With an ensemble cast straight from a box of Animal Crackers, this is a delightful tale of ambition, morality, and self-discovery drawn in a decidedly beautiful fashion reminiscent of Richard Scary and Lewis Trondheim, yet utterly unique. Renier's fully-realized and compellingly adventurous narrative is at once both achingly naive and profoundly worldly. A remarkable debut, this tightly crafted novella is the real deal, and will charm your socks off.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Gr. 4-7. In this graphic novel about the young animal characters who live in the Town, Turnip the elephant is using the summer to find his artistic voice through sculpture, his friend Stucky the dog is building a submarine, and Ana the rabbit is working on the town's underground newspaper. Their stories all wind around the town's deep, dark secret about the monster that lives in the pond. Kids who enjoyed novels such as Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy and Roald Dahl's Matilda will find a similar sense of adventure here. The characters seem like real children, wholesome without being too sweet, and Renier's art is light and fun, a sort of Babar meets underground comix. Readers older and younger than the target audience will enjoy this, too. Tina Coleman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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More About the Author
AARON RENIER was born and raised in Green Bay Wisconsin. He has been drawing comics, in one way or another, for as long as he can remember. His illustrations have appeared in a wide variety of places, including turning an entire city bus into a moving aquarium. He won the Eisner award for cartoonist deserving wider recognition for his first graphic novel Spiral-Bound. He is the illustrator of a series of books about the knights of the roundtable by Gerald Morris, and a picture book by Alice Shertle titled An Anaconda Ate My Homework. He lives in Chicago IL, with his dog trusty hound, Beluga.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Arpad Lep
Format:Paperback
the problem i've had in describing this comic to my friends (as i have, to anyone who will listen, since i read it) is that as soon as you say "this book is great for adults and kids" it immediately gets pushed into the children's books catagorey, with dick and jane and captain underpants and what have you. spiral-bound's characters are ageless, something between twelve and twenty two, but who knows? it is a book that's written about adult situations and adult characters, but at the same time, totally excellent for kids, with a good message, all that. it reads like clive barker or lemony snicket or.. like a talented writer wrote it. the story is engrossing, the art is beatiful, the story is sweet and multi-layered, the world is great. all around great, great read for comics lovers of all ages, and 1000% times better for your kid than some harry potter book. great! buy this right now!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Spiral-Bound is one of those rarest of birds, a book that is truly engaging to both children AND adults - either group could be positive that the book was written for them, and simply HAPPENED to be accessible to the other demographic.
The characters are very true-to-life, with each one demonstrating the best and worst that a particular dominant personality trait can exhibit - a desire for the truth, for example, can lead one to be bold and courageous and inventive, but it can also cause one to overlook the feelings and concerns of others in the attempt to find and expose that truth. Children can learn a great deal from the wonderfully nuanced characters and plot, and adults can enjoy an engaging and whimsical story that winds as much as the underground press tunnels featured in these pages.
I'd say that this is easily among, if not the best, children's graphic novels ever created.
The characters are very true-to-life, with each one demonstrating the best and worst that a particular dominant personality trait can exhibit - a desire for the truth, for example, can lead one to be bold and courageous and inventive, but it can also cause one to overlook the feelings and concerns of others in the attempt to find and expose that truth. Children can learn a great deal from the wonderfully nuanced characters and plot, and adults can enjoy an engaging and whimsical story that winds as much as the underground press tunnels featured in these pages.
I'd say that this is easily among, if not the best, children's graphic novels ever created.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a fun hilarious story. It does have one bit where it "jumps the shark" with a bit that I think even a little kid will think, 'that wouldn't work.' Regardless of that it's a great well drawn story. I think kids will like and if you're an adult fan of comics like Sugar and Spike or old Plastic Man comics I think you'll like it to.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favorite books ever made
The kind of cartoon books I love are the kind that take you so far into a fantasy world that you get lost in it, and regardless of how impossible it seems to have talking animals... Read more
Published on March 27, 2009 by emergencystoppingonly
4.0 out of 5 stars
Story is good...but title and cover are deceiving...
I've heard great reviews for this book and decided to buy it. The story is really cute and has some great concepts about how an animal world would live together, and the dramas of... Read more
Published on January 29, 2006 by Comic Fan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two thumbs up for this novel for people of all ages.
The characters-all animals-will quietly invite you into their world. All of a sudden, you may find that it's your world, too. Read more
Published on October 4, 2005 by Jose Morales
5.0 out of 5 stars
Made me smile.
Renier has uniquely created characters and a world that co-exsist with each other beautifully. With an imagination that spans close to the creative-geniuses of our time, Aaron has... Read more
Published on October 1, 2005 by Paula S. Wallace
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