I still have images of Superman comic books stuck in my head from when I was growing up in the 1960s. They were fantastic, a mixture of superhero and science fiction, two of my greatest loves ever at that age. I loved the stories of Lex Luthor (in his traditional gray prison uniform) teaming up with Brainiac (in a pink shirt and shorty-shorts). One of the most prevalent of those images was of Superman shrunken down and trapped in a birdcage.

Ahh, those were the days. But as I grew older, Superman grew more serious and so did his problems. Sadly, so did I. I realized there were worse things for Superman – for anyone —than being trapped in a birdcage. However, I still loved those stories. They were part of my childhood and I won’t feel badly for hanging onto them.

Especially since Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely are revisiting Superman with the same love and tenderness I remember from those comic issues. Those plots were innocent and fun in a way that comics haven’t been in a long time. Now, Morrison and Quitely are doing the same thing in the pages of All-Star Superman.

The series exists outside of the traditional Superman universe. From what I’ve seen of this first graphic novel, anything goes. Clark Kent is still something of a boob. Lois Lane is sharp and still doesn’t have a clue that Clark is Superman (until he tells her). Jimmy Olsen is perky and sharp and a geek all at the same time. Luthor is violently opposed to Superman breathing the same air as him, and is brilliantly carrying out multi-layered plans to bring that to an end.

And Superman is quietly heroic throughout it all.

The graphic novel gathers the first six issues of the series. Some of the stories function as stand-alone tales but they all have continuity threads. And they’re all just good fun. This is a Superman book I’m gleefully handing off to my ten-year-old because I know he’s going to have a blast with it too.

The first story shows Morrison’s deviousness. Luthor has a plan to destroy Superman by overexposing him to the sun’s rays. During the initial set-up of the story, Morrison quickly and quietly introduces his readers to the familiar cast of characters, letting everyone know just how he’s going to spin the relationships and at what point in their lives we are. The sequence of Clark entering the newsroom on the double is a long montage that expertly showcases Quitely’s artwork. I loved it.

The first issue leaves us hanging regarding Superman’s fate after the overexposure to the sun. But the second issue is a fan’s dream come true: Lois Lane is given super-powers for a day and becomes Superwoman the way we all imagined she might back in the 1960s. Not only that, but Quitely draws her smoking hot! The two-page spread of the Fortress of Solitude is awesome.

I also loved the calm, every-day way Superman discussed Batman and Robin, and the casual way the Superman robots got introduced. They were a staple of the 1960s as well. The secret of Superman’s key to the Fortress was terrific, and the stuff of science fiction. The way Lois’s paranoia about Superman backfiring was terrific plotting. Instead of being suspicious of Clark being Superman, she starts wondering if Superman has gone insane due to his exposure.

The third issue where Lois tries to make Superman jealous of Atlas and Samson is a hoot. So is the ending where Superman finally gets tired of their constant haranguing.

Issue four concentrates on Jimmy Olsen, and it’s the Jimmy I grew up with. The one that’s still young and naïve, and always in the middle of trouble Superman has to get him out of. This one also contains some of Morrison’s trademark outside-the-box SF.

Lex Luthor takes center stage in issue five. The team-up with Clark Kent was absolutely fantastic. Can’t believe no one ever tried that before. Of course, there’s probably some credit due to the Smallville television series there. “You write like a poet but you move like a landslide,” is a quote from Luthor about Clark Kent that I’ll probably never forget. The resulting adventure as they run from the Parasite (and Clark repeatedly saves Lex) is a series of neat twists. There’s even a cameo of Beppo the Supermonkey that’s hilarious.

Issue 6 hosts a lot of surprises and nostalgia. We get to see Ma and Pa Kent, watch Superman play with Krypto the Super-Dog, and even hang out in the Smallville malt shop with Lana Lang. Seeing the Supermen of the futures was a trip down memory lane as well. You just know Morrison is having fun with the cornucopia he’s laying down. But his is one of the saddest tales Morrison weaves, and it sneaks up on you in the end.

I can’t name a graphic novel I’ve read yet that seems to span the decades and the generations Morrison’s loving tribute does in All-Star Superman. For long-time fans that haven’t read comics in a great many years, this one is a perfect return. Pick this one up and prepare to enjoy the feast.

