Customer Reviews

The Drained Brains Caper (Chicagoland Detective Agency (Quality Paper))

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Megan Yamamura is 13 year-old, vegetarian, haiku-spouting, manga fan. She is dismayed when she begins the term at a new school, and all the other students are so boring that something sinister must be afoot.

I loved Megan from the start. Her haikus are the high point of the book. Her friend, Raf Hernandez, seems like a great character as well. I hope he is developed more in the next book.

The art is utterly fantastic. It's simple, but very expressive. It falls somewhere between traditional American comic art and manga.

As a bonus, it's set in Chicago! I loved seeing the Chicago sky line and the el in the background!

I'd recommend this to any young adult comic fans, especially those who enjoy manga.

A romp of a book (appropriate for ages ten and up) that explains the beginning of the Chicagoland Detective Agency, which is run by a talking dog--his story is great--and his assistants, a computer whiz kid and a haiku writing vegan. This comic is great fun and I'm looking forward to the next in the series. Page Tyler's artwork is somewhere between Manga and Western style comics and is perfect for the targeted demographic.

These are fun books for kids who love the Bone series by Jeff Smith and other comic-style stories. They are surprisingly full of voice and provide an appealing detective story format for middle readers. Despite being in black and white, the graphics (by Tyler Page) are very well done. I love the characters! Megan and Raf are funny and totally likable, and Bradley is too cute for words.

My 3rd grade son and surprisingly, my 6-year-old daughter, enjoyed both books. I recommend both this one and The Maltese Mummy, especially for reluctant readers and comic fans.

Reason for Reading: This is a Cybils '10 nominee and required reading for me as a graphic novels panelist.

Honestly from the cover and title I was expecting corny and campy but what I got was an entertaining old-style private eye detective story involving a mad scientist. The plot is similar to that of Brain Camp by Susan Kim, though this time it is a summer prep school where the students seem to all be brain washed into achieving. Add our main character, Megan Yamamura. The new kid in town, a vegan, manga reading, haiku writing girl with gusto and this book is a success. Megan carries this book and is an unforgettable character, whom one just wants to meet up with again. She is joined by Raf, a nerdy computer guy and Bradley, a special dog they rescue from an experiment lab. The story covers their first case and determines how they set up the Detective Agency which will be open for business in book 2 advertised on the last page. A funny, silly, "scoobby doo" type mystery.

The art work is fantastic. Done in b/w, at first glance it may disappoint but once you start reading, I realized Megan couldn't have been depicted otherwise. Her beautiful Japanese look dressed in a combo of goth and emo style clothing perfectly suits her. The backgrounds aren't very detailed but the facial expressions are delightful and the sound effects add much to the action. An impressive story. Will look forward to book 2: The Maltese Mummy.

Raf Hernandez was not at all happy when Megan Yamamura walked through the door of his Mom's pet supply store saying, "I want to buy a tarantula." Duh, there was a big sign in front of the cash register stating they didn't sell animals. His Mom always said, " . . . nobody has the right to own another living creature" and that included not selling them. Megan's Dad got a new job in Chicagoland and they just moved there. She annoyed Raf even more when she told him she was "politely asked to leave" her old school, was into haiku and read manga. TMI and he wanted her out of there. Out she went and it wasn't long before she was walking the halls of Stepford Preparatory Academy going to summer school.

All the kids at that academy looked and acted like a bunch of zombies and even had bandages plastered to their foreheads. They were totally model students and enough to make anyone barf. Speaking of which, the lunches were horrid and there was no way Megan would even touch them because she was vegan. Sloppy Joes were simply out of the question, to say nothing of liver and onions. After school she was off to see Rav and ask him for his cell number and email. He started to warm up to her when she told him how she "totally got expelled from school" for burning her haiku in the girl's room. How cool can it get?

It wasn't long before she got into trouble in her new school and her father had to take her to have her head examined at Dr. Vorschak's. After she got rid of Mr. Yamamura, the evil doctor injected her with a knockout drug and had her gagged and bound to a table. The lunatic began to talk about her master plan to make her into a model citizen along with the rest of the zombies at the Academy. It would be easy. Dr. Vorschak sneered and said, "A simple nip in the prefrontal lobe of your brain, a tuck in the left and right sides of your head, a squirt of sheep genes in the lymph nodes . . . and you will become a model junior citizen." A mysterious caged mutt was watching carefully as the scene unfolded. Megan began to text a haiku to Raf. Would he be able to rescue her before she got that prefrontal lobotomy? Just what did that mutt know about what was going on at the Academy?

Megan, Raf, and "doggy Einstein," Bradley, meet up to solve a fabulously freaky mystery at Stepford Academy. Typically manga is drawn in black and white and I found this to be particularly appealing. This book, the first in the series, introduces Raf Hernandez and Megan Yamamura, who quickly become best friends. To add to the mix is "doggy Einstein," Bradley. Together they form the Chicagoland Detective Agency, now open for business. I loved the way this mini manga mystery unfolded so smoothly and would love to read the next one in the series. Of course the Chicagoland Detective Agency claims there is "no case too weird" for them to tackle. "The Maltese Mummy" is the next one up in the series and if it is as good as this one (weird and nicely wacky), this series will be a hit!

I received this book as an ARC from [...].

I'd give this book a 3.5 out of 5. This book is a really fun read and the drawing is well done but sadly the one I read was in black and white it would have definitely would have been a 4 out of 5 if the whole book was in color.

