english review (spoilerfree)

Summary: Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. Searching for their literary hero, new parents Marko and Alana travel to a cosmic lighthouse on the planet Quietus, while the couple's multiple pursuers finally close in on their targets.

My review: SO DAMN GOOD!!!!

Seriously, this just keeps getting better and better. I love the characters more and more with every new volume. I LOVE THIS SERIES SO DAMN MUCH.

Give me diverse characters, give me adventure storylines, give me complex characters. GIVE ME STUNNING ART. (And you get 5 star ratings all around)

This was SO MUCH FUN! to read!!! I honestly didn’t know I’d get such a kick out of reading a middle-grade graphic novel but I found myself up one night at 1 am completely wrapped up in this...

a bit about the book…

Middle School Misadventures: Operation: Hat Heist!

by Jason Platt
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: April 21, 2020
Genre: Middle Grade, Children's, Graphic Novel

Synopsis:
In Jason Platt's second Middle School Misadventures graphic novel, Newell's favorite hat gets taken away! With the help of his most talented friends, he concocts the perfect plan to get it back. Operation: Hat Heist is a go!

Newell's favorite show of all time is The Captain! Newell is beyond excited when he learns that the Captain himself, Patrick O'Shaughnessy, will be at Monster Comic-Con. He can't wait to meet The Captain wearing his once-worn-by-The-Captain WWII crusher hat that his dad gave him. But when Newell brings the hat to school, it gets stolen from his backpack! Fart.

When Newell finally spots the culprit wearing his hat in the hall, Mr. Todd confiscates it and reminds the students, "There are no hats to be worn in school!" Double fart. What will Newell do?! He wants his hat back so he doesn't let his dad down and can impress his hero, but Mr. Todd refuses to return it! Just when Newell is about to give up, he receives a note from 8th-grader Ethan: "I have an idea. Also, bring your friends. They can help, too." Can Newell, Ethan, and this ragtag group of friends pull off the perfect hat heist?

In this fun and imaginative full-color graphic novel, Jason Platt sends fast-talking, daydreaming, Newell on another desperate quest to save his favorite hat before he meets his all-time hero.

 BOOK LINKS: GR | Amazon | B&N | iBooks | TBD | Kobo

what makes this a great read...

This is a middle-grade buddy adventure graphic novel that goes so much further than the cover and description would at first suggest, and I loved every frame of it. Newell is an eighth-grader with a group of loyal friends, a dad who he watches their favorite show 'The Captain' with, and a very special hat that he keeps on losing.

Author Jason Platt opens the book with an 'episode' of 'The Captain' and this is the hook for the entire story; Newell shares a love for this show with his dad, and it also represents their connection. When Newell gets his hat stolen and then confiscated at school (so many lessons/horror stories!) he has just got to get it back. He can't go to Monster Comic-Con and meet his hero without it and there's no way his dad can find out about the hat being gone…again.

There are so many dilemmas and interesting situations presented for Newell in this fast-paced story, and every single one feels genuine. They all feel natural for the age group that Platt has written for (and placed me right there back at school): the school teacher you feel is out to get you, your group of friends that is your entire world, the class you hate, the things you look forward to, the worry that you will disappoint, those big emotions. But there are also high-jinks and a heist plot which is brilliant, and a major twist to the story that I was completely not expecting which displays expert story-telling.I can't even completely reveal the whole story because of it.

While a middle-grader will probably be reading this for the adventure of Newell getting his hat back for Comic-Con (and this is a very worthy cause; I go to them with my own son), there are many deeper levels to this graphic novel that I hope are absorbed and maybe discussed if read with someone else, it is also filled with beautifully-drawn artwork, and it works for other age ranges for an entertaining read.

I'll be recommending this series for the school library, and I'll be reading more of the series myself!

 

a little bit about the author Jason…

 

 

Jason Platt is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, and in 2016, he was accepted into the National Cartoonists Society by a unanimous vote. He is also the creator of the popular webcomic series Mister & Me. He and his family live in Davenport, Iowa.

 

 

RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY: win the book -> ENTER HERE!

 

• - 1 copy of MIDDLE SCHOOL MISADVENTURES – OPERATION: HAT HEIST
• - US only
• - The prize may be delayed due to shipping centers being affected by COVID-19
• - Go to any tour stop to enter! - Fantastic Flying Book Club
  
  
  

 

*A review/e-galley copy was provided by the publisher Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in exchange of an honest review, as part of a blog tour hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club (FFBC). THANK YOU!*

So much fun and read in one sitting!
Forget everything you think you know about Batman, The Joker, Catwoman, Ivy, and more. This story takes those characters to a whole different place. Changes the things you thought you knew into something else.
I liked it though, and literally devoured this short book.
Fans of the comics will enjoy it, and tweens will eat it right up!
Can't wait for more!!!

When I read newspaper comics as a kid, Nancy seemed like the laziest of all the comics. The art was extremely simple, the characters were stuck in 1930's, and it was never funny. Later versions played up the cheesecake appeal of Aunt Fritzi, but did not add any humor. I was surprised to learn that in 2018 a new creator took over Nancy and made it a cult favorite.

The humor of the new Nancy strip is very meta. The characters directly reference the fact that they are in a comic strip and are being written and drawn. The characters now live in a world with smart phones and the internet, but still dress like extras from an Our Gang short. The biggest change is that the creator is clearly trying to be funny, and succeeds quite frequently. This is not Calvin & Hobbes, but it hits at least 1 in 6, which is way higher than the average for contemporary comic strips.

Angela Carter fan girl that I am, I didn't know about this book until it popped up on my Thriftbooks recs.  

Carter provided the words for this children's alphabet book about cats.  Some letters are combined on one pages, but Carter makes excellent use of alliteration.  The illustrations are nice, and there are some wonderful lines.