Song of the Court by Katy Farina

Song of the Court by Katy Farina is a children's graphic novel. Arietta sells flowers at her local castle market. She doesn't have enough money for seeds, so she decides she has no choice but to sell her grandfather's violin. But, then she runs into the princess outside the music shop. Princess Cassia is looking for musicians for her upcoming birthday party and assumes Arietta can play the violin in her hands. 

Arietta doesn't know how to play the violin but she agrees to play because she really doesn't want to part with the violin, which brings back fond memories of her grandfather, or disappoint the princess. So, with the help of a friend she takes a crash course in violin playing. She progresses quickly but at the party she's horrified to find out someone else has chosen to play the same song, the only song she knows. 

I won't give away the ending but it's sweet and I have a feeling I would have absolutely loved this book as a small child, both for the main character's determination to learn an instrument and the friendship with a princess. 

Recommended - A cute graphic novel with a great theme about putting your mind to something and accomplishing it. The age range for this book is listed as 4-8 years so it can first be read to a little one and then part of their intro to reading. I did occasionally find some of the characters' expressions confusing (I'd misread them and then figure out my mistake through the text) but that didn't cause much trouble as it always quickly became clear. Especially recommended for little girls who are interested in music, royalty, or that "You can do it if you put your mind to it" theme with some nice friendship on the side. 

I received my copy of Song of the Court from Sterling Children's Books in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks!

Just for fun, here's how I posed the book for Instagram, followed by a "behind the scenes" image. I had to keep telling Fiona to stop chewing on the flowers. 

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Two Graphic Novels: Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka and To Kill a Mockingbird by Fred Fordham

Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction by Jarrett J. Krosoczka is a graphic memoir about the author and illustrator's life. The book begins by telling about Krosoczka's mother and her family, how his mother became pregnant and was rejected by the father of her child and how baby Jarrett ended up spending most of his time living with his grandparents while his mother flitted in and out of his life, writing to him but seldom showing up.

Krosoczka's life was interesting for the colorful language of his grandparents, his mother's method of encouraging his art from afar, and how he handled the challenges of not knowing who his father was and what his mother was up to. Eventually, he learned the truth: his mother was an addict who came and went from home to the street to jail or halfway houses. Because she occasionally wrote to him and showed up when she was able, Krosoczka knew his mother loved him but he always missed having her in his life when she was away.

Highly recommended - I don't feel like I'm doing an adequate job of describing Hey, Kiddo, so I'll just skip to the bottom line. This is a highly readable graphic novel that gives you a distinct sense of what it's like to grow up not really knowing either parent and how erratic the life of an addict is. It also tells about the author's artistic journey, how his talented mother and his caring grandparents encouraged his art, and what he learned from art instructors that influenced him, as well as his stylistic choices. It's a touching, deeply meaningful story about coming through an unusual and sometimes difficult childhood and the destructiveness of addiction to the addict and everyone around her. I found this was one of the clearest graphic novels I've ever read. Usually, authors rely a little too heavily on the artwork to do the explaining but there's plenty of text and I didn't find the art confusing as I often do.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, illustrated and adapted by Fred Fordham is a graphic adaptation of the classic novel by Harper Lee. You can tell what you're getting into by the prominence of Harper Lee's name on the cover and the words "illustrated and adapted". Sure enough, Fred Fordham -- the illustrator who adapted the novel -- almost exclusively used words directly pulled from the novel. He only altered them when necessary for clarity (I couldn't tell when that occurred: I just know it because the author said so).

I've only read To Kill a Mockingbird once, but it's one of those books that sticks with you because it's so brilliant and meaningful. Still, there were times I didn't understand what was going on in a particular frame or set of frames. But, in general, when I couldn't figure out what was happening it was quickly clarified, so a handful of frames that perplexed me was never enough to cause a problem. Also, the farther you get into this particular graphic novel, the better it becomes.

Highly recommended - An excellent adaptation of a classic novel into graphic novel form. The characters are clearly identifiable and there were only a few instances in which I couldn't tell exactly what was happening but the confusion didn't last long. I particularly appreciated the use of Harper Lee's actual wording. I didn't know it was hers till the author's note but I presumed so because of the language, which is pretty distinctive and a little old-fashioned.

Additional notes:

Hey, Kiddo has a particular colored palatte that was a deliberate choice and a little unusual -- not full color but limited to about 4 colors. The finished copy of To Kill a Mockingbird appears to be full color. I have an ARC that's black and white but I looked online and found a video at Amazon of the author and he talks about using watercolor washes and shows himself coloring in some of the images. It looks beautiful and I think maybe the final, colored version will make some of those frames that I had trouble with make sense. In at least one case, there was a series of frames that were so dark that they were almost entirely black. Colored, I would imagine the characters stand out better, even though the reason they were dark was because they took place at night. At any rate, the graphic novelization of To Kill a Mockingbird would probably make a super gift for those who claim it as their favorite book. In my case, it made sense of at least one scene that I had trouble understanding when I read the book, years ago, so it's also great for anyone who loves the language but may have been slightly baffled by a scene or two.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Catch-up #2: Imprisoned by Sandler, Boxers and Saints by Yang, The Haunting of Hill House by Jackson

Another day, another attack on the sidebar. We can party when I'm finished.