The old wizard is as disreputable in his own way as Conn is. Twenty years ago, Nevery was accused of attempting to kill the Duchess of Wellmet where Conn lives. Nevery was run out of town just ahead of the soldiers that would have doubtlessly hung him.

Now, twenty years later, Nevery is drawn back to the city because the magic that powers the place is mysteriously drying up. Nevery uses that predicament to leverage his own return and gets the Duchess to grant him amnesty for his past wrongs, even though he didn’t try to kill her.

I love the way Prineas has Wellmet sectioned off into Twilight, Dusk House, Dawn Palace, and the other regions. Illustrator Antonio Javier Caparo’s maps and drawings really established the tone well and led my son and me into a wonderful imaginary journey throughout the city. The place just feels real.

The relationship between the characters, though predictable because they are steeped in tradition, are even more wonderful because the reader knows what to expect. Prineas expertly moves those relationships along, teasing the reader with them. I kept wanting Nevery to acknowledge Conn as his apprentice for so long, then – when Conn was in such dire straits – I’d forgotten about it and Prineas delivered that so expertly that I knew it was coming and was so concerned about other things that I’d temporarily forgotten.

That relationship, that push/pull of wills and the need to understand each other, drives this book and I’m sure will drive the other two in this trilogy. The addition of Benet as the hired muscle and his – eventual – doting uncle role with Conn is amazingly portrayed as well.

I have to admit that the first few pages seemed to dawdle a bit, but this is a relatively big world to explore, and there’s some history – particularly between the major players – that has to be revealed slowly. Prineas makes the whole thing play well, and it isn’t long before she has everything up and running.

Along with all the mystery and intrigue, as well as the duplicitous and suspicious nature of the characters, the author also throws in one-liners that and humor that is to die for. One of the best scenes in the book was when Conn was captured by the duchess’s guards, thrown into a prison cell, then lets himself out with his Lockpicking skills. Only to give himself away when he gladly hails Nevery, whom he hadn’t expected to see at all.

When Prineas locks onto the final scenes of the book, about the last sixty pages so be prepared to keep reading for a bit, there’s just no way to tear yourself free. My son and I were nailed to the pages, pushing way past our bedtimes as we finished up the last one hundred and forty pages in a reading marathon that had us hanging on by our fingernails.

The Magic Thief ends well, resolving several questions, but it raises several others that will keep my son and I anxiously awaiting the next installment. This is definitely a book to pick up for the kids to read over the summer, and you may find yourself chasing Conn and Nevery through Strangle Street and avoiding the Underlord’s minions yourself!

The Battle of the Labyrinth is the fourth book of Rick Riordan’s projected five-book opus, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The series began with The Lightning Thief and has constantly picked up steam as it’s progressed. I’ve been reading the series to my son, and we’re looking at the fifth and final book coming out next year with a mixture of anticipation and dread.

We want the next book. We want to know how everything turns out for Percy, Grover, Annabeth, and the rest, but we don’t want the adventure to end. Riordan’s imagination and zest for action is matched only by his wit and humor. We’ve become fans and end up talking about the books and Greek mythology quite often.

If you haven’t read the series yet, you’ve missed out on a lot. And you’ll probably want to stop reading this review now. Otherwise you’re going to trip across some spoilers for the earlier three books. Riordan’s books, Percy’s adventures, are an organic tale, growing and adding to canon with each new volume. Things just don’t stay the same in Percy’s ever-changing world.

Well, nothing stays the same except Percy’s continuing bad luck with schools. At the beginning of this one, Percy’s mom has a new boyfriend that gets Percy into a well-respected school that Percy normally wouldn’t have a shot at with his past record of suspicious destruction. Sure enough, almost as soon as Percy sets foot on school grounds, he’s attacked by demonic cheerleaders (the empousai, from Greek myth) and the school BURNS.

I couldn’t help laughing throughout the section as I read it. Friends of Percy are going to be blown away by the sequence even though they’re expecting it. My son and I kept cracking each other up for days afterward. These books just keep on giving!

The book turns more serious, to a degree, when Luke’s plans to invade Camp Half-Blood are revealed. Luke, Percy’s arch-enemy, is still trying to bring the Titan Kronos back to life so he can wreak vengeance against the Greek gods. Camp Half-Blood, because it houses and trains so many of the demi-gods – the children of the gods with mortal parents, is a prime target.

