Today Caramel is talking to Sprinkles about the 2012 graphic novel One Dead Spy, the first book in the Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series, recommended to the book bunnies by one of our friendly readers.
Caramel reviews Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #1: One Dead Spy by Nathan Hale.
Sprinkles: So Caramel, you were talking about finding a new series last week. It looks like you found one!
Caramel: Yup.
S: So tell me about this new series of yours.
C: This is a series called Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales. There are many books in it. They are all graphic novels about some history stuff.
C: Well, kind of but also kind of not. I mean, the books are written by a guy named Nathan Hale, so it makes sense that the series would have his name on it.
S: I see.
C: But also the very first book in the series, the one we are talking about today, is about the spy Nathan Hale.
S: Oh, that is neat! So a guy named Nathan Hale writing a book about another guy named Nathan Hale.
C: Yep.
S: So this One Dead Spy is the story of Nathan Hale the spy, right?
C: Yep.
S: I see. So tell us about the story a bit.
C: The book starts with him being on the gallows about to get hanged. He says his famous words: “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” And then the gallows turn into a history book and then the book eats Nathan Hale.
S: Wait, what?
C: Yup.
S: I’m sure that’s not how it happened.
C: Not in real life. But this is fiction, Sprinkles, don’t forget.
Caramel is reading Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #1: One Dead Spy by Nathan Hale.
S: Alright, after the book eats Hale, what happens then?
C: Then he comes back and he knows the entirety of U.S. history. The rest of the book is about the American Revolutionary War.
S: Oh, then if he will be narrating the other books, too, I can see why the series would be called Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales.
C: Yup.
S: Did you know about Nathan Hale before reading this book?
C: I learned a little in school. But also remember, in the Spy School series, Ben’s best friend Erica is Erica Hale, and she is a descendant of Nathan Hale. So that is fiction, too, but I think reading that made me remember the school stuff better.
S: Hmm, that is cool, actually.
C: It is. Reading is useful, Sprinkles!
S: I agree! So tell me, this is a graphic novel about history. Did you like this format for this kind of story?
C: Yes. I love graphic novels and I love facts. So this is basically two things I love put together.
S: That is wonderful Caramel. I am so happy you found a new series!
C: Me, too!
S: So maybe it is time for you to move on to the next book. And we can wrap this up then. What would you like to tell our readers?
C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!
Caramel loved reading Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #1: One Dead Spy by Nathan Hale and is ready for the next book in the series.
Today Marshmallow reviews the first volume of Maus: A Survival Tale, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel first published in 1986. Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.
Marshmallow reviews Maus: A Survivor’s Tale – I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman.
Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, you chose to talk about a classic graphic novel today.
Marshmallow: Yes, we are talking about Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. This is in fact the first of two volumes, and Art Spiegelman published the second volume in 1991.
S: Okay, thanks for that important note. Wikipedia tells us that this is the first graphic novel that won a Pulitzer Prize. So I am glad you have read it and will talk with me about it.
M: I can see why it would get such an important prize. It is a very important book and it has a very important message.
S: Okay, so maybe it is about time to tell our readers what this book is about. They have already seen your photos with it, and they must be wondering.
M: Yes, sure. The book is about the Holocaust, and the imagery in the front cover is basically describing the main metaphorical device used in the story.
S: How so?
M: This is a graphic novel, as we said before, and all characters are animals. There are mice, and those are supposed to be the Jews, and then there are cats. Those are the Nazi Germans. Then there are pigs, who are supposed to be the non-Jewish Poles. And as I said before, the story takes place around the time of the Second World War.
S: I see. When you tell me all this, I am thinking of how sometimes a cat could be playing with a mouse just to have fun and even kill it with no remorse even when it does not need to eat it. I can see how the cat-mouse-pig metaphor could work.
M: Yes. The story is basically about Vladek who is the author’s father, and his experiences before and during the war. Vladek lived in Poland before the war, and when Germany invaded Poland, he and his family continued to live there. For a while they try to survive but eventually they are sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
S: That sounds intense!
M: It is. There is also a second story line, which is more or less the present day, or rather around the time this book was first published. The main story is basically the author’s father’s story, and the second story line is about the author as a grownup trying to connect with his father.
Marshmallow is reading Maus: A Survivor’s Tale – I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman.
S: Okay, so now we know the main plot lines and so on, but tell me Marshmallow, how was it like reading such a tough story in graphic novel form?
M: I thought it worked really well. It was very easy to visualize things, even though the characters are mice and cats and so on, because they had already been visualized for you. The book and its visual nature show the undeniably horrific nature of the Holocaust. You fully feel the pain of the mice, and knowing that these events actually happened to people, it makes the whole book even more impactful.
