The wait is over, and it does not disappoint.
Kean Soo. Jellaby, Volume 2: Monster in the City. Hyperion Books for Children, 2009. 172 pages. Age 8 to 12.
Summary – The continuing story of Portia, Jason, and Jellaby. They’re off to find Jellaby’s roots, but end up finding a new foe. A ruckus ensues.
Kudos – Since we already know the characters, we get to step right into the action, which is steady. And I lost track of the number of ways emotion is conveyed nonverbally. Lots. Awesome.
Kudon’ts – I don’t think the whole thing with the birds is properly explained. It’s what I found most intriguing about volume 1, and thought there would be more to it.
Points –
- +15 for a satisfactory conclusion
- +5 for a Horton Hatches the Egg reprise
- -2 for the character name that sounds like a sugar-free gum ingredient
- +50 for all the grape-hued images you can eat [1]
- +100 for that head:body ratio that (to be generous) places the young characters’ ages at about 2 years
Quotable –
[ Jason and Jellaby are perched on some sort of pipe, hiding. The pipe starts to break. ]
Jason: (whispering) Be lighter! Be lighter!
[ Jellaby flaps his wings furiously. ]
Jason: (still whispering) It’s working!
Crack! Wauugh! Ooof! (p. 149-150)
Reviews of Volume 1 – 100 Scope Notes | Charlotte’s Library | A Fuse #8 Production | Good Comics for Kids
EDIT: The giveaway happened. Congrats to my winner.
[1] Yeah, sorry about that, but my original verb was “stomach,” and that sounded too negative. Also, I can’t tell you how much I wanted to use the word “grapescale”…but since there are only two shades, it would have been completely inaccurate.
