ARCHIE COMICS
Archie #589, $2.25
Archie Double Digest #192, $3.69
Jughead #191, $2.25
Sonic X #37, $2.25

BONGO
Bart Simpsons Treehouse Of Horror #14, $4.99

CINEBOOK
Iznogoud GN Vol 2 Caliphs Vacation, $11.95 ^^AA Pick^^

DARK HORSE
Star Wars Clone Wars TP Vol 1 Shipyards Of Doom, $6.95

DC COMICS
Cartoon Network Block Party #49, $2.25
Scooby Doo #136, $2.25

GEMSTONE PUBLISHING
Barks Rosa Collection TP Vol 3 Golden Helmet Charts Columbus, $8.99
Uncle Scrooge #379, $7.99
Walt Disneys Comics & Stories #694, $7.99

IDW PUBLISHING
Complete Terry And The Pirates HC Vol 4 1941 1942, $49.99

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING COMPANY
Vampress Girls GN Vol 2 Witches Of Cazador, $9.99

MARVEL COMICS
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #40, $2.99
Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #3, $2.99

PAPERCUTZ
Classics Illustrated HC Vol 3 Through The Looking Glass, $9.95 ^^AA Pick^^

Picks:

Iznogoud GN Vol 2: Caliph’s Vacation – I’ve been giving a lot of attention to Cinebook, mostly because I think they have a good line of all ages books. They cover many different genres, and take you to different and exotic locals, unlike most books available now. Iznogoud, is a comedy title that takes place in the middle east. Iznogoud is a grand vizer to the Caliph, leader of the country, and he wants to be the Caliph. With the help of his faithful servent Wa’at Alahf, he tries, and usually fails to get rid of the Caliph, in much the same way Cyote was always trying to get rid of Roadrunner. Just reading the names of the characters gives you an idea of what kind of comedy you’re in for. I don’t think there’s enough slapstick comedy for kids nowadays, and this title seem to fit the bill.

Classics Illustrated: Through the Looking Glass – Some classics are better appreciated with pictures as well as words, and this title, the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, is surely one of them. This adaptation is by Kyle Baker, an eight-time Eisner Award winner. His art adds to the strangeness of Carroll’s story as Alice walks through a looking glass to meet such characters as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Lion and the Unicorn, Humpty-Dumpty, and face the Red Queen in a surreal chess match. These Classics Illustrated are a great way to open a child’s mind to classic literature, that just see the novel may not. They should know more about this classic title other than the Disney version, and I think this is a great way to do it.

ARCHIE COMICS
Betty & Veronica Spectacular #85, $2.25

BONGO
Simpsons Comics #146, $2.99

DC COMICS/JOHNNY DC
Billy Batson And The Magic Of Shazam #2, $2.25
MAD Classics #23, $4.99
MAD Magazine #494, $4.99
Tiny Titans #8, $2.25

MARVEL COMICS
Marvel Adventures Avengers #28, $2.99
Marvel Adventures Two-In-One #15, $4.99
Power Pack TP Day One Digest, $7.99  ^^AA Pick^^
Skrulls Vs Power Pack #3 (of 4), $2.99

SCHOLASTIC
Into The Volcano HC, $18.99  ^^AA Pick^^

Picks:

Power Pack TP Day One Digest – This is a trade paperback collecting the first four issues of Power Pack Year One.  It tells the new origins of the Power Pack, four siblings with superpowers, giving them a new continuity in the MU.  Alex, Julie, Jack and Katie Power were just ordinary kids.  But in the span of twenty four hours they must escape aliens, learn to use their newly acquired powers, rescue their parents from an alien tyrant and save the Earth from total destruction.  Power Pack is a good title for kids in general, as the main characters are the same age as the readers and easy to relate to.  The art is animated looking without feeling cartoonish.  There’s even a little bit of education in some of the side stories.  Entertaining and educating, imagine that.

Into the Volcano HC – Into the Volcano is an action adventure graphic novel written and illustrated by Caldecott winner Don A. Wood.  Sumno and Duffy Pugg are brothers who are suddenly sent off to help an Aunt they don’t even know on a volcanic island.  They discover that their Aunt seems to be up to no good, and are sent on an expedition that sends them straight into an errupting volcano.  They must hike through the volcano to escape, facing all kinds of dangers along the way.  This is a title that will appeal to both boys and girls, and has a bit of a coming of age feel to it.  The brothers must work together to escape the volcano, and in doing so go through a sort of role reversal.