S: I wonder if the harshness of the realities the book is depicting can be related to why some people want to ban this book from school libraries. Some people want us to forget and never talk about these historical events, I am not talking about those people. But even those who believe we should teach this history might think that these stories are too hard to share with young people.
M: I understand why you want us to emphasize that the themes and imagery of the book might be disturbing to very young readers. There is violence in the book. But I also think it is very important for young bunnies to know what happened. And this book does a very good job in telling exactly what happened. And maybe ironically, the use of animal characters allows you to end up seeing the humanity of the victims of the Holocaust very clearly.
S: You make a very good point Marshmallow.
M: Thank you. I also wanted to say the book reminded me of Animal Farm a bit because it shows the worst aspects of humanity under the guise of animals. The animal characters allow us to look at ourselves and see how terrible we truly are or can be. Since we are not seeing humans, we can see things more objectively.
S: That makes sense to me, too, Marshmallow. Okay, this is already a pretty long post. Before we wrap things up, can you tell me how you would rate this book?
M: I’d rate it 100%. It is a striking and impactful book. And I recommend it strongly. It is important for bunnies to understand the magnitude and the impact of these events.
S: Okay, thank you Marshmallow. So last words?
M: Stay tuned for more amazing reviews from the book bunnies!
Marshmallow rates Maus: A Survivor’s Tale – I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman 100%.
Today Marshmallow is talking to Sprinkles about Beowulf: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written and illustrated by Gareth Hinds and first published in 2007.
Marshmallow reviews Beowulf: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Gareth Hinds.
Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, you read yet another graphic novel adaptation of yet another ancient story. Tell us a bit about this book.
Marshmallow: This book is about a hero named Beowulf. The story takes place within the world of Norse mythology. Beowulf is a strong warrior, who is the leader of a people called the Geats. There is a king named Hrothgar, who is the leader of the Danes, who decides to build a banquet hall that will be the greatest ever. Once this great hall is finished however, this monster from “an accursed race” called Grendel comes and eats everyone who is there at night. And then this happens for twelve winters.
S: Wait, so there is a monster who comes and eats the folks in the great hall at night. Then why don’t they leave the hall empty at night?
M: I do not really understand the logic there either. But that is what happens. So Grendel is a big threat to the Danes and their king. Until Beowulf comes and he says he will save them. And he fights Grendel and kills him.
S: So is that the whole story then?
M: No, this is only part one. Then Beowulf has to kill Grendel’s mother who is another monster, and then there is a dragon who comes, and Beowulf kills that too.
S: So the book is about three different heroic triumphs of Beowulf protecting or saving the Danes.
M: Almost but not quite. Those things kind of happen but there is more. Between the murder of Grendel’s mother and the dragon, Beowulf returns home and rules over his land for fifty years. And then the dragon comes and attacks the Geats. So Beowulf has to fight against the dragon. He manages to kill it but he is mortally wounded in the fight.
S: So he dies in the end?
M: Yes, but he seems quite at peace with it because he lived a long and valiant life and he saved his land and his people. And other people too.
S: You mean the Danes?
M: Right.
Marshmallow is reading Beowulf: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Gareth Hinds.
M: Yes, not as old as the Iliad or the Odyssey, but the first known manuscript of the story is more than a thousand years old. But this graphic novel looks like it would fit right in with the genre. Especially if you like graphic novels which are very graphic.
S: Can you open that up a bit?
M: I mean the fights are depicted very explicitly. It is rather violent. For example, Beowulf rips off Grendel’s arm and Grendel is shown eating people and ripping off other people’s limbs and so on. It is really violent. I would definitely not recommend the book for little bunnies.
S: I looked at the book a bit and did see a lot of action and violence.
M: Yes. But I think most teenagers can handle it. And if they are trying to get the sense of the historic text, this could be very helpful. It is a very fast read. There is very limited amount of text, and there are many pages where there is no text whatsoever.
S: Hmm, that sounds interesting. It does seem like you appreciated reading the book.
M: Yes. I’d even rate it 95%. Honestly when I first began to read it, I thought that maybe the font of the text was a bit too fancy and could make it hard to read, but then I got used to it and could read it easily. I’d definitely recommend this book to bunnies curious to know the story of Beowulf.
S: That makes sense.
M: Did you know that J.R.R. Tolkien, the writer of the Lord of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, was a scholar who wrote a bunch about the original story Beowulf? He worked on a translation of it from Old English and even wrote about translating it.
S: I knew he was a scholar of ancient literature but I think I did not know he worked with Beowulf specifically. That is very interesting Marshmallow.
M: I thought so too.
S: Okay, then; this is probably enough for this review. What would you like to tell our readers as we wrap it up?
