An extra-large egg rolls right into Mother Duck’s nest. She is busy reading and doesn’t notice the new addition. Her hatchlings include a yellow duckling; one with blue spots; another with brown stripes; and a rather unusual, crocodile-shaped youngster, named after his first words. Guji Guji grows bigger and stronger than his siblings, but Mother loves all her offspring the same. When three duck-hungry crocodiles make fun of Guji Guji’s ways and try to tempt him into betraying his family, he is put to the test.
Featured in Volume II, Issue 2 of WOW Review.
A tour-de-force by rising indy comics star Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he’s the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny’s life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax.
Chester is more than a picture book. It is a story told, and retold, by dueling author-illustrators. Melanie Watt starts out with the story of a mouse in a house. Then Melanie’s cat, Chester, sends the mouse packing and proceeds to cover the pages with rewrites from his red marker, and the gloves are off. Melanie and her mouse won’t take Chester’s antics lying down. And Chester is obviously a creative powerhouse with confidence to spare. Where will this war of the picture-book makers lead? 