Review #18: Ship Breaker

Bibliography

Bacigalupi, Paolo.  2010.  SHIP BREAKER.  New York:  Little, Brown.  ISBN 9780316056212

Summary

In a future world where advanced sailing ships have replaced powered vessels, teenage Nailer works at the harsh and dangerous business of scavenging for materials in old ships.  When he discovers a newly-wrecked vessel and its wealthy sole survivor after a hurricane he hopes for a better life, but his plans are threatened by other ruthless scavengers—including his own father.

Analysis

This science-fiction novel is set in a standard-issue dystopian future of degraded environments, extreme disparities of wealth and poverty, and feral gangs that include semi-human mutants.  The principal setting—the huge, lawless ship-breaking yard—appears to be an exaggerated version of the all-too-real salvage yards of Alang in India.  This element of the setting provides a somewhat original spin on standard genre conventions.  The setting is well-described and at times vividly realized.

Thrillers of this sort have always tended to be violent.  In keeping with general trends toward escalation in popular entertainment, the violence—and the four-letter language that goes along with it--is far more graphic than in many adult novels of only a few decades ago.  The majority of the characters are also extremely cynical and amoral, and the main protagonist is forced to fight and kill his own father at the climax. 

Science-fiction fans will likely enjoy this book.  However, it is disturbing to see that levels of “adult” violence and language have become this high in young adult fiction.

Review Excerpts

“This thriller will grab and keep readers’ attentions.”  Horn Book

“At its core the novel is an exploration of Nailer’s discovery of the nature of the world around him and his ability to transcend that world’s expectations.”  Publishers’ Weekly

Connections

Science fiction writers often create worlds of the future by extrapolating from present events and trends.  For example, Ship Breaker is set in a world where today’s trends of global warming, declining oil reserves, and growing disparities between rich and poor have reached extreme levels.  It also appears to have been inspired by the real-life salvage yards of Alang, India 

Create a list of trends students may have studied, such as developments in artificial intelligence, growing reliance on computers for all media, changes in education, medical advances, etc.  Invite students to write stories set in futures where one or more of these trends have been carried to extremes.  Alternatively, consider using articles on unusual real places and societies, such as the newly-built Middle Eastern city of Dubai or the semi-medieval Isle of Sark in the English Channel Islands, as science fiction story starters.

Review #17: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Bibliography

Lin, Grace.  2009.  WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON.  New York:  Little, Brown.  ISBN  9780316114271

Summary

Minli, a girl living a in a barren, impoverished village learns from a magic goldfish of a possible way to make the village’s land green and undertakes a journey in search of the Old Man of the Moon, who may be able to help. 

Analysis

Inspired by Chinese folk legends, this story incorporates versions of numerous such stories within the narrative.  The characters are all broadly drawn in the manner of traditional stories, but are far from flat or dull.  The story moves quickly through a series of vividly described settings, with many odd incidents and occasional humor, to a satisfying ending and a moral point made in a graceful, not overly didactic fashion.

The book is richly illustrated, with several colorful pages showing scenes that resemble images from traditional Chinese paintings and tapestry.  Each chapter also has a header illustration in the style of a woodcut or Chinese ink painting.  Reminiscent at times of Maxfield Parrish’s famous illustrated Arabian Nights, the illustrations place the book in a great tradition of illustrated works for children.   

The only real quibble with the story is the way the main narrative is interrupted every few pages when one character or another takes time out to tell a story.  The stories are usually interesting and relevant to the narrative, but the device is used so often that it becomes a bit tiresome.  A better integration of the material in the stories with the main narrative would have made the story flow more naturally and smoothly. 

Still, this is overall a wonderful story that richly deserves to be a Newbery Honor Book.  It will please any reader interested in fantastic journeys and myths and legends where anything can happen and the imagination has free reign.

Review Excerpt

“Lovely full-page illustrations in blues, reds, greens, and luminous golds as well as delicate chapter openers, all inspired by traditional Chinese art, contribute to this original, folklore-inspired fantasy’s sense of timelessness.”  Horn Book

Connections

Fold sheets of 8 ½ by 11 paper in half to make four-page “booklets.”  Invite each student to select one of the stories that characters in Lin’s book tell and draw a short comic-book adaptation of that story.  Alternatively, invite students to use illustrations from the book as story starters for a comics or non-comics story.

Review #16: Beowulf

Bibliography

Hinds, Gareth.  2007.  BEOWULF.  Somerville, MA:  Candlewick Press.  ISBN 9780763630225

Summary

This is a graphic novel adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon epic following the life of the hero Beowulf, prince and later ruler of the Geats, as he battles monsters in Denmark and is later fatally wounded defending his people from a dragon.  A very brief afterward notes the disappearance from history of Beowulf’s people in southern Sweden.

Analysis

Hinds’ art is striking.  It is dynamic and detailed and incorporates numerous symbolic motifs—a page of prologue is illustrated in the style of an Anglo-Saxon or Norse carving, glimpses of the night sky through the doorway of a great hall show the constellations, ribbons of runic lettering are shown crisscrossing the sky.  The color palette changes during different parts of the story, most notably in the dark, almost monochrome scenes at the end of Beowulf’s life.  Overall the art creates a somber mood appropriate to a story set in a violent world filled with forces of nature and destiny beyond human control.

The author notes in the introduction that he and his editors have “attempted to strike a balance between easy readability and the poetic drama found in our favorite verse translations.”  The highly abridged text does this fairly successfully.  Unfortunately the visual storytelling falls short.  Some sections are essentially illustrated text, while others are wordless sections of purely visual storytelling.  None of the story ever truly takes advantage of the comics medium’s unique ability to combine words and text through such devices as thought and word balloons—though oddly enough there is some use of the traditional device of sound effects.  The result is a story that many readers will probably have serious difficulty in following.

The emphasis upon art over clear storytelling seriously undermines what might have been a fine adaptation of a classic and potentially highly visual story.  While some readers might be drawn in sufficiently by the art to want to pursue Beowulf farther, others will be put off by the unclear storytelling.  A more straightforward comics storytelling style would have served better.

Review Excerpt

“Hinds’ graphic novel captures the passion and violence of the original Anglo-Saxon saga through masterful illustrations and a respectfully adapted text.”  Booklist

Connections

Other graphic novel adaptations of classic stories:

Bradbury, Ray and Hamilton, Tim.  RAY BRADBURY’S FAHRENHEIT 451.  ISBN 9780809051014

Butler, Nancy and Petrus, Hugo.  PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.  ISBN 9780785139164

Dixon, Charles and Deming, Sean.  THE HOBBIT.  ISBN 9781435242722

Shanower, Eric.  AGE OF BRONZE:  A THOUSAND SHIPS.  ISBN 9781582402000