The Demon of River Heights (Nancy Drew Graphic Novels: Girl Detective #1) [Paperback]

Stefan Petrucha (Author), Sho Murase (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Everyone's favorite girl detective makes her 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.

 

Papercutz is the exciting new graphic novel publisher that's building a huge following among the next generation of comics fans.  Even the most reluctant readers are becoming addicted to the Papercutz approach of giving classic characters a modern makeover!  Each Papercutz graphic novel features comics stories drawn in the style of the popular Japanese comics known as manga, and beautifully rendered with state of the art color.  While educators rave about the  high quality of the Papercutz writing and artwork, readers 8 and up are simply enjoying the great adventures found in each fun-filled volume.  Be sure to check out other Papercutz titles such as The Hardy Boys, Zorro and Totally Spies.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4 Up-The latest incarnation of children's literature's most famous girl detective is this crisp, stylish graphic novel. Although fully updated with new stories; dark, edgy illustrations; and all the latest technological gadgets, the plot is drawn out in classic Carolyn Keene-style-all action at a brisk pace. Nancy tracks down two missing film students while uncovering a businessman's sinister plot to blow up a depleted iron mine. While investigating, she fights off a bear, gets lost in the woods, falls down a mineshaft, and reveals the identity of the Demon of River Heights, all without a scratch or a hair out of place. The sleuth's 21st-century makeover introduces traditional mysteries to the world of juvenile graphic novels, and is most welcome. Expect new titles in the series every three months.-Karen T. Bilton, Somerset County Library, Bridgewater, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Reviewed with Scott Lobdell's The Ocean of Osyria.

Gr. 4-6. These graphic-novel-style versions of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew adventures will appeal to young graphic-novel fans as well as readers new to the venerable amateur sleuths. The pocket-size books, first in their respective series, are appealingly presented. The manga-influenced art is very colorful, and the brisk pacing, with just a few frames per page, makes for an easy read--perfect for reluctant readers.

In The Ocean, those well-mannered Hardy boys, Joe and Frank (reimagined as tech-savvy crime solvers), return to fight a new generation of foes, the majority of whom appear to be Middle Eastern and French. Here, the young sleuths travel around the world in an attempt to recover a stolen artifact and save their best friend, who has been framed for the theft. Although this is a modernized version of the classic capers, with the Internet and cell phones playing key roles, the wholesomeness of the boys' principles remains the same.

In The Demon, Nancy, the classic American teenage heroine, manages to solve cases that baffle local police. This time she becomes involved in a student film about a local monster legend, which may turn out to be real, and a suspicious stranger arrives in town. For the most part, the artwork is crisp enough, but several pages appear to be substandard reproductions of original art. Carlos Orellana
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Papercutz (October 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597070009
• ISBN-13: 978-1597070003
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #414,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stefan Petrucha has written twenty novels and scores of graphic novels. His most recent work includes the parody Harry Potty and the Deathly Boring, the vampire novel Blood Prophecy, and the nonfiction Paranormal State: My Journey into the Unknown. He does not want to tell you where he lives. Gragg and Petrucha are co-authors of What the (Active Verb) Is Wrong with the Right?: A Fill-in-the-Blanks Game for the Rest of Us.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A comic book for girls, April 29, 2005

By 

Solarstar (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Demon of River Heights (Nancy Drew Graphic Novels: Girl Detective #1) (Paperback)

My 11-year old daughter absolutely loves this book. She describes it as "a comic book, but good!!!" She can't wait for more to be published. I think the photos are a bit strange (the characters don't look like how I expected them to), but she has read it over and over again happily.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed from cover to cover with storytelling excitement, May 13, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Demon of River Heights (Nancy Drew Graphic Novels: Girl Detective #1) (Paperback)

Nancy Drew Girl Detective #1: The Demon of River Heights is an all-new, full-color, graphic novel story featuring the brave and ingenious teenage sleuthing heroine whose books have been classics of children's literature for more than 75 years. The bright, colorful artwork flows very much like a cartoon in comic book form, and the story is packed from cover to cover with storytelling excitement. Together Nancy Drew, along with Bess and George, search for missing student filmmakers and the deadly secret behind the urban myth of "The Demon of River Heights" in this excellent graphic novel format addition to an established legacy of beloved adventure stories. First in a "Nancy Drew Girl Detective" series of graphic novels featuring Nancy Drew, The Demon Of River Heights is highly recommended for personal and library collections, as well as a gift books for young people.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bold but Not So Smart, September 1, 2010

By 

Alan Dale Daniel (Carson City, Nevada, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Demon of River Heights (Nancy Drew Graphic Novels: Girl Detective #1) (Paperback)

Nancy Drew, The Demon of River Heights, is Volume 1 in the full color graphic novel series. Since it is a graphic novel the drawings are absolutely critical. In that department the book is outstanding. The drawings are a treat in and of themselves. Artist Sho Murase, with 3D CG elements by Rachel Ito, creates drawings that pull the reader into the panels in a compelling fashion. One example: pages showing Drew inside a half darkened room, interrupted as she paws through private items, have sunlight passing through the half closed blinds and crossing the apartment-scape and characters in an eye-catching fashion. The effect is mysterious and rather uneasy. Not at all unusual for this graphic novel. The artists really know their craft and put together a mysterious feel that is worth the price of the publication. As this is the heart of a graphic novel, 4 stars.

Sadly, the story itself is insubstantial and in no way lives up to the drawings; however, it is interesting to a point. The story line tends to be predictable and has a definite formula feel. Nancy and her two friends are engaged in an investigation into mysterious goings on with an upstart amateur movie company. They quickly encounter villains and danger without even trying. Ms Drew personally narrates the story and her friends somehow come to the rescue when the plot closes on Nancy's worst dilemma. So what else is new? Doesn't every mystery novel follow this path? Every 10 year old will recognize where this is headed even though the personal narrative keeps the reader in the dark as to what the friends are doing (only in the final instance however; up till then Nancy effectively tells us what the friends are up to even though she is not present when the events occur).

Critically, The Demon of River Heights fails to show Nancy as especially bright. She is more tenacious and lucky than smart. This is the only Nancy Drew graphic novel I have read so I cannot tell if other novels in the series suffer from the same flaw. I think the author has dramatically underestimated the aptitude of the teen reader. Even the old Nancy Drew movies, black and white as they were, displayed Nancy as especially intelligent as well as bold. In The Demon of River Heights we find a bold Nancy Drew, ready to investigate the smallest clue, but she does not come off as super intelligent. That is a major difference in the "old" Nancy and this graphic adaptation. The old Nancy was smart almost beyond belief. This Nancy is pretty normal in the brainpower department.

In my opinion the major appeal of Nancy Drew was her intelligence quotient. By failing in that area the writer has failed entirely. The artists alone make this volume worth buying, but they do their job so well I can recommend the book without hesitation.

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