M: Stay tuned for more amazing reviews from the book bunnies!
Marshmallow rates Beowulf: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Gareth Hinds 95%.
A few weeks ago Marshmallow read and reviewed The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Gareth Hinds, a retelling of an iconic tale from the Ancient Greeks. Today she discusses with Sprinkles The Iliad: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, published nine years later, in 2019.
Marshmallow reviews The Iliad: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Gareth Hinds.
Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, here we are, with yet another book about Greek mythology.
Marshmallow: Yes, this is the famous Iliad, also credited to the blind poet Homer, and it tells the story of the Trojan War, the war that is supposed to have happened before the events of The Odyssey. So yes, it is mythology but also kind of like history.
S: Yes, it does seem like in those times, history and myth got quite intimately intertwined. So tell us a bit about the main story. What is it really about?
M: Well, it starts with a Prologue explaining some historical facts about the Trojan War. And there we are told that the book (The Iliad) will not really be about the War itself, but mainly about the two main heroes, Achilles and King Agamemnon both fighting on the Achaean side.
S: Oh I see. So then tell us a bit about these two men and what is going on between them that deserves an epic poem.
M: Basically Agamemnon and Achilles are both fighting to help their common ally, Menelaus, whose wife Helen was kidnapped by Paris, the son of the Trojan king. Menelaus won Helen as his wife in what seems to me to be a primitive competition, and all his competitors swore to protect the eventual winner. So now Menelaus calls in all these people to help him get Helen back from Troy.
S: So Helen is supposed to be the reason for the Trojan War, according to this account, right?
M: Yes. That is the main idea, but of course there were a lot of other more political reasons, like control over trade routes. But it is of course more romantic to explain everything as a man fighting to get his wife back.
S: I can see that.
M: I think both the gods and the people are very petty in the whole story. The main story of the book is not even about the cause of the war. Achilles and Agamemnon, even though they are fighting on the same side, start fighting over spoils of war, and in particular a young woman. I would like to mention that Achilles claimed this woman after killing her husband, her brothers, and her parents.
S: Ugh. She seems to be seen mainly as a reward, as property. And it seems Helen is the same.
M: Yes, I was quite annoyed by that through the whole story really. They fight over her without really letting her decide who she wants to end up with. And she is not really too free either. She is kind of coerced into loving Paris by Aphrodite. She also did not like her husband much to start with, it seems like.
S: And from what you are telling me, it seems like it really did not matter what she felt or thought. From some versions of the story, I had understood her to have fallen in love with Paris, but yes, by Aphrodite’s nudging. Which is kind of coercive. Then again, she is the goddess of love, so how does anyone fall in love with anyone?
M: Hmm, I do not know. That is a good question. But in some stories Aphrodite makes people fall in love with inanimate objects or horrible people, so it is not always a natural love.
Marshmallow is reading The Iliad: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Gareth Hinds.
S: Okay, so you had some misgivings about the story line, but overall what did you think?
M: Well, I liked it. I’d rate it 100% because it is an important and well-revered story of Western Civilization, and the book is well done. And we see very clearly the follies of war. There is also a lot of violence. So probably younger bunnies should not try to read this. Even though it is a graphic novel, it is a bit too graphic in that other meaning of the word.
S: I see.
M: It was also pretty important for me to read this and see how women were seen as rewards, as spoils of war, and as property.
S: It has been that way in many cultures, societies, and times, unfortunately.
M: I am happy that I am not living in those times.
S: Me, too. What else would you like to tell us?
M: It is really annoying how gods think of humans as their own playthings. Of course I also knew this from all the Percy Jackson books, but this is real war, and there are a lot of real people dying because of the gods’ interventions. Also the humans themselves are extremely violent. They take revenge, empathy and mercy are viewed as weakness. What they think is honor is too violent. It is a terrible terrible world. The only good person in the whole book seems to be Hector, and even he dies because he believes dying is honorable and his wife and son are left defenseless.
S: I see. Thank you for all your thoughts Marshmallow. Last but not the least, can you comment on the drawings?
M: Sure, the drawings are in the same style as those in The Odyssey, as you would expect. It is after all the same artist. I liked how especially in this book, the characters were quite distinct in how they were depicted. Apparently he worked the first letter of each character’s name into their armor, which is a neat idea, but it is a little difficult to see them sometimes. Overall, though, this was a good book to read as a graphic novel.
S: I can see that it would be important to be able to distinguish all those characters. There are so many! Anyways, this is probably a good time to end this review. What would you tell our readers Marshmallow?
M: Stay tuned for more amazing reviews from the book bunnies!
Marshmallow rates The Iliad: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Gareth Hinds 100%.
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