Different Like Coco: A Different Kind of Picture Book

A Review By: Amelia

I’ve never really cared about Coco Chanel because I have little interest in fashion and, honestly, she always came off as an icon that was more harm than good to idolize. Why I decided to read a short, children’s story biography on her given this, I’ll never know. But I did and I’m glad I did!

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was always different, and she vowed to prove that being different was an advantage! Coco shows just how far a person can come with spunk, determination, and flair.

The author and illustrator and Different Like Coco is Elizabeth Matthews who made her chic picture-book debut with this lively look at a legendary woman. Says the author-illustrator: “When I look in my closet, it’ s easy to appreciate what Coco Chanel accomplished for herself, for women, for fashion, and, of course, for little black dresses everywhere.” She’s a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design has a passion for fashion.

The art style in Different Like Coco is a simple style that’s more sketchy than complete. They’re like doodles in a notebook and coloured in with subtle watercolours. My one qualm with the art is that the postures of the people that eventually start wearing Chanel’s designs. They’re slouchy and not elegant at all, it kind of detracts from the overall effect the story is trying to convey. 

The book follows Coco Chanel’s life and career in a shorten version that’s accessible for children and even though Chanel’s career might not be something that everyone strives for, cares about, or even thinks has meaning (I mean, I didn’t before because it’s high fashion and I could care less), I think this book has a lot to teach. It shows that unique is good, determination is great, and finding what you want to do in life is best.

I think the book’s biggest charm is that it’s about a woman who, not only made a career for herself in the early 1900s, but also shaped women’s lives for decades to come after her. She changed women’s fashion and, in so doing, changed women’s perceived roles in life. This book shows children (both male and female) that they don’t have to take what’s handed to them in life and that’s that! Be a free spirit, demand equality, and do what you love without hesitation!

My final thoughts on Different Like Coco are that it’s an interesting little picture book that shouldn’t be passed over just because it’s about a fashion designer. It’s a unique book about a unique subject and it’s worth a read.

Hyperbole And A Half: I Didn’t Love It Half As Much As I Thought I Would, But Saying I Hate It Is Definitely Hyperbole!

A Review By: Amelia

In the last few years blogs becoming books has been a huge market. Some of them become great works onto themselves and others fall way short and just reprint and charge money for something I can see for free on the internet! Hyperbole and a Half is a weird mix of the two.

Hyperbole and a Half is a combination web comic and blog written by Allie Brosh, whose notable achievements, in her own words, are living with two dogs and being very, very depressed. She describes herself as a recluse that does selfish stuff and has no formal training in art, which is why her comics are rudimentary and similar to Rage Comics. The blog is a retelling of her life from childhood to her challenges with depression and what it’s like for her to be an adult. Her blog turned into a book in 2013.

In Hyperbole and a Half Brosh combines observational and absurdist humor with crude graphics (that are intentionally crude) to relate events from her life in rural Montana, living with ADHD, depression, her dogs–pretty much everything in her life can be found in her blog turned book. Her blog is the source of several popular memes, including a humorously "improved" medical pain chart and how to excite yourself to the mundane with “Clean all the things”.

The pain chart

Her famous meme

One of the biggest parts of her blog turned book is that she suffers from

depression and her depiction of it has been praised by critics and psychologists as an insightful description of the disease. Some experts have lauded Hyperbole and a Half as one of the best contemporary portraits of the condition.

She also tells stories about her dogs and boyfriend and her childhood. They all got a few giggles from me but I found myself really put off by her childhood stories at times. She showed herself as a very selfish/bratty child and reading her stories made me cringe. I’ll never know if this is actually how she was as a child or if it’s just how she remembers herself and is hyperbolizing (a possibility considering the title of the blog turned book) but some of her temper tantrums really made me cringe!

So, all in all, how do I feel about Hyperbole and a Half ? Well, at first I was on the fence, I mean, here’s a crude cartoon that I can read for free as a blog. But then I actually got the book in my hands and it’s so colourful and appealing to flip through. Brosh also added new stories and illustrations and it is a collection of her best work without the hassle of having to skim through her whole blog to find it!

My final thoughts on Hyperbole and a Half are that it is an entertaining look into a weird woman’s life and also an amazing contemporary portrayal of depression. The art is rough and some of the stories made me cringe at the thought of any child being selfish enough to do half the things she talks about, but I suppose that’s where the charm comes from. Brosh offers a new outlook on things that so many people claim to have figured out. It’s really quite an astounding piece of internet blog gone book.

The Adventures of Tintin Series: Before Nathan Drake, Lara Croft, and Even Indian Jones, There Was Tintin!

A Review By: Amelia

One of many comic covers

Tintin is a huge part of comic history so it’s always a shock to me when people have no idea who he is! I mean, it’s Tintin! He’s got red hair and a little white dog named Snowy. He’s had comics, and radio shows, and a cartoon, and a Steven Spielberg movie! He’s iconic and highly entertaining. Recently I read every single Tintin comic there is so I’m here to review it today and convince the rest of you to go and read every single Tintin comic there is!

