In a way, it’s fine, but on the other hand, I’m worried that because of that set-up, this is all we will get from this series. I didn’t mind the adventure, but I somewhat wanted a little more information than I got about the Seifer-Talon connection (because it’s clear there is one). I certainly thought we’d get an explanation about the ring that shows up in the latter half of the book before the end, but nope. We’re left hanging, since the one character that had been explaining everything did not explain that before the end. Now, I wish this was in a web comic format so I can read more of this.

Overall, it’s a solid, fantasy story with a lot of world building, action, and good comic timing. I’m not sure I’d have purchased this based on a review, but on the other hand, it adds a nice change, especially in paperback. For some reason I keep thinking that this might appeal to readers of Amulet, but I have to admit I haven’t read Amulet yet to tell you if that is true. I’d like to see more of Seifer, but I hope that the next volume gives us a little more back story than this one.

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Source: Library copy.

Pilot & Huxley: The First Adventure

Title: Pilot & Huxley: The First Adventure
Author: Dan McGuiness

Illustrator: Dan McGuiness
Publisher: Scholastic Graphix

Copyright: 2011

Price: N/A

ISBN: 978-0-545-26504-1 (Paw Prints Edition has no ISBN).
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: Huxley’s parents have disappeared, so what is a kid to do? Go visit his best friend Pilot and threaten that they hate him and have run away. Oh wait, that note was written by Pilot when he found out that Huxley erased over his game data on a video game that he rented. Wait a minute…that game is overdue! Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but today, that particular video game from Awesome Video is needed by the aliens because it has the pass code to help them take over the world! In this mad cap adventure, Pilot and Huxley find themselves zapped to another dimension where Huxley is a curse word and Pilot’s crazy Internet theories make sense.

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Recommended Audience: Middle School and up

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Things to be aware of: Mild potty humor
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Further Thoughts: First off, every once in a while, I find when I read that the characters have voices. Oddly enough, I heard Pilot & Huxley as South Park characters. Why do I bring this up? In the fun epilogue, Pilot suggests that Cartman from South Park should play Huxley. How odd I heard them as South Park characters but as the two other kids (not Kenny and not Cartman). The aliens even had a voice, which was the typical grumbly alien voice. Pity Death didn’t sound like Death from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.

I had a bit too much adventure in this one. There was a bit of potty humor in the story (to get on a “bus” you have to go through its butt, eww), oddball foreshadowing, and just stupidness and sillyness after another. As I looked at where this ended up in my collection (J GN at the moment), I asked myself who is this for?

Middle school boys. I suspect they will eat this title up as it is almost as crazy as a ride as Hitch Hikers Guide or maybe some of the cartoons on TV today (i.e. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy?) where one silly thing ends up being explained by another and it somehow makes sense because you are in a different universe.

As to the art work, it is very (I think) crude and I can tell it was digitally done. On the other hand, when taken in context as to who the audience is, it works. It does lend itself to having a South Park feeling though, which might annoy parents.

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Bonus:

Source: Library copy.