BirdCatDog (Family Comic Friday)

A Graphic Novel by Lee Nordling & Meritxell Bosch

 

Now I'm not a fan of graphic novels without words. I feel like I don't get my money's worth and I also feel like I've been dumbed down. However, since I do publish family friendly reviews of comics and graphic novels, I would be remiss if I vetoed reviewing books that weren't my thing.

 

'Three Heroes, Three Stories, Zero Words." That's the concept behind this all-ages graphic novel. The story reads two ways- straight across or left to right. On top of each page you’ve got a bird who wants to be free, in the middle a cat whose is need of a little adventure, and on the bottom is a loyal guard dog. Now if you only want to read about the bird, you just read the top section straight across. However, if you want to enjoy the nuances of how these intrepid animals’ stories enter twine with each other, then you read the book as you'd normally do.

 

In essence, there are 4 ways to read this book. It's a very clever concept that I expect will win this title some awards.

 

example of the 4 ways to read this book.
straight across or l-r.

The art is adorable. The stories are clever. The use of a separate color palette helps keep the action clear and flowing, though I must admit a couple of times, I got lost in the panels as the art isn't 100% sequential. Since this tells the story of 3 characters, the panels do have to go backwards a little bit at times. For example, you might see the bird escaping from a predator hawk by using the dog as cover. By the time you get to the dog walking to the middle of his yard and then you see the two birds flying past. It might seem like they looped the canine twice but in reality to explain why the dog shows up all of a sudden in the bird's story, you have to show what happens in the dog’s story.

 

I doubt children will have a problem with this. But if for some reason it becomes a concern, now you can explain these seemingly out of place time loops.

 

Again, I expect good this from this book in the near future. I really expect it to win a variety of publishing awards for its creative format. The book is intended for all ages but it could double as infant's 'first graphic novel.' But it's not a board book so pages could be damaged. But hey, let's get them started early right?

 

In paperback form, this book sells on Amazon for $6.95 or less. That's not a bad price! I found BirdCatDog at the library in hardback form, so that could be an option as well.


Worth Consuming


Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.