Now, I’ve known about Tintin since I was a kid as I watched the cartoon series that YTV aired during the day in the 1990s, but if you’re not privy to the knowledge of who the little red-headed, dot-eyed guy is, allow me to fill you in.

Tintin is the ultimate adventurer. The character is an ambitious, young, globetrotting reporter who is always ends up as part of the story he’s attempting to cover. He’s surrounded by a cast of flamboyant, colorful characters—most notably his faithful dog Snowy—who join him on his many adventures as he tears across the globe fighting corrupt gangsters to smugglers to kidnappers to even ending up on the Moon in a couple of issues!

Georges Prosper Remi, known more commonly by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian cartoonist best known for The Adventures of Tintin series, which are considered one of the most popular European comics of the 20^th century! He also wrote Quick & Flupke and Jo, Zette and Jocko. His works have been widely acclaimed but have also been criticised for instances of anti-Semitism and racism (Tintin’s creation dates back to 1929). Despite this though, Hergé remains a strong influence on the comic medium, particularly in Europe.

Aside from Tintin, there’s five other main characters. There’s the bumbling Thompson and Thomson detectives that rush in and end up hurt in ever ridiculous slapstick comedy kind of ways. There’s Professor Calculus who invents things and is mostly deaf and gets into trouble for both those reasons. There’s Captain Haddock who’s a crusty old sailor full of ridiculous insults and the finest whiskey (provided he hasn’t gotten hurt and dropped it); and, of course, my favourite character: Snowy the dog. He’s a small, white dog that loyally follows Tintin everywhere the adventure takes him and occasionally has a few hilarious inner monologue moments! Honestly, the funniest bits throughout the whole series were when Snowy got drunk because Haddock sloshed his booze on the ground!

The art style all through Tintin (excluding the very first one) is the distinct and consistently adorable style that Hergé created: the ligne claire style. It’s colourful, it’s simple, everyone has dot eyes and they see stars when they get hit! What’s not to love about all that? Hergé was also a master of making his comics emulate movie scenes by implying camera movement. He also went big or went home (so to speak) by making each panel a full body shot of the characters and showing action as it played out. As a whole, the art style is simplistic, but that doesn’t mean it’s not also amazingly thought out! The ligne claire style is emulated by artists all over the world because of Hergé!

My one criticism with the series is that some of the drawings are offensive. Tintin is the product of a gone-by era and it’s obvious in Tintin in the Congo and Tintin in America. There might be others but those two immediately come to mind as the most racist as far as the portrayal of people of colour goes. But, taken in stride, it’s still highly enjoyable. I think, much like reading Gone With the Wind, you have to realize it was written in a different time and adjust your mind set to that. Of course if you’d prefer to skip right over those issues there’s still a tonne to choose from.

My final thoughts on The Adventures of Tintin are that they are a very entertaining reads and I highly suggest them! It’s colourful and fun to look at, the characters are as flamboyant and colourful as the art, and each comic’s frantic pace is sure to please those looking for a thrilling story that’s also filled to the brim with slapstick comedy.

By far my favourite moment!

The Company Man: Steampunk-y, Sci-Fi-y, Crime Noir-y, Goodness!

A Review By: Amelia

I love steampunk. I just love it. It’s a great world/style to muck about in! It takes the best parts of Victorian society and adds technological advances that might have happened and that’s super fascinating for me because I love alternate histories! The Company Man isn’t quite steampunk, but it is just enough for me to have jumped on his book without a second thought.

The McNaughton Corporation is a corporation so large, so groundbreaking, so extraordinary, it is the apex of American industry. They supplied weapons for the great war, built massive airships, created a shining metropolis from the fishing wharfs where the Union skulks all the way to the sky high buildings where CEOs play their business games. But something is wrong in the city. One day a subway car pulls into a station with eleven dead bodies inside. It had left the last station four minutes ago and each person lay butchered like they never saw it coming. Worst of all, all eleven were Union. Cyril Hayes, a semi-washed up, mostly addicted detective must fix it. There is a dark secret behind the inventions of McNaughton and with a war brewing between the executives and the workers. Caught between the union and the company, between the police and the victims, Hayes must uncover the mystery before the whole city burns.

This isn’t the first Robert Jackson Bennett book I’ve reviewed. Devotees of my reviews will remember my American Elsewhere one (which was so super hard for me to write because it was such a complex book and I was trying not to give anything away). The Company Man is his second full length novel and was nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award as well as an Edgar Award. I said it in the last review and I’ll say it again here: Bennett is a master of speculative fiction!

The main character of The Company Man is Cyril Hayes and boy is he messed up! He suffers from a pseudo-physic condition that leaves him more or less crippled when it comes on and has left him addicted to any pain killers he can get his hands on. He works for McNaughton as a kind of internal affairs officer and when he’s put in charge of the mass murder in the subways his life only gets harder and more messed up. He’s not really a hero or an anti-hero, just a guy trying to do his job because he has too. That changes a little near the end of the book (but I’ll stop myself there to keep from spoiling anything) but mostly it’s just a guy trying to get through his life.

