When TOON Books originally asked me to advertise their Maya Makes a Mess contest in July, I asked for a copy of the book to review along with the contest. I mentioned in the blog post how much I liked TOON Books, so I selfishly wanted the book for myself. When we got the book in the mail, the girls wanted to read it right away. Gloria ended up loving this book and reading it over and over. In fact, I've had a hard time holding onto it for long enough to get a review written! It's been a huge hit at our house.
The book opens with Maya and her parents eating dinner at the table. Her parents are scolding her for eating with her hands (something I am very familiar with!). The scolding continues: "'Sit down!' 'Sit up!'... 'Use a spoon!'. (p.6) Frustrated, Maya asks why she has to follow all these rules. Her father tells her "You need manners! What if you were eating dinner with the QUEEN?!" (p. 7). And then the doorbell promptly rings. Of course, it is the Queen's courtier. Maya is whisked off to court for a dinner party. She does point out htat she has already eaten, but that doesn't matter. When the royal dinner is served, it is made up of all the things a child does NOT like to eat - goose livers, snail salad, spinach juice and broccoli broth. So Maya pulls out her manners to request pasta with ketchup. She pats herself on the back for good manners, and when she isn't sure which fork is the pasta fork, she digs in to the pasta the way she always has. There are slurps, long noodles jammed into Maya's mouth, slipping through her teeth. Suddenly, Maya becomes aware that while she's enjoying herself, everyone in the room is staring at her.
Maya's total lack of manners is at first horrifying to the party guests. The Queen is shocked and disgusted. But when she asks Maya why she eats that way, Maya tells the Queeen that it makes food taste better. This then intrigues the Queen, who decides she (and everyone else at court) should try eating Maya's way. There is a huge free-for-all, with people eating messily, but enjoying every moment of it. And lest you parents worry that your children will want to eat like Maya all the time, the Queen declares that this has been so much fun that they will all eat like this again. But only on holidays.
In my first blog post on this book, I mentioned that I was a little leery of it. I, along with most parents, work hard to instill good manners and behavior in my daughters. I was afraid that this book would indulge bad manners, messy eating and ignoring the polite way to do things. I was especially afraid when Gloria kept reading it - poring over it again and again in her bed, on the couch, wherever she could find it. I was sure there was going to be a manners revolution in my house.
But I was so focused on the bad manners that I didn't realize Modan's subtle way of putting those manners into perspective. Maya's bad manners aren't applauded by the Queen at first. As I said previously, the Queen stops the entire dinner party in disgust. But it's the way Maya describes her way of eating that appeals to the Queen. When the Queen asks, repulsed, "...why, for heaven's sake, do you eat that way?" Maya tells her "It makes food taste better." and adds "much better!" (p. 25). It's Maya's total enjoyment that makes the Queen curious. The double page spread that follows is hilarious and gross at the same time. People are cramming lettuce in their mouths with their hands, slurping soup out of a ladle, feeding each other and spilling. But here is the best part - the Queen's dinner party has gone from being a stuffy affair, with too many forks and food no one wants to eat, to a fun party where the guests are relaxed, smiling, and enjoying themselves. That's what Modan is really emphasizing here. There is a time and a place for manners and fun. Maya may have mixed the two up slightly, but she has brought fresh air into the palace. And the Queen is wise enough to mandatethat this sort of fun should only take place on holidays. This isn't an everyday free-for-all - it's reserved only for special occasions.
For me, one of the best things about this book are the illustrative details. Modan gets the life of a young girl just right. From the very first panel, Maya is a total charming mess. As she leaves on the plane to the palace, she stands on the cabin stairway, waving cheerfully. She wears mismatched socks, scrunched around her feet, with no shoes and unkempt hair. Her parents fruitlessly wave a dress and a toothbrush at Maya while the ambassador mutters "'No time, no time!'" (p. 11). The Queen is much younger than Queen Elizabeth, but does have corgis that follow her every move. And the illustration of her at the wild feast, pouring ketchup into her mouth straight from the bottle, is simply perfect. There is nothing better. Oh, except for the long, loopy strand of spaghetti that meanders along the bottom of all the pages. It begins on the back of the title page, with a pot filled with boiled noodles. And it ends, on the last page, in a final perfectly fitting detail. Just perfect.
