Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Comics: Tales of the World’s Wildest Beasts.

Tulien, Sean, Blake Hoena, et al.  Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Comics: Tales of the World’s Wildest Beasts.   Capstone Young Readers  2013  144p       ISBN 978-1-4342-4880-0        ms/hs     Hardback    VG-BN Graphic novel

Rudyard Kipling has written the stories of some of the animal world’s most intriguing creatures.  This book contains the stories “How the Leopard Got His Spots”, “How the Elephant Got His Trunk”, “How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin”, and “How the Camel Got His Hump.”  This is a very good graphic novel for young readers.  The colors are bright and simply blended in dramatic drawings.  The drawings themselves are simple yet effectively portray the content of the story. The format of the paperback and the visual layout within the pages add variety and insight into the world of the animals.  This book is recommended for any high-school library and will appeal to many young-adult and reluctant readers.   

Summary: A collection of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories in graphic-novel format.

Legends and myths                                                 --Linda McNeil

Lunge-Larson, Lise. Gifts from the Gods.

Lunge-Larson, Lise. Gifts from the Gods. Houghton Mifflin/Clarion/Graphia/Kingfisher, 2011.

90p.     $18.99.            ISBN 978-0-547-15229-5       ms/hs   E-BN  

This book identifies and explains various familiar words and terms from Greek mythology.  Definitions and brief stories regarding word origins are presented.  This text presents the ancient tales of Greek mythology in a lively manner as present-day, familiar terms are identified, presented, and defined as used in their original sense. The language is easily understandable to middle- and high-school students, making the concepts easy to read and for young adult students.
The unique format of the book is to present the word, provide the definition, and offer the derivation of the term.  Subsequent pages deliver the tale in a succinct but thorough manner.  Beautiful illustrations are interspersed with the text, creating an exciting visual appeal for the reader.
This book is both exceptionally well written and visually appealing.  Each chapter offers a new and unique term and its connection to a myth.  Myths are presented accurately, and each one enhances the definition and continued use of a particular term in the English language.  Gifts from the Gods is a "must purchase" for any library.                   Subject: Greek Mythology
Virginia McGarvey