Palmer's Picks: Gimmie Some Manga! Review of Dororo by Osamu Tezuka

Hi guys! My name's Palmer, and I work in the Young Adult Services department of the Charleston County Public Library. I love graphic novels, root beer floats and thunderstorms (and flip glasses). I also love finding truly awesome books and sharing them with you avid readers! Remember to click on any title to put it on



                                                                                  

                                                                                   DORORO

BY OSAMU TEZUKA

Is is cheesy for me to describe Dororo as a super-sweet story of adventure, friendship, and family that mixes in some amazing Japanese supernatural lore? What if by super sweet, I mean super awesome, super action-packed, and super funny (although Dororo does have a few tender moments)? The hero of Dororo is a young ronin (a masterless warrior) named Hyakkimaru who was born with some serious issues. Our story opens with Hyakkimaru's father, quite the power-hungry guy, offering up fourty-eight parts of his yet unborn son to fourty-eight demons in exchange for control of the region. As a result, Hyakkimaru is born without things like eyes, ears, arms, legs, a nose, and a voice. Fourty-eight missing parts in all makes Hyakkimaru quite unlike your typical infant and unlikely to survive, so his grieving mother sends him downriver in a basket to his fate. Lucky for Hyakkimaru, a kindly doctor discovers him in the river and raises the child as his own, discovering that despite his fourty-eight disadvantages, Hyakkimaru has developed senses beyond the abilities of a normal human and can function quite well without his missing parts. As Hyakkimaru grows into a boy, the doctor begins to construct prosthetics to help the lad appear a little less unusual to the outside world. The prosthetics make Hyakkimaru's life easier for a while, but the growing boy seems to be attracting some unwanted supernatural attention...

New Graphic Novels Arriving at the Main Branch!!

Good news for all readers of manga and graphic novels! The bevy of new graphic novel acquisitons that we've been anxiously awaiting has finally begun to arrive! To whet your appetites for graphic novels, I'm going to give you a little taste of our newest additions:

Salem Brownstone
by John Harris Dunning and Nikhil Singh


This creepy tale appeals with equal parts of  strangeness and loveliness. Its serpentine illustrations and odd storyline together make for a book that reads and looks like a noir detective film set in haunted circus. There is definetly a touch of genius, as well as a touch of insanity in this slim book... for truly remarkable artwork that will lurk in your brain for weeks after, give Salem Brownstone a try!

New Books Feature Ghosts, Insanity, and a Sunken Ship

Be First to Get These New Books!

Our new books feature ghosts, murder, cover ups, entire worlds gone bad, the Titanic, an alien abduction, and more! Click on any title to reserve a copy at your favorite CCPL branch.

Everybody Sees the Ants
By A.S. King

Fed up with his parents' fighting and a bully's attacks, 15-year-old Lucky Linderman dreams of being with his grandfather, who went missing during the Vietnam War. However, during a visit to Arizona, his aunt and uncle and their beautiful neighbor, Ginny, help him find a new perspective.

By the author of Please Ignore Vera Dietz.

Legend
By Marie Lu

A future America is at war. Born into an elite family, June is being groomed for the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, Day is the country's most wanted criminal. They have no reason to cross paths -- until June's brother is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Is Day really to blame, or was he set up to cover a darker secret?

New Books, Get Them First

We're Bursting With New Teen Titles!


Here at CCPL, we've just received a slew of fantastic new teen books from bestselling authors, including Elizabeth Scott and Susan Beth Pfeffer, along with some great debut writers. Click on titles to get your hands on them first!


As I Wake
By Elizabeth Scott

Ava wakes up in a house she doesn't know, into a life she doesn't recognize. Recently released from the hospital, she's welcomed home by family and friends. But Ava can't remember any of them -- and she can't shake the strange feeling that she's not who they say she is.

Cliques, Cats, and Bullies

Keep Your Friends Close...

If the first season of Pretty Little Liars left you hanging, where else can you get a fix of backstabbing, cattiness, and terror? Start reading, of course.

