graphic novel | Daddy Mojo

Deeply Dave: A fabulous, unusual graphic novel adventure

You have never read any book, much less a graphic novel, like Deeply Dave. It is a graphic novel, but it operates in such a unique fashion that it’s like comparing an apple to an orange. The two have one thing in common, but they are so utterly different that it does one of them a major disservice to group them close to one another. Deeply Dave is a graphic novel about a boy whose mother goes missing. She was in a spaceship, but it crashed in the bottom of the sea, and now Dave is going out there to rescue her. That’s the very basic plot, but you can throw out any ideas or preconceived notions as to how you think the story will evolve. The plot changes every five pages, with new characters, powers, locations, or secrets being disclosed that alter how others react to the Big Doom, and that is before the book’s format is taken in account.

Deeply Dave is a graphic novel that’s one of the most creative, unique and fun that we’ve read in years. It’s creative, smart and perfect for curious kids eight and up.

This graphic novel is so much fun to read

The Other Side of Tomorrow: A Graphic Novel Review

Are hyper-realistic graphic novels a genre? I don’t think they are, but The Other Side of Tomorrow is a graphic novel that wields a mighty hammer in knocking at the doors of book classification. It’s realistic fiction, but is so realistic, both in the manner in which the illustrations are done, and the taut nature of the story that you’ll pinch yourself in gratitude that it’s not happening to you. This is a graphic novel that entertains via drama, age-appropriate political intrigue, familial love and armchair travel. Moreover, The Other Side of Tomorrow manages to tell its story alongside one of the greatest geographic areas and humanitarian crises that middle school kids never learn about, North Korea.

The Other Side of Tomorrow is a realistic fiction graphic novel whose potentially heavy topic is buoyed by the art, presentation and pacing of the story.

A graphic novel as art, entertainment and discussion

The Underground Abductor Bigger & Badder Edition is also better

How do you make the already good, even better? That beautiful bacon, spinach, and garlic pizza is great when it’s small, but when you make it a medium or large and it reaches a new level. Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, The Underground Abductor-An Abolitionist Tale was good, but the Bigger & Badder Edition is just that. All of the books in the Hazardous Tales graphic novel series that we’ve read have been entertaining and educational to some degree. Ironically, it was their initial size always left us wanting more. Imagine seeing a painted or drawn work of art that is great, but one whose small stature handicapped its enjoyment.

The Underground Abductor, Bigger & Badder Edition is the bigger version of the engaging and excellent non-fiction graphic novel by Nathan Hale.

It’s ok to not know everything, as long as you’re open to learning more…

Cat Ninja: Welcome to the ‘Burbs, all-age graphic novel action early elementary

Cat Ninja is an elementary-aged graphic novel series that runs with glee towards ages eight and up, all but taunting them not to read it. Welcome to the ‘Burbs is the fourth entry into the Cat Ninja world and is as much fun as one would expect from a graphic novel that’s brave enough to be called that.

Seriously, think of four things that eight-year-olds enjoy or want to talk about and it’s guaranteed that two of them are ninjas and cats. It’s a reluctant reader’s paradise if you’re able to make a book or graphic novel about ninja cats, or in this case, Cat Ninja.

Cat Ninja: Welcome to the ‘Burbs is the fourth book in the all-age graphic novel series that will have grades two through five feline fine.

Cat Ninja….born to save the day (insert James Bond theme here)

Trubble Town 2, The Why-Why’s Gone Bye-Bye, too 4 tout

Disparate is an adjective that I absolutely love. I’m currently teaching 8^th grade ELA and I used that term in conversation when comparing things that have nothing to very little in common, and then trying to make a compelling argument as to why they belong in the same classification. A cursory glance at the pages of Trubble Town 2, The Why-Why’s Gone Bye-Bye would yield the same conversation. That is if I were to tell you that this graphic novel is flat-out hilarious, weird, creative and constantly gives readers a smile, even when they don’t know what’s going on. It is.

Trubble Town 2: The Why-Why’s Gone Bye-Bye is a time-shifting, absurdly hilarious all age graphic novel that ages eight and up will celebrate.

Stop, elaborate and listen

Alcatoe and the Turnip Child, retro/modern charming graphic novel magic

Fables get a bad rap with upper elementary and middle school students. I taught a class to ESL students that were comprised mostly of fables, you know, those stories that teach lessons. And if there’s one thing that some kids that age don’t want, it’s a lesson. Alcatoe and the Turnip Child is not a fable. It’s also not a fairy tale and not entirely a folktale either. To some readers, Alcatoe could have elements of all of those things, but for us it’s a beautifully paced book about kids, a grumpy witch, the quaint town they live in, and magic.

Alcatoe and the Turnip Child is a graphic novel with a timeless vibe, a slightly evil undercurrent and an irrepressibly quirky demeanor.

Don’t call it a folk story, unless you want to

The Extincts, Quest for the Unicorn Horn, graphic novel go-to for 8 and up

When I saw the cover to The Extincts, Question For The Unicorn Horn it was an immediate connection to The O.W.C.A. Files. For a period in our life, when our kids were older than five and younger than 11, we saw Phineas and Ferb at least once a day. Thus, we’ve seen The O.W.C.A. Files, which was a stand-alone episode that aired after that series finale. In The Extincts, Quest for the Unicorn Horn, we see a cat, bird, frog, and wooly mammoth-looking creature all wearing spy gear and running towards the reader. It’s a graphic novel by New York Times Bestselling Illustrator Scott Magoon that does much the same in that it jumps into your hands like a kitten that wants its belly rubbed. And I say that in the best of all ways possible because I love it when a cat or kitten jumps near my hand and wants to be scratched.

The Extincts, Quest For The Unicorn Horn perfectly melds action, humor, STEM and more puns, into a graphic novel for ages 8 and up.

Start the school year off with your favorite new graphic novel

Sorceline, ethereal graphic novel with manga touches for upper elementary

Granga. Magic novel. I’m looking over those two Frankenstein words in my head whilst trying to describe Sorceline. They’re words that I made up because thinking of the audience that’s best for Sorceline constantly got my head moving. It’s a graphic novel with spooky sensibilities. It’s a manga with graphic novel touches and hooks in it that’ll make the book a slam dunk for Potterheads. Sorceline is all of those things, it just depends on what fandom or delivery, that you prefer as to how you’ll describe the book.

Sorceline is a mysterious, gorgeously illustrated graphic novel, sprinkled with manga that’ll attract girl readers aged 9 and up.

Manga graphic novel, spooky read