Cardboardia: The Other Side of the Box (Family Comic Friday)

Cardboardia is a new graphic novel series for middle schoolers that shows a lot of promise. It follows 6 year old Pokey, her older brother and his two best friends as they travel through a discarded cardboard box into a magical realm made entirely of paper!

This first volume was really interesting to me because the creative team pulled a page from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's playbook. Just like in Kurosawa's Rashimon, the first 4 chapters of this book are told from the perspectives of the 4 students. While you think you understand everything that is going on from Pokey's perspective, it all changes when you experience the story from the other's POV. And for a middle school graphic novel, I thought that was really creative!

The multiple perspective plotting also helps this story stay fresh. The first volume isn't even 110 pages long and to tell this story from only one viewpoint would really dull the mystery that is buried deep inside the meaning of the story's title of CARDBOARDIA. There's a really popular children's book and movie franchise that I believe writer Richard Fairgray (Blastosaurus) and first time graphic novel illustrator Lucy Campagnolo take inspiration from. But I don't want to mention it as I think it was give away the big twist ending. 

I will say, while I liked the twist, (actually, I think there's 2 big twists) I was disappointed in the ending. That's because it ended with a "To Be Continued.' Established readers of my blog will know that I hate those kinds of endings, especially for kids. Back when I was a child who lived in a more rural area, it wasn't easy to go to a comic book store every month to get the next installment of a book. At least now with Amazon and Kindle, it's a little more accessible for kids to get the next chapter. Unfortunately, when it comes to Cardboardia Book 2, you'll have to wait until October to find out what happens next. 

Still, that's plenty of time to get your hands on this debut segment. And read it again and again and again. 'The Other Side of the Box' was imaginative, quirky, and a tad mysterious. Even though it's a book aimed at middle school readers, those in grades 4 and 5 should really enjoy this adventure book as well! 

Parents and guardians should enjoy it too as there's really nothing overly objectionable in this book. There's no fighting or violence. Just your normal squabbles between siblings. Pokey seems to have a warped sense of what her older friends talk about in their spare time. But it's more for laughs than the author attempting to be crude. 

Now, there is a creepy looking queen who might be a bit too scary for younger readers. Thankfully, she's not in the book for long. But her minions, who do have more presence in the story, are more comical than intimidating. 

Perhaps the biggest issue is the lack of respect the students seem to have for their teachers and principal. Though, again as those segments are told from the students' perspective, that insolence might be due to perceived hatred that all pupils feel from their instructors from time to time. But those parts of the story could be great talking points in order to help get kids back into the right mindset for the coming school year! 

An enjoyable read that takes inspiration from a wide variety of classic mediums that should thrill the entire family. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Classic Toys from a Madman's Youth: Advent 2019 Day 18

Honestly, you can't do any look at classic toys without including the one that is my focus for today's Advent. In fact, what I am going to talk about isn't even a toy per se. But it's uses by kids are the stuff dreams are made of. I'm talking about cardboard!

Parents- you know the scenario. You spend hours upon hours of planning. Your little one has told you what they want for Christmas. Then you scour the internet for where to get it. You either order it or pick it up in person. Then you place the gift in a large container, wrap it up and place it under the tree. Then Christmas comes. Your little one destroys the paper, pulls out the gift of their dreams! Your child plays with the toy for a while and then BOOM! It happens!

They ends up playing with the box and have tons more fun with it!

What about the gift wrapping procedure itself? Once you use up all the paper, what's left over? Only the greatest thing ever! The cardboard tube!

And it's not just the kids who love cardboard! My cats are addicted to an empty box!

Who hasn't used the tube as a make shift horn. Or put their ear to one side and listened to the odd swooshing sound made by air entering the tube's tunnel. Or you've used the tubes to play with as swords or in my case- lightsabers!

Sometimes if you were really lucky, a family member had to buy something large- like a new fridge or a washing machine. INSTANT CLUB HOUSE! Or Fortress! Or pirate ship! Or tank! The ideas were literally endless.

Companies actually got wise to this and started making club houses out of cardboard. My cousins got one in which you could color it with markers!

There was this really awesome one I got for Christmas one year in which it unfolded into a space ship! It was printed on both sides. The interior had buttons and a view screen like the cockpit of a ship. But the really cool thing about this cardboard UFO was that it had all of these corners that could unfold the ship into dozens of shapes even turning it into a tall rocket!

Sadly, I cannot find pictures of this toy either in my collection of Christmases gone by photos or on Google. But man, was it cool! 

If I ever find a picture, I promise to update!

For my Advent gift for you today, here's a really cool video with over a dozen ideas for reusing that cardboard, including some neat stuff for the kiddies to play with! I hope they never get rid of cardboard- It's uses truly are limitless and FUN!

ENJOY!

Cardboard (Family Comic Friday)

 

I don’t care if this is more of a kid's graphic novel than geared for adults, Doug TenNapel has done it again. I'm such a fan of his works and this one ranks up there are one of the best.

TenNapel is so good, his books are destined for Disney Pixar status. The characters are real, full of emotion and pathos that transpires on the page. Not to mention quirky plots that just scream for a chance to be on the silver screen.

Here, a young boy and his out of work dad come across some magic cardboard that can bring anything to life. The caveat is that the duo is instructed to A) not ask for more cardboard and B) return any unused portions to the seller. Making matters worse, the neighborhood bully has sights on stealing the cardboard for himself in order to make an army of corrugated monsters.

A fantastic story. One of my favorites of TenNapel’s. The character of Boxer Bill might be one of my all-time favs. I loved this book and I cannot wait for the author’s next offering!

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.