Pic Book Review: Michael Recycle and the Tree Top Cops by Alexandra Colombo

Title: Michael Recycle and the Tree Top Cops

Author(s): Ellie Patterson (writer), Alexandra Colombo (illustrator)

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Release Date: March 20, 2012

Reading Group: Children

Source: NetGalley

Summery:

Even super-heroes need a vacation, so where better than one of the world's natural wonders, the great Redwood Forest! But disaster has struck and the forest is under threat...can Michael Recycle and his new friends, the Tree Top Cops, save the day?

Review:

If you have a child and you want to introduce him or her to superheroes, the Michael Recycle series is a good pick. Before you pick up Michael Recycle and the Tree Top Cops, I'd suggest picking up the previous titles first. This is my first time reviewing a picture book, so any feedback would be appreciated. 

I've loved picture books ever since I picked up Where the Wild Things Are. There is an innocence in them that bring you back to your childhood. This is the first Michael Recycle I read and I gotta say, it was entertaining. 


I love the idea of a recycling superhero. I think it's important to teach kids the idea of recycling at a young age, and what better example for them than a superhero? It's a brilliant idea! Who doesn't want to learn from their idols? So yeah, I like Michael Recycle's character. As for the dog, Tin Can Stan, I felt it was their to "cuteness" purposes, which I think it's fine, just not for me. The other characters, though none stood out, all added a colorful spin to the story. 

The art is beautiful. I love the coloring. Although sometime I felt there was too much green, it makes sense here. The only thing that annoyed me is a certain image of Tin Can Stan that keeps appearing again and again. I don't know if it was an artistic decision, but it didn't quite work for me. Although the illustrations was great, the writing wasn't. I think it's because of the rhymes. Sometimes, they were fun and other times they were off, I felt. The whole book felt like looking at a great painting, then realizng that something is not quite right.

The story was good overall. It's one of the main reasons I enjoyed this book. It's shows how it's like living a childhood dream. It's a good way of showing kids that they could do anything if they worked together, especially if it's for a noble cause. I like that message.

All in all, Michael Recycle and the Tree Top Cops was an enjoyable read. I think it's a very good pick if you want to introduce your child to superheros.

Final Rating

Graphic Novel Review: Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

Title: Friends with Boys
Author: Faith Erin Hicks
Publisher: First Second
Release Date: February 28, 2012

Pages: 224
Reading Group: Young Adult
Buy the Book: Amazon
Source: NetGalley

Summery


A coming-of-age tale with a spooky twist!

Maggie McKay hardly knows what to do with herself. After an idyllic childhood of homeschooling with her mother and rough-housing with her older brothers, it’s time for Maggie to face the outside world, all on her own. But that means facing high school first. And it also means solving the mystery of the melancholy ghost who has silently followed Maggie throughout her entire life. Maybe it even means making a new friend—one who isn’t one of her brothers.

Funny, surprising, and tender, Friends with Boys is a pitch perfect YA graphic novel full of spooky supernatural fun.


Review

You may think it's weird, but I find it more difficult writing reviews for books I like. It's hard to point out the stuff you love in the book without gushing. It often comes out really messy and disjonted. Let's see how that goes. On with the review.

If want me to describe this book in one word, it's "Adorable."

Friends with Boys is a book that's charming, funny and tender all at the same time. I was enchanted from the very first pages.  

I always thought that sibling relationships are not portrayed enough in fiction. When I came across this book, I was pleasantly surprised that it were the main focus. This is a story about how life can make your relationships stronger or break them apart. Sometimes you'd like your life to stay the way that it is at the moment, but you can't help the fact that things will change. Sometimes these changes will prevent you from spending time with the people you love. That's what the main character is going through.

Maggie is a very easy character to love because you can't help but feel for her. She is facing a big change in her life.  After being home-schooled her whole life, she is going to high school, meeting new faces and facing new challenges. It's easy to empathize with her because when you live a life that you pretty much happy with, and there's a possibility of losing that, you feel scared and alone. I like how the illustrations added to that feeling of isolation. Maggie feels isolated even though she's in a place that's full of people. 

I may be making the story to be a bit dark, but really it's not. It's about teens and their challenges in high school. This book is kinda influenced by Japanese manga and you can tell if you've read manga before. It's not a bad thing, in fact, that's what made the story so charming. There is a sense of innocence in it that you feel when you read Japanese manga. What I mean is that these characters are not exactly realistic, and that's okay because they are so charming that you wish you were friends with them.

This is a really funny book. I found myself laughing several times. The dialogue in this book is great. The side characters are all incredible and they provide a huge chunk of the entertainment aspect of the book. They also each have their own unique personalities. There is the boy who love theater, the twin who tries to break apart from his brother, the friend with the wierd interests... I loved all of them. My personal favorite is Maggie's big brother. All the big brother figures are amazing. I wish I had big brothers like that.

When it comes to the art, I love it. The factual expressions are great and so is the character designs. I like how the transitions between the shoots flaw with the story. I wish I could dig deeper into the artistic aspect, but unfortunately I'm not an artist. I loved the writing.

If you can't tell by now, I loved this book. After I finished the last page, I was a little sad bacause I wanted more of these characters. I'd love it if Hicks considered writing a sequel.