The two main characters are pretty well fleshed out for what's essentially an origin story. Megan's writing in haikus is a nice touch to the dialogue. The villain is great and reminded me of Count Olaf from the A Series of Unfortunate Events books with the way she kept changing her persona.

Megan's new in town and looking for a tarantula but instead she meets Raf at his Mom's pet store. She and Raf become friends and she is definitely the more outgoing one. Megan goes to school at Stepford Academy where everyone is just way too happy and doesn't say anything negative about the school. I really liked the reference to the Stepford wives they threw in there with the naming of the school. One day Megan sees a kid say some weird stuff in class after she shares her lunch with him. So of course she has to figure out why.

So as to not throw out too many spoilers you do indeed find out why the kids are so happy. My favorite character that we get to meet in this volume is Bailey, a talking dog who likes old detective shows.

Overall a fast and fun read that I would recommend to anyone who like zombies or detectives.

This graphic novel for kids 9-12 was a quick read for me and I can see it being a fun read for kids. This is something I think that my niece, who's in elementary school, would get a kick out of reading. It was quirky and silly from beginning to end and it was easy to follow what was going on. The haiku writing teenager was a different twist as haiku's showed up in different forms throughout the story. Having a genius kid as a best friend never hurts a story and who can resist a plot that contains a sweet and furry dog in it's midst as well.

As it is the first story that shows us how the detective agency is born, I can see that there could ultimately be many more volumes of this series to come. An author has a lot of room to move when a detective agency is at the base of the storyline...anything could happen. This is a great book for those reluctant readers that still want picture books or short stories but are making the transition over to more complex stories.

I loved the surprises in this book: the haiku-writing Megan, the reluctant Raf, and, best of all, the dog, Bradley, who talks like somebody out of an old gangster movie. Great plot, great action, great panels. The plot holds together very well, and there's kindness and humor throughout, as well as a kind of slapsticky approach that isn't annoying. Highly recommended.

I got a digital copy of this book through Netgalley. It looked like a fun little graphic novel and sounded like an amusing premise.

When Megan walks into Raf's pet store he knows she is trouble, she is asking for a pet tarantula afterall. Megan's dad sends her to a exclusive summer prep school where she senses something is not right about the strangely monotonous children there. Will Megan and Raf be able to unravel a devious plot that is set at brainwashing a subset of the juvenile population?

Mainly this book is an intro to Megan, Raf and their talking dog friend. It gets the three set up as the Chicagoland Detective Agency.

There are some great things about this book. It talks about animal rights, prevention of cruelty to animals, and also touches on the value of independence and creativity. So there are definitely some good messages presented here. The illustration was also very good; it is done in kind of an Americanized Manga style and it is easy to follow and conveys the story well. I was never confused about who is who or what was going on.

My biggest complaint with this graphic novel is the dialogue and the plot, both seemed a little second rate to me. The majority of the dialogue is corny and forced sounding, like it fell out of a bad 80's cartoon. I understand that this is a juvenile book, but there are lots of juvenile books out there that are easy to read but don't sound so corny. Also the plot is incredibly predictable and has been done before. Given the premise I was expecting more humor and there is some, but overall the book takes itself pretty seriously.

Overall this is an okay read. It would be good for younger reluctant readers and sends some positive messages. The illustrations are spot on but the story itself is pretty corny and predictable.

With eco-friendly lifestyles becoming increasingly more visible & popular, it makes good sense for someone to put out a book filled with those themes & similar ones. After all, kids can be into cruelty-free pet shops, animal rescue, & anti-establishment issues too, you know.

Chicagoland #1 follows the adventures of Trina (a free spirited young vegetarian who isn't afraid to speak her mind) & Raf (a computer savvy son of a pet-free supply store) as they attempt to figure out exactly what is wrong with Trina's summer school. Initially Raf is slow to warm up to our haiku creating heroine but he slowly begins to come around as Trina opens up to him about her disastrous school past as well as her creepy new school environment. Little do they know that there's a heinous plot behind the sloppy joe wielding staff members & Stepford Child-esque school children...

Robbins set out to create a comic filled with issues near & dear to her heart. For the most part she succeeds with creating a story that will not only strike a chord in many children's hearts (who hasn't had a teacher who tried to make us conform?) but also show them several issues that need to be addressed. (It'd be fantastic if there were more pet-free stores out there!) The artwork is wonderfully playful & characters such as the adorable Bradley stand out as the highlights of the book.

It's not all fun & games in the book though. While I agree whole-heartedly with many of Robbin's viewpoints, at times those themes seemed to be a little awkwardly placed. There were also points in the book where the character speak seemed to be a little off for kids who are supposed to be in their early teens. I also wish that there were a few links to some kid-friendly sites where kids can learn about some of the issues discussed in the book. But those were somewhat minor complaints & overall this was a decently solid book that should appeal to a wide age group of kids. (I could see my 6 year old nephew totally digging Bradly.) While the book is full of various themes (too many to list here), Robbins manages to make the child aware of them without making them overly horrifying. (This is aimed towards a younger audience, after all.)

In the end, parents can relax in peace, knowing that their kids are not only learning valuable lessons but also reading a book that has no real violence to speak of or objectionable language. Very kid safe, which is becoming a rarity with some of the books out there today.

(ARC provided by NetGalley)