Adolescent Lit. Response 7/21/08 D, PR, C

Johnston, A., Horowitz, A., Damerum, K., Takasaki, Y., & Horowitz, A. (2006).
Stormbreaker: the graphic novel. New York: Philomel.

Hobbs, W. (2006). Crossing the wire. New York: HarperCollins.

This weekends assignment was to read a Graphic Novel & an Adventure Novel. I did both in the first assignment! But, I also picked up a new book by an old favorite adventure writer too! To begin with the Graphic Novel Review, I have tell you....
I'm a big fan of the Alex Rider series. When there was word of a movie, I was right on it and it was a good thing....I believe it was in the theaters for one week and then went directly to video. Anthony Horowitz has a fantastic website for over four years. Readers would and still do review his books and blog with the author, who appears to have just as much adventure as Alex does in his life. That's probably how Horowitz gets his ideas. Alex is like a young James Bond. His parents worked for M16, just like James Bond, unfortunately for Alex they died while on duty and Alex was kept in the dark about this until his uncled and guardian meets his demise and he was recruited.
The graphic novel version of Stormbreaker is interesting but, did not hold my interest for the entire time I "read" the book. I'm not sure if you would actually say, I read the novel. Graphic novels are more of an experience. They have the look of bound comic books and usually have characters that have Asian artistic feature since it is very common for the illustrators to be Japanese. At several points, I guess because I'm not totally sold on Graphic Novels, I wonder if something was lost in the translation; however, I'm sure that not the case because I assume this book was well edited. I have admit that the scenes were pretty much the way I imagined them and they were different than the movie version so, they should interest the reader. Another difficulty I had with book and most graphic novels is that even though I'm a dyslexic writer, I'm a pretty good reader and have a darn good level of comprehension of what I read. Even though I am a certified "visual" learner, this Graphic Novel did not reach out to me. But, I'm not going to narrow minded and not pick-up more Graphic Novels, I'm sure there are better choices and I'd hate to miss out on great literature so, I'll assign myself and get my hands on a copy of "How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean" by Peter Schjeldahl.

Now, I'll switch back and review a regular old text-rich novel:
Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs was a good teen adventure. Will Hobbs rarely let the reader down. He is great at featuring modern day adolescent behavior. Boys in particular are easily drawn in. Since I "peddle" "Guy Reads", Will Hobbs books are en easy sell! In the spring of 2008, I saw on the big screen, "Under the Same Moon" which was a short lived movie in the theaters about illegal immigration south of the boarder. It is a good movie to do a "text to movie" connection. Neither in my opinion paint a true story. I have also read a book, "Enrique's Journey" about a kid form Honduras who comes to the United Stated illegally. Enrique gets beat-up, robbed, raped and left for dead several times before he makes it to the US. Will Hobbs' main character Victor Flores gets a little roughed-up but basically makes it the US within a reasonable amount of time. White kids might buy into this book; however, I'm not so sure readers from Central America will. But, if you are looking for a quick read that hold the reader's attention about illegal immigration, I guess it's a fair version. Victor's journey does have danger but, he seems to make through with out spending a lot of money and the coyotes are not the worst villains that are out there, yeah right. It's sort like a Disney version of survival in my opinion.