With loose ties to Peter Pan and Never land, this manga is part of the Disney Fairies franchise. It seems to me, that this manga is an adaptation of the series put out by Random House. Tinker Bell features prominently in some of the other Disney Fairies stories, but only gets a mention here.

The story starts with the bubbling excitement of all the fairies of Pixie Hollow, who are eager to attend Queen Clarion’s Arrival Day Bash. But on the eve of the big day, the Queen’s crown goes missing and all fingers are pointing to Vidia, the ‘rough around the edges’ fairy, who earlier that day cavalierly threatened to snatch the crown off the Queen’s head during the party. But if Vidia is found guilty she will be banished from Pixie Hollow forever. Prilla is the only one who believes in Vidia and together they investigate the disappearance of the crown in hopes of clearing Vidia’s name.

I’ve been searching for the perfect way to describe this manga, and the best I can come up with is cute. It’s a sweet story, that has a valuable lesson tied to it (Never assume anything. Be nice. Don’t take the easy way out.), but somewhat predictable.

The artwork is standard manga fair, even though the artist does well in capturing the different fairies characteristics through the artwork. I didn’t need words to realize Prilla was sweet and innocent or that Vidia was just not likeable. There’s as much to read in the pictures as in the words.
But there isn’t much meat to the story. Maybe that isn’t meant to be, given the young age demographic intended for these books. Maybe because the story was packaged by Disney or one of its subsidiaries (conjecture on my part, I wasn’t able to confirm this). But if one of my young nieces and nephews was clamoring to read manga, I’d suggest this title to their parents, because I know it’s safe.

This review is based on a complimentary copy supplied by the publisher. All images copyright © Tokyopop.

ARCHIE COMICS
Archie & Friends #123, $2.25
Betty & Veronica Double Digest #164, $3.69
Sonic The Hedgehog #192, $2.25

BROCCOLI INTERNATIONAL
Nui GN Vol 01, $9.99      ^^AA Pick^^

DC COMICS/JOHNNY DC/CMX
Cartoon Network Action Pack #29, $2.25
Legion Of Super Heroes In The 31st Century #18, $2.25
Palette Of 12 Secret Colors TP Vol 04, $9.99
Super Friends #7, $2.25

HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS
High School Musical GN Vol 01 First Impressions, $9.99
Warriors Tigerstar & Sasha GN Vol 01 Into The Woods, $6.99  ^^AA Pick^^

IDW PUBLISHING
Doctor Who Classics #10 (Regular Charlie Kirchoff Cover), $3.99
Igor Movie Adaptation #4 (of 4), $3.99

MARVEL COMICS
Marvel Adventures Hulk #15, $2.99
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #43, $2.99

SCHOLASTIC
Good Neighbors HC Vol 01 Kin, $16.99

TOKYOPOP
Bratz Super Bratz GN, $6.99

VIZ MEDIA
Lets Find Pokemon Fire Red Leaf Green HC (resolicited), $11.99

Picks:
Nui Volume 1 – Even though this isn’t really a new release, I wanted to bring it to people’s attention.  It’s about a girl named Kaya, who gets into trouble one days and is saved by her stuffed animals!  It seems, if you love a stuffed animal enough, it can come to life and turn into a person.  But, just like people, not all stuffed animals are nice, and some can be downright dangerous.  I think the idea of stuffed animals coming to life is a great one for kids.  Tweens are at the inbetween stage where they still love their plushies even if they aren’t playing with them like they used to.  I think this title would do well with them.  The creator of this title also created +Anima, a teen title that seems to do well for Tokyopop.

Warriors: Tigerstar & Sasha Volume 1 – Erin Hunter’s Warriors series is still going strong, both in novel and graphic novel form.  This title is a new series, centering on the characters Tigerstar and Sasha (obviously).  Sasha has been leading the perfect life; with the Twolegs during the day, and exploring the woods beyond at night.  But when she is forced to leave her home, she make a life for herself in the forest alone.  She becomes lonely, and after meeting Tigerstar and his Shadow Clan, she must decide if she should join them, and if she can trust Tigerstar.  These manga titles are great for fans, as they tell side stories from the novels, and not just a retelling the novels themselves.  I can highly recommend this series as I know my daughter would.

