One Trick Pony by Nathan Hale, 128 pp, RL4

-

I love everything that Nathan Hale does, from his picture books to illustrating other author's graphic novels to his own spectacular series of historical graphic novels, Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales. It is so exciting to read One Trick Pony, his newest, stand alone (?) graphic novel!

In One Trick Pony, Hale creates a chilling but intriguing, post-apocalyptic world where the world has been turned to sand with the remains of civilization left in curving, symmetrical canyons that look a bit like an architectural playground. It is in these ruins that Strata, her brother Auger and their friend Inby search for any remaining technology and electrical devices to bring back to the caravan they travel in, where the adults (Digital Rescuers) are dedicated to preserving the vestiges of a once richly creative human society. When they stumble upon a huge cache of robots and accidentally wake them up, they draw the attention of the Pipers and the race begins.


The Pipers are a strange mix of frog, mosquito and flying squid with a single, huge glowing eye and the ability to enclose things in a bubble that then rises into the atmosphere. In the rubble of the robots, Strata finds a golden, robot pony buried in the sand. She convinces Auger and Inby to help her excavate it and, seeing the name engraved on it, mounts Kleidi and rides off.



The Pipers are hot on their trail, and as the trio flee, they meet up with Pick, a girl from the Salt Clans trying to poach cattle from the Ferals, a bandit clan that chooses to live without any technology whatsoever. When Strata rides off with Kleidi to distract the the Pipers, the Ferals, tempted by the promise of more cattle (and an alpaca, which makes for a nice running joke) join up with Pick, Auger and Inby to find the caravan and reunite with Strata. How Hale brings this reunion about is exciting and surprising and gives deeper meaning to the title, One Trick Pony. Hale wraps up the story marvelously, but I feel like he might also be leaving a door open for more stories from this intriguing future world . . .


Click here for my reviews of Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales



Coming November, 2017!!





Written by Shannon & Dean Hale (no relation) and illustrated by Nathan Hale, Rapunzel's Revenge & Calamity Jack



And don't miss these excellent picture book mash-ups where Ludwig Bemelman's Madeline meets Frankenstein:







Source: Review Copy

Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more