I didn't feel the need to cover the paranormal aspect of the story because I fear that I may spoil things for you if I went into detail about it. You have to read the book to find out how it adds to the story.

All in all, Friends with Boys is a wonderful graphic novel. It had me laughing and "aww"-ing the whole way through. If you love coming-of-age stories or stories about sibling relationship in general, this book is for you.

You can read Friends with Boys here in the author's website till March 6. Don't miss the chance.

Final Grade:

Waiting on Wednesday (4)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted Jill at by Breaking the Spine.




Forgotten Country
by Catherine Chung


Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Pages: 304 pages
Release Date: March 1, 2012

More About the Author

Website / Facebook / Twitter

On the night Janie waits for her sister, Hannah, to be born, her grandmother tells her a story: Since the Japanese occupation of Korea, their family has lost a daughter in every generation, so Janie is charged with keeping Hannah safe. As time passes, Janie hears more stories, while facts remain unspoken. Her father tells tales about numbers, and in his stories everything works out. In her mother's stories, deer explode in fields, frogs bury their loved ones in the ocean, and girls jump from cliffs and fall like flowers into the sea. Within all these stories are warnings.
Years later, when Hannah inexplicably cuts all ties and disappears, Janie embarks on a mission to find her sister and finally uncover the truth beneath her family's silence. To do so, she must confront their history, the reason for her parents' sudden move to America twenty years earlier, and ultimately her conflicted feelings toward her sister and her own role in the betrayal behind their estrangement.
Weaving Korean folklore within a modern narrative of immigration and identity, "Forgotten Country" is a fierce exploration of the inevitability of loss, the conflict between obligation and freedom, and a family struggling to find its way out of silence and back to one another.

I have a friend who is a good friend of this author. She told me about this book a while ago and I've been excited about it ever since.

Book Trailer

Adaptation Releases: John Carter, The Lorax, Being Flynn, John Carter

Updated: added John Carter


There are a lot of book adaptations being made every year, probably more than we realize. Last year alone there was more than 50 book adaptations, 5 of them were nominated for best picture including Hugo, The Help and The Descendants. As book readers, we like to see how the movie lives up to its book counterpart. However, sometimes we don't realize that these movies were based on book until after their release or after we see them.


I myself like to keep track of the movie adaptations that come out each year. If you are like me, in this new feature I'm going to be spotlighting the book-to-movie adaptations that come out each week every Monday.


This week, we're looking at two movies.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax 

Based On: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Directed by: Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda

Screenplay Written by: Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul

Stars: Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, Betty White and Jenny Slate

Release Date: March 2, 2012

A 12-year-old boy searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.

I love Dr. Seuss. His works always give me joy. Unfortunately, no all the adaptations does his work justice. Let's hope this one is one of the good ones. It looks fun if nothing else.

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Being Flynn

Based On: Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn
Directed by: Paul Weitz
Screenplay Written by: Paul Weitz
Stars: Robert De Niro, Paul Dano, Olivia Thirlby, Julianne
Release Date: March 2, 2012

Working in a Boston homeless shelter, Nick Flynn re-encounters his father, a con man and self-proclaimed poet. Sensing trouble in his own life, Nick wrestles with the notion of reaching out yet again to his dad.

I'm excited for this movie because it's about a writer, and it's about a father-son relationship. Also, you can't go wrong with Robert De Niro.

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John Carter

Based On: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Directed by: Andrew Stanton

Screenplay Written by: Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon

Stars: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church

Release Date: March 2, 2012

Transplanted to Mars, a Civil War vet discovers a lush planet inhabited by 12-foot tall barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter a princess who is in desperate need of a savior.

This could turn out really good or really horrible. John Carter is the second work of Burroughs that Disney attempt to recreated. The first one is Tarzan which was released in 1999.

Have you read the books these movies are based on? If you did, what do you think of them?

Which one of these two movies are you most excited for?

In My Mailbox (4)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie.

Today we have a long haul!

For Review

Thank you NetGalley!

Courtney Crumrin, Volume 1 by Ted Naifeh
Dying to Know You by Aidan Chambers
Facing the Hunchback of Notre Dame by L.L. Samson
Holliday by Nate Bowden
Nevsky by Mario Guevara
Play Ball by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir (Writers)/ Jackie Lewis (Artist)
Ratfist by Doug Tennapel
Solitary by Travis Thrasher
Spontaneous by Joe Harris (Writer)/ Brett Weldele (Artist)
The Avalon Chronicles, Volume 1 by Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir (Writers)/ Emma Vieceli (Artist)
The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry
Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell
Who Is Jake Ellis? Volume 1 by Tonci Zonjic

Out of all of these, I'm really excited for The Peculiars, Dying to Know You and Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe. There are a lot if comics/graphic novels on this list, but what can I say? I love those. I always have


Gifted
I got those from my cousin. She is so sweet!

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway
Blindness by José Saramago
I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Sisters Red (Fairytale Retellings #1) by Jackson Pearce



Bought

1984 by George Orwell
Emily the Strange: The Lost Days (Emily the Strange Novels, #1) by Rob Reger, Jessica Gruner, Buzz Parker (Illustrator)

What did you get this week?