Category: Graphic Novel

Title: Detention of Doom (DC Comics: Secret Hero Society #3)
Author: Derek Fridolfs, Dustin Nguyen
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Source: Library
Format: ebook
Release Date: December 26, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

When Lex Luthor’s family company, Lexcorp(TM), invites kids from all over the country to attend an honors ceremony, Clark Kent is happy to participate. That is, until his award trophy creates a portal to another dimension and sucks him in! Lucky for Clark, his old friends Bruce and Diana along with newer friends Barry (The Flash(TM)) and Ollie (Green Arrow(TM)) are on the case! They’ll have to travel to an alternate dimension to free their friend from Lex Luthor’s grasp (and the worst detention ever) in this all-new adventure from Eisner Award winner Dustin Nguyen and Eisner Award nominee Derek Fridolfs.

Review:

I really enjoyed this instalment of the series!

Bruce, Clark, and Diana are sent into a strange detention world by Lex Luthor. Clark entered first, and his friends went in to find him afterwards. They were also joined by Barry (The Flash), Oliver (Green Arrow), and Victor (Cyborg). The kids also found Bruce’s archnemisis Joker and Harley Quinn. While they were there, they came across Bizarro Superman, who ultimately helped them.

I was very pleased with the graphics in this story. They were black and white, but the characters were more distinct. It was much easier to distinguish between the kids. I struggled figuring out who the characters were in the previous book, so I was glad this one was easier to read.

This is a great book!

What to read next:

• Super Sons, Volume 1: When I Grow Up by Peter J. Tomasi, Jorge Jimenez

• 

• Wonder Woman at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee

• 

Have you read Detention of Doom? What did you think of it?

Title: Secrets and Sequences (Secret Coders #3)
Author: Gene Luen Yang, Mike Holmes
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel
Publisher: First Second
Source: Library
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Stately Academy is no ordinary school: it was once home to an elite institute where teachers, students, and robots worked together to unravel the mysteries of coding. Hopper, Eni, and Josh won’t rest until they’ve learned the whole story, but they aren’t the only ones interested in the school’s past. Principal Dean is hot on their trail, demanding that the coders turn over their most powerful robot. Dean may be a creep, but he’s nothing compared to the guy who’s really in charge: a green-skinned coding genius named Professor One-Zero.

Review:

This series is great for kids. It teaches how to do simple coding, which I know a lot of kids are interested in these days. Since they like using technology, it’s great to teach them how to create it.

The plot of this story was very good too. The story is developing more with each book. This story included an evil villain who they had to stop from destroying their town. However, while the bad guy was trapping him in his dungeon, he stopped to teach them some more coding tricks. I know villains in stories often stop to explain things while they should be running away, but I’ve never seen one stop to teach kids, so that was very weird.

One thing that would greatly improve this series is if there was some kind of refresher at the beginning of the story which summarized the previous books. There was a gap between the time I read them, so it would have been nice if there was a page or two to remind me of what happened before. This would be helpful for kids who take the books out of the library and can’t flip through the previous book before moving on.

However, this is a great series for kids!

Here are my reviews for the other books in the series: Secret Coders, Paths and Portals

What to read next:

• Robots and Repeats by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes

  

• Tournament Trouble (Cross Ups #1) by Sylv Chiang

  

Have you read Secrets and Sequences? What did you think of it?

Title: Writ in Stone (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective Graphic Novels #2)
Author: Stefan Petrucha, Sho Murase
Genre: Graphic Novel, Middle Grade
Publisher: Papercutz
Source: Library
Release Date: July 1, 2005
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s double trouble for Nancy and her friends, when an ancient artifact and a little boy are both suddenly missing.  The artifact is a piece of an old stone marker that may prove that the Chinese were in America eighty years before Columbus.  The little boy is Owen Zucker, a sweetie who Nancy sometimes baby-sits.  Nancy’s determined to recover both the artifact and little Owen, but someone’s out to stop her—permanently!  Ages 8 to 12.

Review:

I loved this graphic novel!

The graphics in this book were much better than the first one. All of the pictures were clear. There were objects in the images that looked like clip art. They didn’t match the other drawings, because they looked like photos of real things.

I was so excited to see Ned and Hannah. They are so important to Nancy and play an important part in the novels, but they are often left out of adaptations.

The next book is inspired by the 1930s, so I’m excited to read it!

What to read next:

• The Haunted Dollhouse (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective Graphic Novels #3) by Stefan Petrucha, Sho Murase

  

• Curse of the Arctic Star (Nancy Drew Diaries #1) by Carolyn Keene

  

Have you read Writ in Stone? What did you think of it?

Title: Fort Solitude (DC Comics: Secret Hero Society #2)
Author: Derek Fridolfs, Dustin Nguyen
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Source: Library
Release Date: December 27, 2016
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

The follow-up to the bestselling hit Study Hall of Justice! Clark Kent is thrilled when he receives an invite to a spring break academic retreat. After taking down the villains of Ducard Academy the previous year, going back to life on the farm was a bit dull. Better yet, his friends Bruce and Diana have been invited there, too! What better way to spend spring break than with old friends (Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn) and new ones like Arthur Curry (Aquaman), Barry Allen (the Flash), and Vic Stone (Cyborg)?

