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No Comments Today’s Post–Today!
Look at me go, right? And considering I’ve already loaded and run the dishwasher, given blood, taken care of our overdue library books, completed an Amazon return, and (mostly) eaten lunch, I’d say I’m having a fairly productive day. What’s more, I finished reading Wendy Mass’s Lo & Behold last night, and I’ve decided that it will be one of the graphic novels my 15-year-old gets for Christmas. (She’ll probably get the other one after Christmas, since it will be a lot harder to finish potential Christmas gift books when Christmas vacation starts in half an hour or so.) I was reading it as a possibility for my 9-year-old because it seemed on the short side, but it turns out that the pages are thinner than your average graphic novel, because there are at least 200 of them. (Not that that’s terribly long for my sophomore, you understand, but it’s at least not TOO short.)
Plot-wise it reminds me a bit of Debbie Fong’s Next Stop, although Lo & Behold was published first; both involve a road trip, a loving father, and mother issues, not to mention a new friendship and some much-needed emotional healing. The road trip in Lo & Behold, however, is a short one, and Addie and her dad travel together. As he works at a unique sort of summer job, Addie grudgingly starts to emerge from the shell she’s been building around herself since her mother’s accident; how and why she manages, however, is part of a plot element I wasn’t expecting to enjoy nearly as much as I did. Mass’s graphic novel debut is an exploration of both the possibilities and (to a lesser extent) the limitations of modern technology, and her handling of the topic is impressive. The emotional themes are less suited to the youngest full-length graphic novel enthusiasts, but they’re excellent nonetheless; if I were a 6th- or 7th-grade English teacher, I’d be tempted to teach this one. (You could do so much with it–and the kids would likely enjoy reading it as well!) If you need a last minute book gift for a late tween or earlier teen, take a closer look at this one.