4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Book That Keep 'Em Reading, August 17, 2009
This review is from: Goosebumps Graphix #1: Creepy Creatures (Paperback)
This is an excellent book choice for 'hesitant' readers.
Written at the nearly 3rd Grade level (see notes below) there is lots of action in this book, without a lot of dialog and narrative.
The first story is "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp". Like the other stories, the graphics are colorless; which is not to say simple. It's nice grayscale which conveys the mood and scariness quite well. The second story is "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight", and if anything the artwork is even better. The final story is "The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena". It's more humorous and the artwork is more retro, reminding me somehow of Daddy Warbucks and Little Orphan Annie, only without color.
Wrap Up:::
*** 3.5 Stars ***
The official Accelerated Reading designation for this book is 2.7, which means that the average 2nd Grader in the 7th month of school should be able to read this without getting stymied by the vocabulary.
Some sources give the Interest Level as 4th to 7th Grade. I would extend that by a year or two lower.
Pam T~
mom and reviewer for BooksForKids-reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Way better than I thought it would be, August 5, 2009
This review is from: Goosebumps Graphix #1: Creepy Creatures (Paperback)
I found this book in a bookstore in a mall that I visit and thought that it would be a neat present for my Dad, who enjoyed horror and crime comix during the fifties.
Of course, I just had to read it too, and it was way better than I thought that it would be as I had heard some negative things about Stine's work from other adults.
This trade paperback contains three black and white graphic adaptations of three R. L. Stine Goosebumps novels. I have never read the novels and had to judge the book and its stories on their own merits. I also agree with one reviewer that these adaptations might have worked better in color, but you can't have everything.
--The first novel adaptation is "The Werewolf Of Fever Swamp" and is adapted and illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez and is forty-four pages long and is the story of Grady, who along with his sister Emily, and his father and mother have just moved into a new home in the Florida swamps. There Grady meets the swamp hermit who lurks around the swamp; Will Blake and Cassie O'Rourke who are his neighbors and who are his age, and most importantly, sometime during one of the nights a wolf/dog, to be named Wolf, which befriends Grady.
Soon after Wolf's entrance into the story strange things start to happen, and Grady sees what he believes is a werewolf. Grady's family thinks that Wolf is too wild, and is doing the damage that is seen around Grady's house. Is it Wolf, or something else? And why does the werewolf seem to be stalking Grady? There's a nice twist to the story in the end.
The art irritated me at first, but then grew on me. Hernandez does a great job in the end, and I really liked his rendition of Wolf, and he paces the story nicely. Good work. Five stars.
--The next story is forty-two pages and is "The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight" and is adapted and illustrated by Greg Ruth and tells the story of Jodie and her brother Mark (nice name there) who are going to visit their Grandparents farm, which is also inhabited and worked by the developmentally challenged Stanley and his son Sticks. As they settle in, Stanley claims that the scarecrows walk, and wouldn't you know . . .
At first Jodie and Mark don't believe Stanley, but soon enough they see proof of this themselves. Things start going wrong, as we find out that Stanley has created the scarecrows, and he's loosing control. Ruth, like Hernandez has an unusual art style. Starting with linework and filling it out with some paint washing. Ruth is especially good at depicting the shadows and mood of nighttime, and his individualistic panels have a dramatic sense to them that makes the story exciting and suspenseful. Filled with deadly scarecrows, creepy dream sequences, and witchcraft, this may not be for very young children, but kids who like a good scary time will love it. Five stars.
--The last story is forty-three pages long and is "The Abominable Snowman Of Pasadena" and is adapted by Scott Morse. This story is about brother and sister Luis and Ana Garcia and who accompany their professional photographer father on a trip to Alaska to try to photograph the Abominable Snowman. They succeed more than they imagine, and end up capturing one and bringing it home in a trunk. After the first two stories this adaptation was a crushing disappointment. The artwork is all caricature, and is just awful. It has no mood, the characters are ugly, the art is garish, and the whole thing looks like it was drawn by a blind man. Then there's the story itself, the story just makes no sense at all, Luis is obnoxious, and the story ending has several clichéd and terrible twists to it.
Many will probably like it `cuz it gots a monster, but in the end, it just wasn't very good. Something got lost in the translation I guess. Zero stars.
Morse's story brings down the average of this collection. Still, this anthology still gets four stars because the first two stories are just so good. Young readers will love this sturdy, built to be read and re-read, graphic comix trade paperback.
Oh yeah, Dad liked this book, although he didn't like the last story either.
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