The subtitle of Imprisoned by Martin W. Sandler says it all: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During WWII. I don't know what made me mentally reduce this horror to the thought that perhaps it was merely immigrants, not naturalized citizens that were forced into prison camps in the U.S. during WWII, but boy was I wrong. They were not only citizens but some some were 2nd or 3rd generation and they were people who owned businesses, contributed immensely to the American economy as well as farming practices in the U.S. and were incredibly proud of being American citizens. As a result of hysteria, they were forced to sell their land and possessions for next to nothing, rounded up, and imprisoned in deliberately remote and hellish places. Now, I understand.

Imprisoned is an oversized book published for children by Walker Books for Young Readers (a Bloomsbury imprint) so it has lots of nice photographs and slightly large print but the author doesn't talk down to his audience. He clearly describes the politics involved in the unconstitutional decision to put American citizens in camps, the racial prejudice Japanese Americans had been dealing with since their arrival, the living conditions and the horror of losing everything they'd worked for, the amazing strength of character and creativity shown by those imprisoned and the various attempts at reparation and results. So, there's plenty of material that adults may enjoy every bit as much as the targeted younger audience. I bought my copy and I'm glad I did. I'll be referring back to it and looking up some of the other books mentioned.

Yet another purchase, I bought both Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang, companion graphic novels that tell the story of the Boxer Rebellion from two differing viewpoints.

Boxers tells the story from the viewpoint of a young boy called Little Bao who sees the Christians in China as foreign devils and a threat, while Saints tells the side of a young Chinese girl (called Four Girl by her family) who becomes a Christian and is able to acquire a real name of her own, Vibiana. Their stories intersect when they cross paths as children and again when one kills the other as the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fist (to which Little Bao belongs) violently overtakes the Christians.

I read Boxers and Saints because I loved The Eternal Smile and American Born Chinese by Yang. I can't say I loved Boxers and Saints as much, but I did like them and reading graphic novels is a tremendously palatable way to learn a bit about history. I'd heard about the Boxer Rebellion but if you'd asked me what it was before I read Boxers and Saints, I probably would have said, "The year everyone decided to leave out the Christmas decorations, maybe?" or something equally inane.

There are elements of magical realism to the stories but I don't feel like saying much more. Andi's review of Boxers and Saints is much better than anything I can think of to say. You should read it.

Speaking of Andi, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is a book I read casually as part of a read-along (IOW, I didn't officially sign up to participate), although I never saw any mention of a hashtag and it took me forever to figure out the read-along was hosted by The Estella Society, not Estella's Revenge. Close but no cigar.

I've read Shirley Jackson's short story collection, The Lottery, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (pre-blog), but this was my first reading of The Haunting of Hill House.

Known as a horror classic, The Haunting of Hill House tells the story of a man named Dr. Montague who has spent years seeking out a haunted house to observe as an experiment. Four characters end up staying in Hill House. Dr. Montague is in charge, of course. Eleanor is a lonely single woman who is looking for adventure and a fresh start after spending much of her adulthood caring for her mother. Theodora is a spirited, happy-go-lucky woman; to her the stay at Hill House is a bit of a lark. Luke, son of the owners and future inheritor of Hill House, is described as a liar but never really gave me the sense that he was an unreliable character, although I wouldn't think of him as trustworthy, either.

The house gives off evil vibes and Eleanor, in particular, seems to be targeted by its antics, inside and out. Even outdoors, bizarre things happen. Eleanor is the most sensitive to psychic phenomenon, having been the victim of a possible gremlin (I think -- not sure I'm remembering right) when she was young. Dr. Montague has informed them that once the house decides to claim someone, they will die trying to get away. Will the 4 visitors survive the escalating terror alive?

I'm not going to give anything away but there were definitely moments The Haunting of Hill House scared the bejeezus out of me. I particularly loved reading the book for the historical perspective, though. Since it was published in 1959, there were oddities of speech and perspective from that time period. I particularly found it interesting that Eleanor thought she was being just a little bit wild when she set out a pair of slacks to wear and mentioned how horrified her mother would be (dresses and skirts only, ladies!) I've been around long enough to have lived with an elementary school dress code in which girls were forbidden to wear pants with one exception: matching pantsuits were allowed. Hard to fathom, today, isn't it? Definitely recommended. I really enjoyed The Haunting of Hill House and will return to it when I want to be creeped out, in the future.

I recommend all four of these books, but among them Imprisoned and The Haunting of Hill House were my 5-star reads; Boxers and Saints got 4 stars.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.