As always, Riordan establishes the roots of his story in traditional Greek myth. This one deals with Daedalus, the famed inventor that created the Labyrinth that housed the Minotaur. According to Riordan’s story, the Labyrinth has become – to a degree – a living thing that continues growing throughout the world and time. I loved the concept and my son was totally engrossed in the idea that the world was honeycombed with magical tunnels. This is the kind of thinking I’ve come to rely on the author for.

There are other adventures that take place before Percy, Annabeth, and Grover find an opening to the Labyrinth and climb down inside it, but once they’re in place the adventure kicks into high gear. They’re chasing after Nico, the son of Hades, that no one else at the camp knows about. Percy feels guilty about the death of Nico’s sister and doesn’t want everyone weirding out about the younger boy. Percy still believes he has a chance to set things straight between him and Nico.

Grover’s situation has gotten more dire regarding his hunt for the god, Pan. With all the failures Grover has racked up, the satyr community is thinking about pulling Grover’s searcher’s license, which means he can’t continue hunting for Pan. A lot of things are at stake in this one.

Tyson, Percy’s Cyclopean half-brother, stars in this one as well. I have to admit, Tyson is one of my favorite characters in the books. Tyson, with all his childish innocence, has won a special place in the hearts of my son and I. Every time Tyson’s on stage we’re just waiting to see what he’s going to say or do. In this one, Tyson gets to meet Briares, one of the Hundred-Handed Ones, an ancient from Greek myth. Briares’s reaction to his jailer is hilarious and I don’t want to spoil it, but my son and I went around doing it for days, to the point my wife believed we’d taken leave of our senses. She hasn’t quite gotten into the Olympian view yet.

In addition to all the great imagery and dialogue, Riordan continues piling on the Greek mythology in this one. I love how he twists it and brings it into our world. And he dangles each cliffhanger and reveal of the plot with evident glee and precise precision. This next year of waiting is going to be a long one.

Readers familiar with Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series are in for another fun-filled romp in The Titan’s Curse. The author has a five-book run planned for Percy and his companions, and then a return visit in a later series, which his young fans will clamor for.

If you haven’t read either of the two previous books, I’d warn you to stay away from this review because you’re going to find out things that are better discovered through your own reading.

In The Lightning Thief, twelve year old Percy Jackson found out he was the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. My son and I read YA books together all the time, and these are his favorites. What draws him in the most – and I mean hours at a time, till my voice gives out on me – are Percy’s cool water powers and the immense tapestry of Greek mythology that Riordan weaves in so well.

My son doesn’t know it, but he’s basically getting a classical education reading these novels with me. He finds the stories of the gods and goddesses, all their petty problems and efforts to get revenge on each other, wonderfully fascinating. He was so enthralled by the first book that I had to buy him a book on Greek mythology, which he read on his own just to get more background on the mythical characters in the pages.

You don’t have to brush up on your Greek mythology, or even tell all the stories to your kids. Riordan does a masterful job of making those ancient tales of gods and goddesses come alive in his stories, and giving you all the background material you need. But don’t be surprised if your child starts prowling the library shelves in search of more information.

The Titan’s Curse starts off with an almost 007 feel that I really liked. Riordan usually plunks Percy down in the middle of action, but the search for two new half-bloods (sons and daughters of gods who don’t know they are such) captivated my son and me immediately. And things, of course, go really badly for Percy and his friends.

Still, despite all the close calls, my son and I were laughing out loud at Percy’s adventures. Grover, the young satyr that’s his friends, ended up getting some of the best parts, but the chapter where Percy ends up riding the mythical pig was an absolute hoot.

Blackjack, Percy’s Pegasus buddy, puts in an appearance in this book as well, and absolutely steals the show for a while. “God alert,” Blackjack warns. “It’s the wine dude!” Of course, he’s referring to Dionysus, the Greek god that’s currently serving punishment as head of Camp Half-Blood. In fact, Mr. D actually steps into the thick of things more forcefully in this volume. But the line, typical pre-teen terminology, had my son and I cracking each other up for days as we kept repeating it.

