Customer Reviews

Zebrafish

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

 

 

Vita lives with her older brother who is a doctor researching cancer. She starts the year at a new school, not knowing anyone. She buys a second-hand guitar and decides she wants to start a band. She doesn't really have any friends until she posts a flier announcing auditions. What do you do when no one in your band even knows how to play an instrument? Find a way to make the world a better place, of course!

Zebrafish is a different kind of graphic novel. The pages hold so many positive and inspirational themes that it leaves the reader feeling that they can change the world. It does this with a touching story of a lonely girl who at first dreams of being a rock star, but realizes that there is more to life than stardom.

My 9 year old just started the book and already he can't put it down. The characters are diverse and detailed enough that just about everyone will find someone that they can identify with. It is a great read that I recommend to anyone of any age.

Vita decides she wants to form a band, but first she needs members - and they have to learn to play instruments. Vita recruits band members at her school and they decide to put on a concert. When the band learns that fellow member, Tanya, has leukemia, the band decides to change their concert to a fundraiser for cancer research.

The good thing about ZEBRAFISH is that it's never overly preachy about doing good. The characters are diverse and I'm sure readers will find someone to relate to. Tanya's illness is touched on, but this isn't a cancer book. This is more a story about finding friends and putting your talents to work for a good cause.

Because there are a lot of main characters, you never really get to fully know each one, and I would love more back story about each of the band members. I'm glad to know there will be another ZEBRAFISH book coming, so hopefully we get to know the band more.

Even though the story deals with some hard topics, the book never feels weighed down by that storyline, which I think will give it lots of appeal for readers who want a realistic story that's not issue-heavy. The artwork is bright and colorful and will appeal to fans of comics and graphic novels.

I would give this one to tweens looking for a realistic fiction comic book, and it would be a great book to start a discussion about fundraising and volunteering.

Reviewed by: Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen

I am still fairly new to Graphic Novels. I have only been reading them a few years. But I do know stories and this is an amazing one. It is a story about a girl that wants to become a musician, Vita Escolar. Her older brother is a medical researcher. She puts up posters for band members but no one who comes is actually a musician except Jay. The main characters are:

Vita

Jay

Plinko

Tanya

Walt

They start out with different goals for the band, but in the end they discover a unified goal and purpose. They also lean that sometimes helping others is much more important than your own goals. This was an incredible book with an amazing story. It would be a great addition to any High School curriculum and will challenge anyone who reads it to learn to be a better person.

Zebrafish is the kind of book you can give to your child (mine is 11) and know it's something they will enjoy AND hopefully take away a positive life lesson. A lot of emphasis in our schools (at least in my city) is placed on individual rewards, and that's why I see this book as something good: it teaches (without getting lecturing) kids to find something they believe in and then go out and make a difference. The book is colorful, great artwork, and has a flowing, enjoyable storyline. Definitely recommend for any preteen.

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

This is a nice book. The artwork is well done. The colours bright, the kids different shapes, colours, styles and income brackets and yet they all get along fine. One girl, Tanya, has leukemia, though she doesn't tell anyone for most of the book. This girl is also very much into volunteering and causes, save the pandas, that sort of thing. The other girl, Vita, wants to start a rock band because she can play guitar and sing. The boys join the band, Tanya starts writing activist songs for her pandas and eventually everybody makes an impression and feels good about themselves that they've accomplished something. The money from their first show went to the hospital to buy a piece of machinery that will help with cancer research.

The book is simple to read; there are pages with no text or only small amounts and the text and illustrations really do go hand in hand to tell the story here. A perfect example of the graphic format telling a complete story with character development and minor backgrounds. I'm not really pumped about this book, though. I know it has received good reviews but for me, it just didn't do anything. I didn't connect. I'd already started to forget the story as I sat to write this review the next day and had to flip through the book and read the flap to refresh my memory. I don't have any specific complaints; I don't regret the half hour spent reading it but it's just not a book that will stay with me or that I'd put on any recommended lists. Some books are just OK and this is one of them, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with that.