AAM MARKOSIA
N-Guard #2, $3.50

ARCHIE COMICS
Archie Digest #247, $2.49
Veronica #190, $2.25

DC COMICS
Looney Tunes #166, $2.25

IDW PUBLISHING
Dreamland Chronicles IDW #3 (Scott Christian Sava Cover A), $3.99
Dreamland Chronicles IDW #3 (Dean Yeagle Cover Cover B), $3.99

INNOVATIVE KIDS
Phonics Comics Level 1 Sugar And Spice Best Friends Forever, $3.99
Phonics Comics Level 2 Hiro Dragon Warrior Battle Mt Kamado, $3.99

MARVEL COMICS
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man TP Vol 10 Crisis Digest, $7.99
Marvel Two-In-One #15, $4.99

TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS
Pinky & Stinky GN (New Printing), $15.00

TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS
Dopple Ganger Chronicles HC Vol 01 First Escape, $19.99  ^^AA Pick^^

VIZ MEDIA
Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Adventure GN Vol 02, $7.99
Prince Of Tennis GN Vol 27, $7.95
Whistle TP Vol 20, $7.99  ^^AA Pick^^

Picks:

Dopple Ganger Chronicles HC Vol 01 First Escape – This book is the first in a series that combines art and text to create what the publishers call illustra-novellas.  Pictures and text alternate with comics to tell the story.  Identical twins Sadie and Saskia Dopple and their friend former theif Erik Morrisey Ganger all live at Isambard Dunstan’s School for Wayward Children, an orphanage.  One day, Saskia is adopted by a mysterious, wealthy woman.  Alone in the mansion, now her home, Saskia learns of a conspiracy that puts her life in danger.  Meanwhile, Erik and Sadie escape the orphanage to try and find her.  I think this “illustra-novella” is an interesting concept.  The transition from text to comic to text is fairly smooth.  There is a 19 page preview of the first chapter that shows this.  This title will appeal to both boys and girls, and will hopefully help reach reluctant readers and show them that reading can be fun, and not just chore.

Whistle Vol 20 – A shonen sports manga, this title is about soccer.  Sho Kazamatsuri loves to play soccer.  His goal is to become the best soccer player he can possibly.  But, as in all shonen manga, this isn’t going to be easy.  He has gone through many obsticles to reach where he is now.   His team, the Tokyo Select has just won in Korea, and return to Japan to enter the Japan Toresen – the national youth championship.  Their first opponents are Kanto Select, who’s leader comes from Sho’s past.  Even though I’m not much of a sports fan, a lot of the sports manga has a good message of playing as a team and doing your best, over the sheer competition and drive to win.  It’s not that these titles don’t have that, they just don’t get over emphasized, and therefore making the sports enjoyable to watch.  And it’s another good title for boys, though girls will enjoy it too.  Check out the review of volume 1 from Sabrina Fritz at Comics Village.

When a young girl moves to the sleepy, forgotten town of Bizenghast, she uncovers a terrifying collection of lost souls that leads her to the brink of insanity…

Only Dinah can see the ghosts that inhabit her home, where she lives with her aunt after her parents’ tragic death. Dinah relies on Vincent, her sole friend, to rescue her from the clutches of the hauntings—and from the doctor who is determined to see her admitted to a mental hospital.

Out of the plethora of original-English-language (OEL) manga available in the United States, there are few that can rise to the top of the pack and become best-sellers. There’s Dramacon, Off*Beat, The Dreaming…and Bizenghast, possibly the biggest success story of them all. It’s spawned an iManga, an art book, and most recently, a light novel. Light novels are popular in Japan, and a few of them have made their way over to the U.S. It’s a small novel, with a few illustrations at various points in the story. Even if you’ve read the Bizenghast manga series, now in its fifth volume, a length that was unheard of prior to this series, and didn’t particularly like it (like me), try this book. It’s got a slightly different approach to some of the stories in the first volume, and delves deeper into the characters themselves. I was actually quite surprised with the high quality of the writing in this book, and I thought that the interspersed illustrations added to the aura that the writing created. Even the fanfiction at the back of the book, which takes place slightly further into the future than the rest of the novel, is well-done. This is a great package, and makes a welcome addition (or start) to your light novel collection.