In every book in the series, there’s always a quest. In the first book, Percy had to find the thief that took Zeus’s mystical lightning bolt. In the second, Percy had to save Grover. But in the third book, Percy has to save his best bud, Annabeth, with whom he’s becoming even more enamored. This quest sends Percy and his friends zooming across the United States again, and reveals even more Greek mythological geography that’s been relocated to this continent.

Athena is back on hand, as well as Artemis and Apollo. Luke’s efforts to resurrect Kronos as still in play, and it looks bad for our heroes. There’s a prophecy (told by the Oracle in a way that is extremely humorous) that foretells the death of one of the heroes on the quest.

Riordan’s pacing is fabulous. There’s never a dull moment in one of these books. Things – and threats – just keep happening at a mile-a-minute. This book truly felt like trying to stay on top of an avalanche as we hurtled to the ending. And it only left us hungry for Book Four: The Battle of the Labyrinth.
 

Scraps of Time 1960: Abby Takes A Stand is the first of a series of juvenile novels by Patricia McKissack. A group of kids help their grandmother explore the contents of her attic and find scraps of memories. As each scrap is found, the grandmother, Gee, tells a story from her childhood and from the childhoods of other family members that exposes how differently today’s world is from the one she grew up in.

McKissack is the author of several novels for young readers. Besides chapter books, she’s also written several picture books. Her subject matter ranges from serious to humorous, from realistic to historical to fantasy.

This first book of the three-book series is on the 2008 Children’s Sequoyah Masterlist. The story details the sit-ins the black community had to stage in Nashville, Tennessee to end segregation in the city. Although the story is deliberately kept small, I read the story to my son and he had no problem seeing the bigger picture as well as all the problems the black families faced while striving for equality.

McKissack’s language is simple, direct, easy-to-read, and emotional. Through just a handful of family members, the fear and outrage is quickly and efficiently shown to the reader.

Abby’s story is compelling to any parent or child. When she mistakenly ends up in a WHITES ONLY restaurant called the Monkey Bar, she’s treated horribly by the white people there. Parents can easily know what it must have felt like by imagining how their child would have felt under similar circumstances. And kids can instantly identify with Abby at being left out of something and told she wasn’t allowed to do something.

The book is only 100 pages long, with big print and illustrations by Gordon James that are equally emotional. We read it in a couple sittings without straining ourselves. I grew up in this time period in Southern Oklahoma, so a lot of what McKissack writes about was familiar to me. It’s amazing to think how much things have changed in that time period, and that our children will never really know what those times were like.

Lowji Discovers America is a fun book with a great message. It’s also one of 2008’s Children’s Sequoyah Masterlist reads. Author Candace Fleming tells Lowji’s story in a great first-person voice that will doubtless have young readers rolling in the aisles as the hero tries to figure out how things are done in his new country, and tries to figure out a way to get a pet.

The author captures a lot of the accent Lowji would have in his speech after so recently coming from Bombay, India, and she gives him great parents. Ma is very strict and loving, but Bape seems to have an incurable love of puns that is just painful to read. My son loved them!

I loved how Lowji had a notion of what America would be like after living in crowded Bombay all his life, then was heartened and disappointed at the same time. He thought things would be vastly different, but they really aren’t at first.

The disappointment over not getting to have a pet quickly shifts gears to Lowji trying to figure out a way to get one anyhow. The author’s digs at the common backdrop of American culture, especially in the giant store ALL-MART, was terrific.

There are a lot of episodes that continually build Lowji’s story. I felt his sadness when the bird, Tippy, deserted him for the other kids in the store. But I was laughing aloud with my son when the pig, Blossom, nearly has a heat stroke and Lowji saves her by bringing her into the store. This is exactly the kind of thing my kid would do, and it just proves that kids speak the same language more than adults do.

I also loved how Lowji constantly talked Landlady Crisp into getting animals to do her work for her. The cat is brought in to handle the mice. The dog is brought in to handle security. And the goats are brought in to handle the lawn care. This is all very Tom Sawyerish and works well.

However, parents might not find the burping contest and squirting milk out of one nostril quite so funny. My son, of course, thought they were tremendous.

Lowji Discovers America delivers a familiar and humorous story in an accent that will probably be new to most young readers. There’s also a lot of information regarding Indian culture. If you’re working on the Sequoyah list with your child, this novel should definitely be one of those you pick up – especially if your child is a boy!