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%.
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%.
Today Marshmallow reviews Sapiens – A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind, the first volume, published in 2020, of the multi-volume graphic novelization of Yuval Noah Harari’s 2011 book Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind. Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.
Marshmallow reviews Sapiens – A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, David Vandermeulen, and Daniel Casanave.
Sprinkles: I know you enjoy graphic novels, just like Caramel does, so I was not too surprised when you decided to pick up this book.
Marshmallow: Yep, and I actually enjoyed reading it too. And I think that, if you like books that ask deep questions or investigate human history, then this is the book for you!
S: Hmm, I see what you did there. You begin all your reviews with this kind of an invitation. I think it works well here too! So what is this book about?
M: It is basically about the entire history of humanity’s origins.
S: That sounds ambitious!
M: It is. So I think this will take him four or five volumes, but he is trying to tell in graphic novel form what he writes in his original book from 2011. It’s pretty novel I’d say.
S: I see. Tell me more.
M: So in this book, human evolution is portrayed as a reality TV show. And mass extinction becomes a crime investigation. We follow the author Yuval and his niece Zoe as they investigate the meaning of labels like “species” and “genus” with Professor Saraswati. Each character is drawn as a little caricature. Then we see Yuval and Zoe watching “The Greatest Show on Earth!”, or “Evolution!” This leads to an investigation of why and how the species of Homo Sapiens dominates the Earth today. After all, there were several other species in the human genus.
S: I can see that you are using some big words, maybe from your biology class?
M: Well, not quite. The book uses them, so I think it makes sense for me to use them too.
S: Makes sense to me.
Marshmallow is reading Sapiens – A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, David Vandermeulen, and Daniel Casanave.
S: So I know that after reading this book, you also followed up with some reviews of it to see how it was received.
M: Yes. Because the author intends to share some possibly controversial ideas about the history of humanity, there was a lot I did not know about in the book, so it was really interesting to read. But I wanted to know if what he was saying was really correct. This is a graphic novel after all, and though some graphic novels have extensive footnotes and such, this one has none, and it has no references. So I wanted to check to see what others who know more about the topic thought.
S: So what did you find out?
M: Well, our readers can start by checking the Wikipedia article on the original book. The original book sold really well and got a lot of great reviews from well-known and highly regarded people. But it seems like some of the more scientific takes on the book are not as complimentary. A lot of them do like it actually, but there are some folks that say that there is not that much that is new in the book and whatever is new and original is not accurate.
S: I see. Now it is not terrible if there is nothing new for scientists, because no matter what they all know, their knowledge is not always accessible to the general audience.
M: Exactly. The graphic novel format is a really good way to reach a lot more people. So some apparently called it “infotainment,” but maybe that is actually not a terrible thing. I think the Lucy & Andy Neanderthal series that I read and reviewed is also kind of infotainment but I still found it extremely educational.
S: I agree with you there. Those books are a lot of fun and teach you a lot too.
M: Even our reviews are probably infotainment – fun yet informative, I hope. The accuracy concern is more difficult to dismiss though. Not being a scientist, I am not great at gauging that. So my advice for curious bunnies is to read this because it is a great story, and you will learn a lot, but still take it with a grain of salt, because if some parts of it feel really out there, maybe they are. So it might be worth double-checking things out on your own.
S: I think that is a very prudent and thoughtful recommendation, Marshmallow.
M: I’m a very prudent and thoughtful bunny. And now we are both using big words!
S: Yep, it must be this book!
M: We must be smarter or something! Maybe we are evolving.
S: Okay, okay, hold it there. Maybe this is a good place to end this review. So if you were to rate this book what would your rating be?
M: I really really enjoyed it, and I’d say 100% but then again the accuracy question makes me say 95%.
S: That’s fair. Okay, thanks for your neat review, Marshmallow. 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 Sapiens – A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari, David Vandermeulen, and Daniel Casanave, 95%.
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