The TV show is based on Sara Shepard's books, which dish up a snarky amalgam of queen bees, fashion, beauty, crushes, and lies -- all wrapped up in a mystery.

The series begins when a mysterious person sends creepy -- and oddly personal -- texts to Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer. The girls used to be best friends until their leader, Alison, vanished a few years earlier. She'd ruled Rosewood Day, which meant they had, too. Then suddenly, the texts appear, signed simply by --A, each with threats or secrets only the girls should know. But who's sending them? And why?

The eight books in the Pretty Little Liars series are easy to spot thanks to the Barbie wannabe on each cover. (The ninth book, Twisted, comes out July 5.)

Sequels: Flawless, Perfect, Unbelievable, Wicked, Killer, Heartless, Wanted



Meanwhile, check out these other titles that feature mean girls -- some just catty, others dangerous bullies (click on any title to put it on hold):

The Undead Walk Among Us...Again

Zombie Plague Returns

New release alert! Book three in Carrie Ryan's zombie series comes out this week. The Dark and Hollow Places picks up after The Forest of Hands and Teeth (also available as a downloadable audiobook) and The Dead-Tossed Waves.

Years after a zombie plague destroyed society, small holdouts of humanity struggle to survive in the face of their undead enemies. Annah lives in the Dark City alone after losing her twin sister and their best friend, Elias. She's near despair when she meets a new boy, Catcher, and begins to hope again. 

But Catcher has his own dark secrets connected to Annah’s past. Brimming with suspense, romantic turmoil, and threats of death by zombie, don't miss the series!   

Want more zombie books for your braaaaaaaaaains? Click on "Read More":

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's...a Graphic Novel!

Superheroes Battle Over Pages

and the Big Screen

Calling All Hero Fans! 

It's going to be a Marvel-ous year at the box office with movies like Thor (May 6) and Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22) hitting the big screen. While you wait, read up on a few heroes (and sheroes!) -- some familiar, some new -- in these graphic novels: 

Great Books For Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. today, we look to the newly released 2011 Coretta Scott King Book Awards, which honor fantastic African-American authors. One of our favorite writers, Walter Dean Myers, made this year's honor list with:

Lockdown



It seems like the only progress you make at Progress juvenile facility is moving from juvy jail to real jail. Sure, Reese wants out early. But is he supposed to just sit back and let his friend Toon get jumped? Reese gets a second chance when he's picked for the work program at a senior citizens' home. He doesn't mean to keep messing up, but it's not so easy -- at Progress or in life. One of the residents, Mr. Hooft, gives him a particularly hard time. If Reese can convince Mr. Hooft that he's a decent person, not a criminal, maybe he'll be able to convince himself, too.

Walter Dean Myers books often portray urban teenagers struggling with real life -- especially drug use, violence, and peer pressure. They're trying to find ways out of the problems they were born into. From his own real life, Myers understands what his characters are going through. He was raised in Harlem by foster parents and dropped out of high school. He also had a severe speech impediment -- so, he began to write as a way to express himself. Try it yourself. Writing is a great way to vent, to celebrate, or to just work through complicated stuff in your life.

We wouldn't even know where to start telling you about all of  Myers' other great books. For starters, check out these:



Dope Sick 

The Cruisers



 Fallen Angels

Sunrise
Over
Fallujah

Monster   



Street Love





Now, for all you graphic novel fans....

Yummy: The Last Days
of a Southside Shorty

Check out another Coretta Scott King honor book, Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri and and Randy Duburke. In this book, 11-year-old Roger is trying to make sense of his classmate Robert "Yummy" Sandifer's death. But first he has to make sense of Yummy's life.

Was Yummy a monster who'd just killed a little girl? Or, was he just another kid? As Roger digs, he finds more questions. Did Yummy really kill someone? And why do so many answers lead to the gang Roger's older brother belongs to?

This gritty depiction, based on a real murder in Chicago, might make you question your ideas about good and bad, right and wrong.

 

Remember to click on book titles to reserve them at your favorite library branch.