AMERICUS

      

"AMERICUS" by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill should feel really relatable if you read fantasy and if you are not in favor of book banning. It's about Neil, a 14-year-old boy in a town called AMERICUS. He loves a book series about witches called Ravenchilde. His best friend, Danny, also loves it, but comes from a very fundamentalist Christian family. His mother is so furious when she finds Danny reading the books that she ships him off to military school. Sad and alone, Neil spends most of his time reading, until Danny's awful mother starts a protest to ban Ravenchilde.

 One of Neil's other close friends is the local librarian. The librarian is one of my more well-liked characters. She has a very passionate personality especially with regard to her books. She's not like that stereotypical kind of mean old lady librarian. Neil starts working at the library when he gets to high school. He spends alot of time with the librarian trying to prevent the book banning. There is a community meeting on the topic of banning Ravenchilde. Neil makes a speech about why Ravenchilde is important to so many people. And with the help of many families, Neil prevents the book banning.

       Neil also starts listening to punk rock music just like me!

      

The artwork in AMERICUS is somewhat like the artwork in Crogan's Vengeance. It is definitely drawn with a paint brush. All of the characters have a distinct look. I especially like how family members look alike. Danny's whole family has the same hair and nose. The artist also gets a chance to draw the fantasy characters of Ravenchilde.

       I would not suggest this book to the younger audiences. There is a bit of strong language in it, but if you know you can handle it, I would strongly suggest reading it. It is a very entertaining book. I'm most certain you will enjoy it to the fullest.

ravenchilde------->   

Peanut

Peanut by Ayun Halliday and Paul Hoppe is definitely different than anything I’ve reviewed before. It’s about a girl named Sadie who fakes having a peanut allergy when she moves to a new high school. The reason for this, I do not know. She starts her year in homeroom with a horrible, insensitive, algebra teacher named Mr. Larch. He makes it clear that he cares nothing for his students. After school Sadie calls her old friend, Cheryl. After camp, Cheryl had become mean and sassy. A few days later, Sadie meets a boy named Zoo. Anything else I could say would be a spoiler.

Paul Hoppe’s artwork in Peanut is very simple. It seems like its drawn with a pencil. I don’t really like or dislike the style. It’s really normal.

    

I would say buy it. The story is really deep. Once you start reading, you can’t stop. It just came out the day after X-mas so it’s probably in your local bookstore.

Do you want to know a fun fact? The writer of this book is my MOTHER. :D

Now I have an exclusive interview with the author

Milo: Why does Sadie fake a peanut allergy?

Ayun: I think it’s pretty human to dream up a scenario in which you have a condition or circumstance that causes people to treat you differently, maybe think of you as brave, or glamorous, or incredibly interesting. If she was being really melodramatic, she could have told people she had cancer, something that has a history of being portrayed unrealistically in tragic lovestories meant to appeal to audiences her age. But that wouldn’t have been too fun to write. I think readers would have really disliked her for telling such a whopper, as would I. So I had her choose something kind of ridiculous, on impulse, after a chance encounter with a girl who actually does have a peanut allergy. The stress of having to keep up appearances has its funny side,  and I think if readers are being honest about human behavior, they will have a little sympathy for her.

Ayun: Now I have a question for the Graphic Novelolgist, stemming from the fact that I have a different take on Mr. Larch than you do.  I see him as someone who cares about his students, even though his fussy formality keeps them at arm’s length.

In my mind, Sadie is one of his favorites. What do you think would have happened if she had confessed her secret to him? What about Nurse Andy, whose character is perhaps more to your liking, as, it was inspired by someone from your elementary school.

Milo: I have no idea what would have happened if she told Mr. Larch, but maybe if she had told Nurse Andy, Nurse Andy could have convinced her to tell her friends. They most likely would have been a bit sympathetic. (SPOILER ALERT) They probably would have been glad that Sadie told them instead of her lie getting out in some big public incident. 

DRAMA

DRAMA, by Raina Telgemier, is really unique and cool. Its about a middle school girl named Callie. She is part of the stage crew for school plays. The school is putting on a production of “Moon Over The Mississippi”. Callie has the job of set design. When they start working on the show, Callie has hundreds of ideas. The one that she’s most exited about is a cannon that shoots confetti in scene 4. She convinces the drama teacher to use the cannon after much debate. Later that day, she meets two twins, Justin and Jesse. Justin wants to sign up to act in the show. Both the boys had memorized all of the lines for every character. Callie gets a crush on them and the rest of the book revolves around that.

The artwork in DRAMA is very flat. It also happens to be four colored. There is very little shading. All the colors are mostly flat against the characters. The expressions are really specific. You can tell if characters are humiliated, confused or disappointed.

I have read some of Raina’s other books, like Smile, an autobiography about Raina’s horrible experience with braces. These books are mainly oriented towards girls because they’re mostly about teenage girls in middle school who are boy crazy. But guys can enjoy them too. I’m a guy, and they entertained me.

Over all I would give DRAMA a 4 star rating.