Amulet

Amulet is a new series by Kazu Kibuishi. Kibuishi has credentials as his book Daisy Kutter: The Last Train won the American Library Associations Best Book Award for Young Adults. He continues in the tradition with Amulet: The Stonekeeper and now just released in September 2009, book 2, The Stonekeepers Curse. However the Amulet books are for young readers ages 8 and up. The main characters are a brother, sister, and mom along with the robot rabbit who join the struggle between good and evil. Amulet: The Stonekeeper was nominated for a 2009 Eisner Award for Best Kids Publication. The Eisner award is considered to be the Oscar of the comic world.

The books are in the comic format somewhat in the manga style, but with Lemony Snicket overtones in the story. The art is in color and read from front to back. The first book started immediately with the death of the children's father which may be a little harsh for younger readers. They find a spooky place to live and the adventures begin. There is a future book 3 in the planning stage. Amulet is published by Graphix which is an imprint of Scholastic. These are available in paperback and hardbound, but not library bound. Scholastic is known by librarians for poor quality binding on their hardbound books, Harry Potter, being the utmost example. If you are interested, you would be just as well to try paperback. Surprisingly, the Bone series also by Graphix is produced in fairly sturdy form in paperback.

Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid: Great Crossover Books

On October 12th the 4th in the Wimpy Kid series came out, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dog Days. These books are a series of cartoons and writing which make them a great crossover book for kids who are not ready to give up the comic format or the older reluctant reader. The stories are funny and the hero is a somewhat typical kid. This book is already on the best seller list. The series is best for 3rd graders and up. Amulet books has a website for parents, teachers, or librarians with more information.

Kinney's first book Diary of a Wimpy Kid was published in 2007 with a Lexile score of 950L. The books are published by Amulet an imprint of Abramsbooks. They are available in hardbound format and have 224 pages. The first two in the series are available from Bound to Stay Bound. These books will never stay on the shelves so take advantage of being able to get them library bound from BTSB. For $16.95 the American Library Association has a poster of the Wimpy Kid to encourage reading.

The Father of Manga: Astro Boy

Be prepared for more of a push for comic reading by students as Astro Boy hits the silver screen on Oct 23rd. Astro Boy was originally published in 1952 in Japan by Osamu Tezuka. In Japan Astro Boy is called Mighty Atom. He was very popular in Japan and became more popular as he was seen later on in the 1980's on TV in the states. To my knowledge this is the first Astro Boy movie in the states. For more information look in the categories on this blog under Astro Boy.

For information on the books including the history see Rocketing Back to Fame: Astro Boy in the School Library Journal. This article discusses the unique history and availability of the books. All the books however are in paperback. The original Astro Boy was in black and white.