A Rare Glimpse of the Elusive Children's Graphic Novel
Oh good.I haven't heard of a good graphic novel for kids in quite a while. Now we have the following to look forward to:
Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip -- Book One, Tove Jansson, Drawn & Quarterly, Hardcover, 96 pages, November 2006, 1894937805 (ISBN), $19.95
Intrigued? I didn't read any of Jansson's fiction as a kid, but I know that the Moomin books are mighty popular, even to this day. What I didn't know was that Jansson created a comic strip of her characters in the early 1950s. Now they've been collected and edited accordingly and look just perfect for graphic novel collections everywhere.
For more info, check out this interview in The Comics Reporter with editor Tom Devlin.
posted by fusenumber8 @ 12:03 AM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
Wait a minute Fuse,
What about "To Dance"? I believe you reviewed it back in August. A delightful graphic novel written by Siena Siegel and illustrated by her husband, Mark (one of the HMOCL).
There is a wonderful interview of Siena at: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.
com/article/CA6379936.html
Loved your review. Loved the book.
KT
Oh lord -- thanks for the heads up!!!! I'm a huge moomin fan -- my son will DEFINITELY be getting this for Chanukkah this year!!!!!!
Oh, I'm not saying it's the only thing out there. There's "To Dance", and "Owly", and the "Bone" books, and the new "Babysitters Club", and "Babymouse", and "Fashion Kitty", and.... that's it. And considering how large a graphic novel collection SHOULD be, this is a crying shame. I'm just happy we have something this intriguing coming up as well.
It's more like a collection of strips than a graphic novel, isn't it? The interview says there will be four to five adventures per volume. Does that still count as a novel?
Thank you for this info! Moominland Midwinter is one of my favorite books of all time. I can't wait to check out the comic strip.
Good point. Pogo collections of strips often had long narratives, but are considered comics because of how they were originally presented. But if strips = long engaging storyline, how different is that from a graphic novel? Hmmmm...
Hi- I work with Adrienne (of Watat fame) and every once in a while she sends me a link to a Fuse#8 that she thinks I might find useful. I have a particular interest in children's comics and am always looking for new titles. And while I would agree with you that there is a serious dearth of good children's comics, my list would be a little longer than yours. One in particular that I think you would enjoy heartily is Sardine in Outer Space by Emmanuel Guibert (illustrated by none other than Joanne Sfar! Excellent!). Speaking of Mr. Sfar, you should also read Vampire Loves. It is most certainly not a kid's book, but you seem to have an interest in, well, interesting comics, so I thought you might enjoy it. In any case, it's nice to know there's someone else out there championing the cause of quality comics for kids (notice the alliteration in the latter phrase despite the lack of common beginning consonants!! How quaint!)
-Jason
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