Author Study: Kazu Kibuishi

Kazu Kibuishi 

I've been reading graphic novels this year, not because I like the format but because others do and I'm going to have to be able to do readers' advisory for them.  Hands down, my favorite author/illustrator of the genre/format is Kazu Kibuishi.  Born in 1978, he is an American author artist who draws such stunning and detailed images that they feel both real and surreal.  he is best known for editing and contributing to the Flight anthologies, volumes 1-8, and the Amulet series for tweens.

Flight

What I really enjoy about these collections is that there are so many different artists in each volume.  You are practically guaranteed to find stories and art styles that appeal to you.  I tend to like the more ornate, lushly colored and atmospheric art with whimsical stories.  There are, however, also flat cartoon style illustrations with humorous stories or war themes.  Fans of Jellaby will be delighted to find more of the series included here.  I loved how fast the stories went.  Some of them are like flash fiction, only a few pages long, like a sketch.  Others are nearly as long as a full book.  You do not have to read these in order, although there are a few series stories.  I enjoyed volumes 1-4 best.

Amulet

Goodreads summary:
"After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids' mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals.
Eventually, they enlist the help of a small mechanical rabbit named Miskit. Together with Miskit, they face the most terrifying monster of all, and Em finally has the chance to save someone she loves."

This series smacks strongly of star wars with a fantasy bent.  It is very popular with tweens and the decadent art gives it adult appeal as well.  I mostly read it for the sweeping landscape views and the puzzle of the stones.

Author Study(6): Stephen King

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Stephen King

I'm sure you've heard of the "King" of horror.  Stephen King is perhaps the most celebrated, prolific writer of horror ever...certainly in modern times.  What makes him so good?  in my opinion, it is the way he takes familiar things, like a clown, a car, or a high school dance and twists them into a menacing, not-so-funhouse versions of themselves.  When I read his books, I feel like one of my own nightmares is spilling onto the page.

My own infatuation with King's works began at a young age.  I watched the movie version of "It" at 6 years old.  My father told us an abridged and PG version of "Thinner" over a campfire when I was 12.  In high school I watched "The Shining" in my basement with a friend, and just when we decided it was too scary to watch without the lights on...the electricity went out.  More recently I have been exploring King's short stories, and they are as good if not better than many of his novels.

The appeal elements of King's writing are a concise, yet darkly descriptive writing style.  Very rarely is there a word that doesn't carry its weight.  His pacing is generally engrossing but unhurried.  It is the slow build of terror that makes it all the more hard-hitting.  King's characters are always complex to the point where you begin to dislike even the "heroes".  Tone is usually menacing, dark, and nightmarish.  

Red Flags: you should think twice about reading king's works if you are easily disgusted by violence or sex...although I am and I still do haha.  

Below you will find a table of my top selections for those jut beginning to read Stephen King. One of the best things about his writing is that there is so much of it, so you will not run out of options any time soon.  

I won't bother giving you biographical information because he actually wrote his own biography and it is a GREAT book called "On Writing".  Bonus for any aspiring author because it has great tips.  King's voice is so strong and his work so extensive that you'll never really need a read-alike.  Some people mention Dean Koontz, but in my opinion they are as far apart as possible in writing style and Koontz writes mostly thriller/suspense.  King does have an author-son who goes by Joe Hill to downplay the association between them.  Nice try :).

Author Study(6): John Green

Author studies are brief posts about authors I enjoy, why you might like them, what they are known for, and a bit of bio.
 -Becky

Author Biography: Green was born in 1977 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  His enormous popularity is due to both his award winning young adult novels and his hilarious youtube Vlog, co-hosted by his brother Hank.  Green has a double major in English and religious studies.

Personal Note:  I'm not one for YA contemporary realism. Despite that roadblock, John Green is one of my favorite authors, and certainly my favorite of that genre. After reading "Looking for Alaska" I immediately knew I had to read every one of his novels.  Technically I read Will Grayson Will Grayson first, but I didn't really pay attention to who it was by because it was a collaborative work.  Not counting his ebooks, I've only got "Paper Towns" and "Let it Snow" left.  All of them have been five star books, which is somewhat unheard of from me.

Awards:

2006 Michael L. Printz Award 

2007 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book

2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel

2010 Corine Literature Prize.

Stonewall Honor Book in Children & Young Adult Literature

Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production Honor Book

Writing Style and Appeal:

Where to begin, where to begin.  Green's book are all at least in part romance related stories, but they are actually geared more towards boys and often have male main characters.  Said main characters are intensely intelligent, but only a select few realize it.  They are socially awkward and struggle to figure out their place in the world.  Green is often compared to J.D. Salinger and there are many parallels between his stories and "The Catcher in the Rye".  All of his books have complex underlying themes and are intensely thought provoking. The pace of Green's books are compelling, but by no means are they action-packed. All of them have quirky, well drawn characters, hilarious quotes, well developed secondary characters, and realistic portrayal of young adult life, even if the dialog is a bit advanced for most teens.  There are red flags in all these works of alcohol, sex, and language.