When Clark arrives at Camp Evergreen he makes new friends, reconnects with old ones, and nothing seems weird at all! Well, that is until kids start disappearing… One by one…  Plus, there’s a lake monster, bigfoot has been spotted, there are reports of a boogeyman, and there may or may not be a UFO crashed into the lake. Clark, Bruce, and Diana will have to re-assemble the Junior Detective – er- Criminal Investigation Unit, in an all-new, supernatural adventure!

Review:

I really like the concept of this story. The DC Super Hero kids get invited to a camp, and then kids mysteriously disappear.

I also liked the format. There are many different kinds of documents that tell the story, including chat messages between Clark, Diana, and Bruce, Clark’s scrapbooks, and flyers advertising events at the camp. I loved these kinds of books when I was a kid, so I’m sure lots of kids would like this format.

The images were all in black and white, which made it difficult to tell the difference between the characters. Most of the time, they were in their regular clothes, since they aren’t superheroes yet, so they looked the same. If it wasn’t for Clark’s glasses, him and Bruce would have looked the same. I also wasn’t sure who many of the new characters were because they went by their real names. I had to keep googling the names to figure out who they really were, such as Pamela and Arthur. When I learned who they were, it made the story funnier because they were behaving like their future superhero selves.

I’m interested in seeing how this story continues in the next volume.

What to read next:

• Detention of Doom (DC Comics: Secret Hero Society #3) by Derek Fridolfs, Dustin Nguyen

• 

• Super Sons, Volume 1: When I Grow Up by Peter J. Tomasi, Jorge Jimenez

• 

Have you read Fort Solitude? What did you think of it?

Title: The Demon of River Heights (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective Graphic Novels #1)
Author: Stefan Petrucha
Genre: Young Adult, Graphic Novel
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Library
Release Date: April 1, 2005
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Everyone’s favorite girl detective makes her dazzling graphic novel debut!

An all-new series of full-color Nancy Drew graphic novels, with all-new comics stories based on the series by Carolyn Keene, starts right here!  Join Nancy, along with Bess and George, as they search for missing student filmmakers and discover the deadly secret behind the local urban legend known as “The Demon of River Heights.”  Ages 8 to 12.

Review:

I’ve always loved Nancy Drew. I have my mom’s copies of the books from when she was a kid, and I still play the games. I was excited to read this graphic novel!

It was a pretty good story. I read some bad reviews of this book before I read it, so I didn’t expect much. However, I enjoyed the story. The characters were very familiar. Bess, George, and Nancy had to solve a mystery together. Meanwhile, Deirdre Shannon was getting in the way. The only character I didn’t see was Ned, and I hope to see him in later comics.

The graphics weren’t the best. They were flat and one dimensional most of the time. Later in the story, some panels had more depth. The background was blurry so the people in the forefront stood out more. That made it look three dimensional.

I enjoyed this book, and I look forward to reading the next one.

What to read next:

• Writ in Stone (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective Graphic Novels #2) by Stefan Petrucha

  

• Sleepover Sleuth (Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #1) by Carolyn Keene

  

Have you read The Demon of River Heights? What did you think of it?

Title: Making Friends
Author: Kristen Gudsnuk
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Graphix
Source: Library
Release Date: July 31, 2018
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Sixth grade was SO much easier for Danielle. All her friends were in the same room and she knew what to expect from her life. But now that she’s in seventh grade, she’s in a new middle school, her friends are in different classes and forming new cliques, and she is completely lost.

When Danielle inherits a magical sketchbook from her eccentric great aunt Elma, she draws Madison, an ideal best friend that springs to life right off the page! But even when you create a best friend, it’s not easy navigating the ups and downs of relationships, and before long Danielle and Madison are not exactly seeing eye-to-eye.

To make matters worse, Danielle has drawn the head of her favorite (and totally misunderstood) cartoon villain, Prince Neptune. He’s also come to life and is giving her terrible advice about how to make people like her. When she rejects him and he goes on a rampage during a school pep rally, Danielle and Madison have to set aside their differences to stop him!

Review:

This story started out really well. Danielle experienced a dreaded schedule in school, where her friends were assigned to different classes. I had that happen a couple of times, including when we had two separate lunch periods in high school. However, I ended up making a friend who is still my best friend ten years later. Danielle handled the situation differently.

Dani found a magic sketchbook that would bring her drawings to life, so she drew a best friend. Things became tricky when her friend began looking for her own family, who do not exist since she was created on paper. Dani also drew the head of Prince Neptune, a character on a show similar to Sailor Moon. He came to life and tried to control Dani.

I think Dani could have handled the situation better. Things got really out of control at the end, which left everyone with magic powers. This was a random ending to the story. Also, I don’t think Dani learned from her mistake of creating friends in her sketchbook. This situation could have been portrayed in a more realistic way to help the young readers who may also go through the same experience.

What to read next:

• Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson

  

• Drama by Raina Telgemeier

  

Have you read Making Friends? What did you think of it?