This novel really shows the creeping terror that this gothic-style horror series is famous for. Even with few illustrations, a picture is painted with words that can inspire more fear than an entire book full of drawings. Dinah, the main character, lost her parents in “the sudden bursting of a tire” (i.e. a tragic car accident), and has lived with her Aunt Jane ever since. She fights off Dr. Morstan’s suggestion that she go to a mental institution, after she begins to have violent visions of ghosts. One day, when she is out exploring the forests of Bizenghast, she and Vincent (her best friend) discover a Sunken Mausoleum, home to lost souls waiting for redemption. Through an odd chain of events, Dinah becomes contractually bound into service to the Mausoleum. Her job? To free the souls who have been trapped here on Earth.

While I haven’t read much of the Bizenghast manga series lately, I believe that some of the stories in this novel are repeats from early chapters. One of the stand-outs is definitely the chapter about Hides and the Puritan-like villagers who “convict” Vincent and Dinah of witchcraft. This vignette takes place near the end of the novel, and Dinah had already been musing about what would happen if they were unable to free a spirit. I won’t reveal any details, but they come extremely close to never coming home again. The mortality and nigh-imminent doom of Dinah and Vincent couldn’t be more clear—around every corner, inside every vault, awaits another chance that they might not make it out alive.

If you are even barely familiar with the art of Bizenghast (heck, even if you just looked at the cover!), you can recognize the brooding gothic style that is now synonymous with this series. Alice LeGrow knows how to match story with fitting artwork, and the full-page illustrations that pepper the pages of this novel are awesome. I’m extremely happy that there was almost a ratio of one illustration per chapter (I love having an image to match to a story), but I’d have been tickled if there were more.

If you have any qualms whatsoever about topics like ghosts, death, or semi-gothic horror in general, this book may not be for you. However, there’s very little blood and gore, and descriptions of violence are few and far-between (they are there, though, so be cautious). I’d recommend this book to anyone aged 13 and up, since there’s actually no age rating on the book itself. If you think your under-13 child or audience can handle some creepy monsters, ghosts, and violence, then have at it! This would be a great jumping-off point for children who are addicted to comic books and manga, but are unwilling to try anything else. It’s well-written, engaging, and there are even a few illustrations. A perfect package, and one of the best light novels on the market.

Review made possible by a review copy provided by publisher.

ANTARCTIC PRESS
Land Of Oz Manga #2 (of 4), $2.99

ARCHIE COMICS
Betty & Veronica #237, $2.25
Betty & Veronica Digest #187, $2.49
Jugheads Double Digest #143, $3.69
Sabrina Vol 2 #96, $2.25
Sonic X #36, $2.25

BONGO
Bart Simpson Comics #43, $2.99
Simpsons Comics Treasure Trove #1, $3.99

DC COMICS
Cartoon Network Block Party #48, $2.25

IDW PUBLISHING
Igor Movie Adaptation #2 (of 4), $3.99
Rumpus In The Night HC, $15.99
Williams Dinosaurs HC, $15.99

LERNER PUBLISHING GROUP
Graphic Universe Odysseus Escaping Poseidons Curse SC, $8.95

MARVEL COMICS
Marvel Adventures Avengers #27, $2.99
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #39, $2.99
Marvel Adventures Iron Man TP Vol 03 Digest, $7.99
Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #2, $2.99

NEMO PUBLISHING
Undersea Adventures Of Captain Eli GN Vol 01, $9.99  ^^AA Pick^^

PAPERCUTZ
Hardy Boys GN Vol 14, $7.95  ^^AA Pick^^

Picks:

Undersea Adventures of Captain Eli Vol 1 – This is a new series from indie publisher Nemo Publishing.  It’s about a boy with special scientific abilities and a mysterious past.  With his companions Jolly Roger, a 200 year old parrot and Barney the faithful sea dog, he joins an underwater exploration team, the Seasearches.  In the first volume, he meets the mysterious Commander X while on a mission with the Seasearchers.  Commander X draws Eli into a series of adventures with clues about his origin and an important destiny to save the Earth.  This title has the look and feel of the original Johnny Quest series.  It’s a great series for boys, as Eli is both smart and into action and adventure.  That 200 year old parrot really sparks my interest…

Hardy Boys Vol 14 – Continuing the adventures of Joe and Frank Hardy, these graphic novels bring the Hardy Boys into the 21st century.  The art style has a manga feel to it, and is colored like animated cells, much like the Nancy Drew series that Papercutz also puts out.  The boys are a part of A.T.A.C. (American Teens Against Crime), and often get cases from them.  But the case in this volume doesn’t come from them.  Instead, their friend Haley Danielle has noticed that her friends from her MyFacePlace Top Eight have been disappearing.  She turns to the boys to find out what’s going on.  Making the boys relevent and using an animated style of art should make this series appealing to boys again.  And Hardy Boys is a title their parents will know and have grown up with, and shouldn’t have a problem with their boys reading.  It might even inspire some to seek out the original novels.

