Manga Friday: The Last Dragon by Jane Yolen

Title: The Last Dragon
Author: Jane Yolen, author; Rebecca Guay, illustrator
Hardcover: 144 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse (2011)
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Tansy, the village healer's headstrong daughter comes across some fireweed, a dragon's bane, and an ancient plant that only shows up when a dragon is near. Her father, curious of the implications of the plant in a world that has been free of dragons for hundreds of years goes off into the forest in search of any sign of a dragon and promptly disappears. As other animals and babies disappear from the little village, chaos ensues in the village of Meddlesome and Tansy is forced to try and save the village.  Enter Lancot, tall, blond, muscular, and only mildly heroic. Can the two of them save the village? 


My thoughts:
The writing is simple and a wonderful companion piece for Guay's lush watercolor illustrations. This is an easy sell for reluctant readers and graphic novel enthusiasts of all ages, and readers really can't go wrong with two prolific professionals in Jane Yolen (author of Owl Moon and my favorite The Devil's Arithmetic) and Rebecca Guay. 


Source: netgalley.com

Review: Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary:

12-year-old Hannah is apathetic and embarrassed by her grandfather's rantings about the Nazis. She knows that her grandfather and grand aunt are survivors from a Nazi concentration camp, but in typical tween fashion, their stories are just white noise and not important to her. However, during a Passover Seder, Hannah is chosen to open the door to the prophet Elijah, and she is transported into Poland in the 1940's as a young girl named Chaya. As Chaya, she is taken to a concentration camp and must live through the terror of trying to survive, and ultimately die in the camp.

My thoughts:

I think that Ms. Yolen does a great job of bringing the horrors of the holocaust to the tween reader.  The tension of Hannah's struggle to survive at camp, as well as the heartbreak as she begins to lose the part of her that is Hannah is balanced off by the twist at the end that ensures that Hannah will never be apathetic toward her family's history again.

Book pairings: if they like this book, what do you give them next?

Similar topic:
Number the Stars by Jane Yolen (same reading level)
Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman (graphic YA novel)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Similar genre:
The Watsons go to Birmingham -- 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
 

Ages 9-12/176 pages/Puffin (2004)/creative nonfiction/source: Hilo Public Library