Reading Road Trip Detour: Giggles and Graphic Novels Ahead!

Hold onto your hard hats!  Library Media Specialist Mrs. Cifrodella and her family are setting up a Reading Road Trip Detour, leaving the school year far behind and constructing some serious mid-summer fun. What’s on the agenda?  Family time, creative play time, soak-up-the-sun-and-splash-in-the-surf time, and (of course) plenty of reading time! 

When friends ask for summer reading suggestions, Jordan C. recommends the Moxy Maxwell series by Peggy Elizabeth Gifford (RL 5.1).  Featuring one of our favorite procrastinating heroines, the books are fresh and funny, with short chapters that are cool to read on hot summer days. Mrs. Cifrodella's pick? Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano (but She Does Love Being in Recitals).

Reading Road Trippers looking for smooth summer reading with comic-strip flair will like the Big Nate series, written and illustrated by Lincoln Peirce (RL 3.5). The books follow the school-based adventures and misadventures of mischievous sixth-grade hero Nate Wright.

Make a right turn toward graphic novels! Cave drawings, ancient hieroglyphics, medieval tapestries: stories told in pictures have been around for thousands of years.  Modern graphic novels combine elements of chapter books, picture books, and movies. Graphic novels are like traditional books in length and plot development… but they're written and illustrated in comic-book style!
 

The Smurfs graphic novels by Peyo- Papercutz (Grades 3-6). Just in time for a newly-released summer movie, the lovable smurfy blue comic characters make a graphic novel debut! Titles in the series include: The Purple Smurfs, The Smurfs and the Magic Flute, The Smurf King, The Smurfette, The Smurfs and the Egg, and The Smurfs and the Howlibird.

The Bone graphic novels by Jeff Smith (Grades 3-6) present the adventures of three cousins from Boneville: Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone.  One Lafayette reader marvels that the author “compresses so much adventure into small books.”  Johnathon W. appreciates the comic-book qualities of the series, and Dennis M. reports that the books are “awesome… Something exciting is always happening.”   James S. gives Bone: The Great Cow Race rave reviews; James M. would recommend the series “to kids all over the world.”

In the choose-your-own adventure graphic novel Meanwhile: Pick Any Path, 3,856 Story Possibilities by Jason Shiga (RL 3.0), a boy stumbles upon the laboratory of a mad scientist who asks him to choose between testing a mind-reading device, a time machine, and a doomsday machine.



Comic books come to life!  From 1985 to 1995, the good-for-a-giggle adventures of six-year-old mischief-maker Calvin and his best buddy Hobbes the stuffed tiger filled newspaper funny pages with smiles and laughter. Check out these Calvin and Hobbes video shorts, featuring Reading Road Tripper Charlie T. and his Dad, a Lafayette LMC volunteer:

We can check out Calvin and Hobbes at the Library of the Chathams:

In It’s a Magical World: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection, Bill Watterson’s skillfully drawn comics follow the adventures of imaginative little boy Calvin and his stuffed toy tiger Hobbes.

There’s Treasure Everywhere: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection presents more than three hundred comic strips that chronicle the continuing adventures of rambunctious Calvin and his tiger companion Hobbes.

Butterfly by Julie C.

As we continue down the road, let’s pack a bit of Calvin and Hobbes wisdom in our suitcases: “We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are.”  Keep your eyes on your reading, Road Trippers… and enjoy the summer, wherever you are!