Green Manor is like the meta version of Encyclopedia Brown: It’s a collection of mystery stories that are more brainy than bloody, but unlike Donald J. Sobol’s venerable series, these stories rely more on divergent thinking than knowing obscure facts. Each of the six brief stories in this 56-page comic has a twist, and even the framing tale is delightfully ambiguous.

The stories are set in a gentleman’s club, Green Manor, where the members, mostly portly gentlemen with luxurious sideburns, spend their evenings discussing the perfect murder and knocking each other off in supposedly foolproof ways. As you might guess from that description, this book is a bit on the wordy side—several of the stories are told almost entirely in voice-over—but there is enough action in the art to keep things from getting bogged down.

The stories themselves are more howdunit than whodunit: The murderer generally announces himself early on, but the real puzzle is how did he make it happen? (Pronouns deliberate: All the main characters are male, with women featuring mainly as victims.) Every story has a clever twist, and some will delight even seasoned mystery readers.

The framing tale adds another twist: Supposedly the stories are being told to a psychiatrist by a patient who used to work at Green Manor, but the ending strongly suggests that Green Manor is all inside the patient’s head, which puts a different spin on all the stories. (Maybe the patient was a cartoonist?)

Brodart’s drawings are like good book illustrations from an earlier era, full of detail: Cut-glass decanters, roaring fires, and plenty of spooky portraits. He sketches backgrounds and figures with a brisk pen-and-ink technique that is casual and easy to read and at the same time quite precise. His characters all have individual personalities and his energetic line keeps the book from bogging down despite all the text. He also does a nice job of setting the scene, going beyond period detail to lighting and atmosphere that really do suggest murky evenings and gaslit clubrooms. The whole book has a bit of a muddy cast, which suits the era perfectly and heightens the sense of mystery.

Despite the subject matter, Green Manor is murder lite; all the killings are offstage, and there is little gore, although a skeleton does turn up in one story. In another, a woman is wrongly accused of cheating on her husband. All in all, this book is quite suitable for most kids and an excellent choice for those who enjoy minute mysteries and brain-teasers. At the same time, the art and sophisticated storytelling make it a true all ages book, something grownups can enjoy at their own level.

This book was originally published in French as Green Manors 1: Assassins et Gentlemen, and is ably translated by Elaine Kemp. I’m not generally a fan of BDs, but reading this makes me wonder if I haven’t been missing something all along. The publisher, Cinebook, is a British company that has been publishing French and Belgian comics for a few years but made their U.S. debut at this year’s BEA; they have a nice catalog with a few surprises and are worth keeping an eye on.

(This review is based on a complimentary copy supplied by the publisher.)

Johnny feels trapped in his dead-end job until a magical pair of chopsticks releases a career counselor unlike any other—a sprite-like creature named Diana. Despite the slightly cheesy-sounding premise, Pink, a writer who focuses on the world of work, offers up a solid career guide with a lively and interesting storyline.

The book’s success lies in several areas. First of all, Pink knows comics. He studied the manga industry in Tokyo thanks to a 2007 Japan Society Media Fellowship. So, instead of Johnny Bunko coming off as yet another attempt to cash in on the comic industry, it actually reads like a comic should. Even in the areas where Pink is trying to impart a lot of information, he is careful to break it up into portions that work within the framework of comics.

Second, Pink keeps his information general enough to work for a wide variety of interests and skills. His six tips are very broad, but cover most people, whether they are first time job hunters, long-time workers tired with the rut they’re in, or even high school and college students wondering where they want to go in the future. His tips are illustrated in a lightly humorous and informative way, pushing the message through cleanly and clearly.

The third area of success is in Ten Pas’ art. He’s a winner of one of TokyoPop’s Rising Stars of Manga competition, but his work, though obviously inspired by manga, doesn’t have the awkwardness that some young comic artists have. Instead he has his own style and his work feels like he is comfortable within that style. Additionally he knows how to draw expressive faces and bodies; he knows how to lay out a page; and he knows how to keep the reader interested.