You may also remember from my blog post that I love how TOON Books has created these titles for easy readers. This book lists its reading level as Grades 1-2, and I would say for the most part that is exactly right. Many words are repeated throughout so if a child doesn't know it the first time they encounter it, they'll have plenty of opportunities to review it. The only place I thought an emerging reader might have trouble was with the food labels at the dinner party. I don't know many first graders who would recognize the words broth, livers or souffle, but that could just be nitpicking on my part. Otherwise this book is easy for a child to pick up and get great enjoyment from.
The visual literacy aspect is also strong. There are at the most six panels per page. Modan is careful to indicate movement from panel to panel, so the new reader can easily decode which panel they should look at next. And text and illustrations work together harmoniously. Maya is very expressive, and Modan includes lots of emphasis in the text through bold fonts and italics. It's easy to see how the text should be read. All in all, Maya is a fun book to share with young readers. It might make them not just a voracious reader, but a polite eater too.
Maya Makes a Mess. Rutu Modan. TOON Books, 2012.
sent by publisher for review
I don't usually talk about graphic novels for children for one simple reason - my public library doesn't carry them!! When I worked at the Glendale Public Library in Arizona, I had librarians on my staff with excellent graphic novel taste (this book was written by one of my staff) and I honestly could not imagine living in a place without graphic novels for children. Now I want my girls to begin reading some graphic novels, and I can't get my hands on them - it is frustrating!
One of those series is the innovative easy-to-read comic book series produced by the Candlewick Books imprint, TOON Books. TOON Books is remarkable for being a collaboration between Francoise Mouly (art editor of the New Yorker among other accomplishments) and Art Spiegelman, who is a celebrated, award-winning comic book creator. They have taken many famous comic book and graphic novel creators and artists and have them create books designed specifically for emergent readers. Comic books can help young readers "crack the code" of literacy - the illustrations and text help guide them from left to right, and from the top to the bottom of the page. Also, even though these are beginning readers, they are great stories as well. One of my favorites, Little Mouse Gets Ready, was written and drawn by Jeff Smith (who created the uber-popular Bone series). The books are leveled, so parents and teachers can tell at a glance what would be most appropriate for their reader.
TOON's backlist is very strong, but there are a couple of books that are coming out this fall that I wanted to draw your attention to. I am interested in seeing A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse, by Frank Viva. Last year I read his picture book, Along a Long Road. What is remarkable about that book is that it was created as one enormous piece of art (from the book: "created as a single continuous thirty-five-foot-long piece of art using Adobe Illustrator"). It had a retro yet modern feel to it. I cannot wait for this new title from him - I think he will only continue to become more innovative.
But I'm really here to tell you all about an opportunity to get a new TOON books Fall 2012 title for yourself. TOON Books is celebrating the publishing of the book Maya Makes a Mess with a very fun giveaway. This book is written by another high-quality graphic novelist - Rutu Modan won a Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Novel for her first published work. She has written about a topic that is very familiar to parents - Maya, who has atrocious table manners, is suddenly invited to dine with the Queen. Will the Queen find Maya's manners lacking? I don't want to give too much away, as I plan to blog this soon. But TOON Books is offering copies of this title to the readers who are the messiest eaters. I hate to tell you this, but bad manners are encouraged here!! Follow this link to see how to enter (but basically all you have to do is email a picture - what could be easier?). While you are there, check out some hilarious pictures of TOON staffers making...well, a mess. It is a fun way to encourage reading. If you win a copy, you'd better let me know! By the way, don't wait to enter - this giveaway ends August 15th.
Watch for my review of Maya Makes a Mess coming soon. I hope that more reviews of great graphic novels and comic books for children will convince the children's librarian at our public library to reconsider. For now, look for TOON books at your library and enjoy them!
Little Mouse Gets Ready. Jeff Smith. TOON Books, 2009.
A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse. Frank Viva. TOON Books, 2012.
Maya Makes a Mess. Rutu Modan. TOON Books, 2012.
