Adventures in Cartooning: Christmas Special

Adventures in Cartooning: Christmas Special

Christmas is coming! The Magic Cartooning Elf and his friend the Knight help Santa make a Christmas comic. But will kids put away their iPads, smart phones, and video games long enough to read a book? The latest in the beloved Adventures In Cartooning series, Adventures in Cartooning: Christmas Special will inspire children to pick up a pencil and draw up a snow storm! No charger or batteries are needed for this terrific holiday gift. Gr 2-5-While readers learned the mechanics of creating comics in Adventures in Cartooning (Roaring Brook, 2009), the main focus here is creating a story. Santa, lamenting kids' online distractions and the demand for electronic gadgets, decides that a comic would be the perfect solution to his gift-giving crisis. Enter the Cartooning Elf, who insists on speaking in rhyme, much to the annoyance of fellow returning character (Princess) Knight. Other familiar faces and scenes from the previous book appear and those elements, combined with MIT-educated, technophile elves who would rather write code and send gifts electronically than use the traditional reindeer and sleigh, produce rollicking, hilarious results. Best of all is the encouragement to imagine, draw, and create. Hand this title to those looking for a funny story and budding artists during the holidays and beyond.-Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library α(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. The third ever-so-charming Adventures in Cartooning installment has Santa, depressed over the omnipresence of electronics, lamenting the absence of old-fashioned creativity that comics bring out so well. Luckily, the elf and the knight show up to brainstorm and battle a fierce dragon. Rhymes keep the dialogue snappy, and a wonderfully inventive use of panel size and dramatic layout brings the story to life. While the paean to a Christmas without digital diversions may fall on deaf ears, young readers will enjoy all the gallivanting fun and appreciate the tips for sending Santa a comic-book letter this year. Preschool-Grade 3. --Jesse Karp “Not quite a how-to book, as the cover might suggest, this is rather a stupendous new high for children's graphic novels, spearheaded by comics maestro Sturm (Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, 2007). Ostensibly, this is the adventure of an eager knight, a sweet-toothed horse, and a magic elf hunting down a gum-chewing dragon, and those reading for the adventure itself will not be disappointed, filled as it is with humor, action, and a great girl-empowering twist. But along the way, lessons in the language of sequential art are woven seamlessly into the narrative, explaining the basics of how elements such as panels and word balloons work, while concluding bonus features offer specifics on terminology (like gutters and stems) and common symbols (like speed lines). Newcomers Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost, using varying page compositions to keep the sizable volume visually captivating, have constructed a tale that works just as well as a read-aloud for the very young as it does a lesson for everyone from fans of the form to the wholly uninitiated. As an examination of the medium, it's a supremely worthy spiritual legacy to Scott McCloud's seminal Understanding Comics (1993). As a straight-up graphic adventure, it may be the best of the year.” ― Booklist, starred review “An insightful and enjoyable way for kids to learn about cartooning, presented in a vibrant graphic format. In fairy-tale fashion, the Magic Cartooning Elf helps a young princess with writer's block produce her first comic. A story-within-a-story emerges, and the princess creates a deceptively silly tale of a knight, a dragon, a whale and a horse that loves candy. Along the way, the Elf drops informative hints to the reader about the structure of the story, introducing basic elements of cartooning and rudimentary techniques. Though seemingly simplistic, this multilayered composition is an excellent teaching tool to whet the appetites of aspiring young doodlers and even offers a pleasant twist in an otherwise apparently straightforward plot. Against the abundance of vanilla graphic nonfiction for kids on the market, this is unexpectedly lively. Simple cartooning basics offered after the story are quite appealing; even the most reluctant artist may be inspired to pick up a pencil and give it a shot. Entertaining and surprisingly edifying. (Graphic nonfiction. 9-12)” ― Kirkus Reviews “Gr 2-6-The young princess, thought to be ensconced in a tower, is missing. A "BRAVE and EAGER knight" and his less-than-fearless horse Edward learn that she has been abducted by a dragon and remains captive on Dragon Island. Assisted by the Magic Cartooning Elf, the knight goes in search of her. In this story within a story, the princess learns how to create her own cartoon. Basic principles of creating comics are taught by context, inference, and direc