Saturday Morning Cartoons- The Nameless City/ Never Say Narwhal

Hicks, Faith Erin. The Nameless City

April 5th 2016 by First Second

Public library copy.

Kaidu comes to the big quasi-Asiatic city to meet his father, a military official, for the first time, and to train to help his people, the Dao,defend the city. So many people have tried to rule the city that it has a lot of names, and is therefore essentially "nameless". Rat is a street girl who occasionally gets help from monks, and after Kaidu narrowly beats her in a race, she agrees to help him learn to run in exchange for food. This is dangerous, because Kaidu is not supposed to leave the palace or to be consorting with people who are not Dao. In the end, of course, Rat manages to save the day.

Strengths: This is a graphic novel, and the story line is a little more sophisticated than many. First Second puts out interesting graphic novels, and the artwork in this is quite nice, although the characters all look vaguely the same. 

Weaknesses: These books always smell awful, and fall apart so easily. This is a huge problem, since they are also on the expensive side and get a lot of use.

What I really think: I should buy this, and $13.19 at Baker and Taylor isn't as bad as it could be. Buying this hurts less than replacing my copy of Stickman Odyssey, with which my students are obsessed. Of course, since it's a trilogy, I'll have three moldering piles of graphic novel dust in a couple of years...

Krosoczka Jarrett J. Never Say Narwhal: Platypus Police Squad #4
May 17th 2016 by Walden Pond Press
E ARC from Edelweiss Above the Treeline

It's out. I'll order it, but then I'll have to read it because I let my E ARC expire. Decent enough series, but by the time the last one is published, the first one will be in tatters. Sigh. Five books max for a series, people. Five books. After that, I just lose interest.