The shining light of this story is definitely the locations in this steampunk story. The huge shining city of Evesden is so spectacularly detailed: there’s not a scene that doesn’t go in the story where all the intricacies are described or noted upon. There’s giant airships, underground trolleys, dirty slums, and a shining downtown. There’s underground machines that only a sixth sense can feel and secrets hidden just below the gleaming facade. All in all, it’s a setting that isn’t seen every often and won’t soon be forgotten!

The Company Man is such an interesting mash-up of genres. It’s steampunk, sci-fi with crime noir and mystery thriller all rolled up into one! The characters progress the story nicely and the location is unique and original. It’s truly a joy to read.

My final thoughts on The Company Man are that it’s a great read! It was a little slow to get going but the finale more than enough makes up for that because Bennett is amazing at ending his books with unexpected twists and serious action. Honestly, the last hundred pages of this book had be wishing there were a thousand more I could read about this universe!

The Flute Player: Apache Legend Lives Again

A Review By: Amelia

I’ve recently deleved into Apache culture for a story I’m writing and I must say the folklore is fascinating (although I’m a fan of almost all worldly folklore). And because I’m such a softie underneath it all I was especially drawn to a particular love story called The Flute Player. Luckily, a beautifully illustrated children’s book was there to help me appreciate it to the fullest.

Put very simply, The Flute Player tells a tale of love and lose that the author, Lacapa Michael, remembers from his childhood.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Michael and his family moved to Whiteriver, Arizona, on the White Mountain Apache Reservation at the age of one. Michael became well known for writing and illustrating many children's books, including: The Mouse Couple, the award winning The Flute Player, and Antelope Woman. Years ago, Michael was instrumental in organizing the first Native American Arts and Crafts Festival in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona, which continues today as an annual tradition. He was sought after nationally and internationally by storyteller's conventions to tell his wonderful native stories, many of which were based on his own experiences. He sadly passed away in 2005. Of her late husband's artistic vision, Kathy Lacapa says..."His philosophy was...'Always write about what you know, be true to your culture or region and never let go of your imagination'. "

In an effort to keep Michael's legacy alive, AAWM has established a scholarship fund in his name to benefit any resident within the greater White Mountains area wishing to pursue a higher education in the arts.

The story of The Flute Player is one heard through every civilization that’s ever existed: a love that couldn’t be. It’s essentially boy and girl meet, boy and girl share a special secret, boy and girl lose each other, but boy and girl live on into eternity. The Flute Player goes a little deeper though. Since it’s a folktale from the Apache culture it’s used as a way to explain a certain element of nature. This story uses the lovers to explain the sound that the wind makes while whistling through canyons.   

The art style is aesthetically so wonderful. The colours are vivid and the lines so perfectly straight. The art is also full of geometric patterns that draw the eye across the page. It’s just all quite lovely and definitely not something you see every day. It might not be something that’s immediately going to appeal to children but I’m a twenty-four year old, so what do I know about children right?

My final thoughts on The Flute Player are that it is such a great book. The artwork is beautiful and unique, the story comes from actual Apache mythology (and I loves me some mythology), and it really is such a simple and respectful way to teach others about a different culture. Definitely a child’s book worth looking into!

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: One Person Is All It Takes To Change The World

A Review By: Amelia

Humans have been conditioned to root for the underdog since birth. We hiss at the big evil holding the little person down and cheer wildly when that little person succeeds. It’s because we see that underdog in ourselves that we do it: that little person is us and every step towards improving life that that underdog takes is a step we too could be making! It’s all very inspiring and that’s why I was drawn to The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the true story of a boy in Africa that refused to do nothing even though the world was giving him nothing.

When fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba’s Malawi village was hit by a drought, everyone’s crops began to fail. Without enough money for food, let alone school, William spent his days in the library and, because of his perseverance, figured out how to bring electricity to his village. Adamant to succeed against the odds, William built a functioning windmill out of junkyard scraps, and became a hero to his village.

William Kamkwamba grew up without any real luxury besides an education. But when he stopped being able to attend his school what little luxury he had seemed to be gone forever. That is until he took every available moment to studying on his own at a local library. He used his love of machinery to build a windmill capable of bringing power to his village. Since then, he has built a solar-powered water pump for fresh water, has attended university in the United States, been interviewed on The Daily Show, had a children’s picture book written about his journey to better and world, and been named on the list of ’30 People Under 30 Changing the World’.

Malawi is a country where magic is viewed as the norm and modern science is, at best, a mystery, and at worst, something to be shunned and ignored. It’s a country where life hangs on whether the rains come and where drought and hunger can last half a life time. William Kamkwamba believed he could change this. His neighbours claimed he was crazy but William refused to believe it and with a pile of long forgotten science textbooks, some scrap metal, human curiosity, and determination he crafted a miracle that would forever change lives. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is an extraordinary true story about one boy’s desire for knowledge and how his human inventiveness and just a basic education helped change his community and better the lives of those around him.

My final thoughts on The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind are that it is a truly inspiring tale and not just for those living under crippling adversity. William Kamkwamba is just one man and yet with a little human ingenuity he changed the lives of so many. This book is a testament to the human spirit and our need for community. It will inspire anyone who doubts the power of a single person’s ability to change the world for the better. One person is all it takes.