The Books:
*pictures link to reviews where applicable

P.S. If you are a girl (or perhaps a boy) be aware that you will likely fall in love with both John Green and all of his male main characters because of their socially awkward, intelligent, hilarious charm. I have a sneaking suspicion they are all based on Green.  Tragically, he is taken, so try to restrain yourself.

Author Study (5): Joanne Harris

Joanne Harris

Mini Biography:Joanne Harris was born in England in 1964.  Her mother was French and her father English. She studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages at Cambridge and taught for fifteen years, She has won a number of British and international awards. In 2004, Joanne was one of the judges of the Whitbread prize (categories; first novel and overall winner); and in 2005 she was a judge of the Orange prize.  She currently lives with her husband and 15-year-old daughter in England.

Appeal Elements:

Harris has a common element in many of her novels: food.  The lush descriptions of culinary delights will leave you famished.  Pair this with the magical realism found in the chocolate trilogy, and you have a bestselling novel and an Oscar nominated film.  She often has French settings in small-town historical and/or contemporary frames.  Her tone is almost always rich and dark, most definitely not "feel-good" stories despite the food.  She has great attention to language, with a more poetic writing style than most.  Pacing is usually unhurried, these books move at their own rate, but are compelling enough to drag you along.  Characters are often deeply flawed and not entirely likable, though secondary characters show extensive development.

My Selections:

 

Chocolat Illuminating Peter Mayle's South of France with a touch of Laura Esquivel's magic realism, Chocolat is a timeless novel of a straitlaced village's awakening to joy and sensuality. In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. Chocolat's every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It's a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday
Five Quarters of the Orange

The novels of Joanne Harris are a literary feast for the senses. Five Quarters of the Orange represents Harris's most complex and sophisticated work yet - a novel in which darkness and fierce joy come together to create an unforgettable story.

When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous Mirabelle Dartigen - the woman they still hold responsible for a terrible tragedy that took place during the German occupation decades before. Althrough Framboise hopes for a new beginning. She quickly discovers that past and present are inextricably intertwined. Nowhere is this truth more apparent than in the scrap book of recipes she has inherited from her dead mother.

With this book, Framboise re-creates her mother's dishes, which she serves in her small creperie. And yet as she studies the scrapbook - searching for clues to unlock the contradiction between her mother's sensuous love of food and often cruel demeanor - she begins to recognize a deeper meaning behind Mirabelle's cryptic scribbles. Whithin the journal's tattered pages lies the key to what actually transpired the summer Framboise was nine years old.

Rich and dark. Five Quarters of the Orange is a novel of mothers and daughters of the past and the present, of resisting, and succumbling, and an extraordinary work by a masterful writer.

  Blackberry Wine                                                     From the author of "Chocolat" comes an intoxicating tale of love lost and found, set in a small French village. As a boy Jay spent summers in Europe hanging out with his friend Joe and his homemade wines. Now a young man, Jay returns to France to recapture some of the magic of his lost youth.
Sleep Pale Sister Harris' early novel, never before published in the United States, is a powerful, darkly Gothic evocation of Victorian artistic life. An illicit love draws a controlling artist's wife into a dangerous world of intrigue, blackmail, and revenge.

Author Study: Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan

Mini Biography:

An American author from Texas, Riordan is best known for his children's series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  He double majored in English and History at the University of Texas.  Other well-known series include  the Kane Chronicles and the Lost Heros of Olympus.


*Riordan also wrote an adult series but I'm focusing 0n his children's/YA books

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Audience: Middle grade-YA

Genre: Fantasy

Appeal Elements: fast-paced, action-focused, Greek mythology and magica, humorous, contemporary, conversational writing style
Summary:  Percy Jackson is a twelve year old boy who discovers he is one of a select few demi-gods: children of a god and human.  He is taken to camp half-blood to train as a hero and becomes entrenched in a battle to keep the titan lord Kronos from regaining power.

Heroes of Olympus

Audience: YA

Genre: Fantasy

Summary: The adventure continues with Percy Jackson and six other demi-gods as they fight to stop the newly awoken earth goddess from wreaking havoc.  To be a five part series.

Kane Chronicles 

Audience: Middle grade-YA

Genre: Fantasy
Summary:Two children of the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane accidentally release the Egyptian god, Set, and must fight to save themselves, their father, and the world.