“Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Graphic Novel,” adapted by Gary Reed, illustrations by Frazer Irving (Puffin Graphics, 176 pages, $9.99)
Graphic novels, enormously popular in Japan, tend to be the also-rans among people who define literature in words, not images. Conversion to graphics would beggar books celebrated for their literary elegance and imagination.
On the other hand, the prolific Newbery Award-winning author Avi argues that a book is a book is a book, and if “Captain Underpants” wins over reluctant readers, more power to the pudgy crusader in tightey-whiteys.
Some stories work better as graphic novels. Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is one. Puffin Graphic’s versions of “Black Beauty,” a beloved classic, and Stephen Crane’s “The Red Badge of Courage” are less successful. (For students unable to slog through Crane’s text, the graphic version hews to the original, conveying its substance if not its elegance.)
But “Frankenstein” translates pretty well, staying true to the novel’s tension and anguish. Shelley’s tale of a rescued scientist whose well-intentioned creation eventually personifies the dark side of mankind, potentially cumbersome in its Victorian text, snaps to life as a graphic novel. Ages 8 and up.
“Not the End of the World,” by Geraldine McCaughrean (HarperCollins, 256 pages, $16.99)
McCaughrean, a Carnagie-winning author of exquisite books on mythology and history, tackles the story of Noah’s Ark, as perceived by the members of Noah’s family and the animal inhabitants of the massive shelter that protects a select few from the devastating flood.
Timna, Noah’s daughter, chronicles the 40 days and 40 nights from a practical and touching perspective.
She recounts the keening pleas for mercy from friends and neighbors drowning as the water rises, speculates about the fate of accidental sailors trapped on makeshift boats, asks who sent the locusts that infest the ark well into the storm.
In raising the simplest questions – is it God’s will that even a rescued infant must die? – McCaughrean explores the deepest corners of faith and brings an immediacy to this ancient biblical near-apocalypse. Ages 10 and up.
“The Convicts,” by Iain Lawrence (Delacorte Press, 198 pages, $15.95)
Slower to start than Lawrence’s previous historic stories of pirates, looters, wreckers, smugglers and other nautical outcasts, “The Convicts” picks up as young Tom inadvertently becomes a juvenile convict.
Arrested when he’s mistaken for an identical boy accused of murder, he finds himself among other young thugs who mostly have earned their berths on an inhospitable ship that serves as a holding pen.
To the reader, the deplorable conditions onboard make Van Dieman’s Land – Australia, once a dumping ground for British convicts – a welcome alternative, but the then-unknown continent is feared more than death. Will Tom find justice? Ages 12 and up.
“The Book Without Words,” by Avi (Hyperion Books for children, 203 pages, $15.99)
Avi’s latest story, set in the 11th century, pits two youngsters against a malignant alchemist and his government cohort Bashcroft, whose name suggests a modern inspiration. The novel explores superstition and magic – including a talking crow – along with the period’s dank reality of poverty. Ages 10 and up.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