Finally, Pink and Ten Pas succeed because they speak to very audience they hope to reach—young adults. Johnny and his friends use current slang (WTF?) and there are visual references to popular characters from Naruto and Dragonball Z. But, that said, they don’t talk down to that audience. The characters look the age they are supposed to be—mid-20s—and they believably act that age, giving the book a nice air of realism, despite the fantasy elements.

If you’re looking for a career guide to help the teen in your life set goals as they look toward college and future work, Pink’s book is worth taking a look at. Even though teens are not the main target audience, Pink’s generalized advice is applicable to any age and having it presented in such a nice form is the sugar that makes the medicine go down easier.

AMAZE INK/SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS
Gargoyles Bad Guys #4, $3.50

ARCHIE COMICS
Archie #588, $2.25
Katy Keene Special TP Vol 01, $10.95
Pals N Gals Double Digest #124, $3.69

BLUEWATER PRODUCTIONS
Jason & The Argonauts Kingdom Of Hades #5, $3.99
Ray Harryhausen Presents Back Mysterious Isle #2, $3.99
Violet Rose #2, $3.99  ^^AA Pick^^

BONGO
Simpsons Comics #145, $2.99

DC COMICS
Cartoon Network Action Pack #28, $2.25
MAD Kids #12, $4.99
Scooby Doo #135, $2.25
Super Friends #6, $2.25

GEMSTONE PUBLISHING
Donald Duck Family Daan Jippes Collection TP Vol 01, $8.99

IDW PUBLISHING
Doctor Who Agent Provacateur TP, $19.99
Doctor Who Forgotten #1 (Incentive Photo Variant/Regular Nick Roche covers), $3.99

LERNER PUBLISHING GROUP
Graphic Universe Beowulf Monster Slayer SC, $8.95
Graphic Universe King Arthur Fight For Camelot SC, $8.95
Graphic Universe Sinbad Sailing Into Peril SC, $8.95
Graphic Universe Theseus Battling The Minotaur SC, $8.95

MARVEL COMICS
Marvel Adventures Two-In-One #14, $4.99
Skrulls Vs Power Pack #2 (of 4), $2.99
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane HC Vol 02, $39.99

NBM
Bionicle GN Vol 02, $7.95
Bionicle HC Vol 02, $12.95
Tales From The Crypt HC Vol 04 Crypt Keeping It Real (Collectors Edition), $12.95
Tales From The Crypt GN Vol 04 Crypt Keeping It Real, $7.95

RANDOM HOUSE
Billy Hooten Owlboy SC #3 Tremble At Terror Zis Boom Bah, $5.99  ^^AA Pick^^

Picks:

Billy Hooten Owlboy #3 – Temble at Terror: Zis Boom Bah – Billy Hooten is your average comic book nerd, who his classmates nickname “Owlboy”, inspired by his large glasses and last name.  But a meeting in the graveyard with a goblin reveals that Billy really is Owlboy, the famed superhero of Monstros City, an underground city inhabited by monsters.  In this third volume, Billy must face one of the scariest things in the world; old people.  His great aunt is going to be staying with his family over the long weekend.  Meanwhile, in Monstros City, a villain has released Zis-Boom-Bah and enormous monster that frightens the populous so, they consider using the OMG (Oh My Gosh!) gun that could wipe out half the City!  This looks like a good title for boys, who seem to need the enouragement to keep reading (according to Joh Scieszka, the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature ).  It has action, superheroes, monsters, and maybe even a lesson or two.

Violet Rose #2 – Violet Rose is a sixth grader super sleuth.  She lives in a suburban town where the townspeople aren’t what they seem, and the supernatural is everywhere.  She never gives up, solving cases while learning about the magical gift her grandfather gave her.  Violet and her friends go to a local carnival, where items are disappearing, money, to prizes, to watches right off of wrists!  Violet must solve the case before the carnival is run out of town.  Written by a teen for teens, Violet Rose is the brain child of 16 year old Emma Davis, who conceived Violet Rose at the age of 12.  The stories are self contained, each case being solved by the end of the issue, but there is a sense of a larger arc.  Ghosts and supernatural beings roam free in these stories, but Violet keeps to the detective’s creed of looking at the evidence logically to find the culprit.