Miyamoto Usagi is no Bugs Bunny. He's a rabbit bodyguard, a samurai who wanders the mountains, plains, and villages of a 17th-century Japan populated almost exclusively by anthropomorphic animals. Cats, snakes, rhinos, and ninja moles plot and fight their way across a land ravaged by civil war. The 10 stories in the first volume introduce Usagi, the evil Lord Hikiji, and a host of other characters. The stories themselves can stand alone, but taken together they begin to form an ongoing saga of treachery and revenge. Sometimes violent, sometimes funny, Usagi's adventures are filled with fascinating historical detail. The costumes, landscapes, and buildings are beautifully drawn, creating such a sense of realism it's easy to forget the hero is a rabbit. If you buy the first book in this series, you'll want the rest.
Usagi Yojimbo is the kind of quality work that transcends time, genres, demographics, and even age groups. It crafts a delicate and beautiful balance between honor and savagery, cute innocence and dark brutality, simple heart-warming stories and multi-part epics that shape a dense continuity. Whether or not you've ever been a fan of feudal Japanese culture, furry anthro characters, or independent, non-superhero comics, Usagi Yojimbo is a comic that can't help but impress even the harshest critic.
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Not only suitable, but much recommended for young learners, Reading level: Ages 9-12, can serve as well as a coloring book to enliven lessons - stovokor, Usagi addict :)
Added by: otherwordly | Karma: 222.42 | Fiction literature | 8 February 2009
18
Already sold in ten countries, Let Me In introduces a startling new talent from Sweden whose work is creating an international sensation. John Ajvide Lindqvist has been compared to such top horror writers as Anne Rice, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Whitley Strieber, and last but certainly not least, Stephen King—American readers of vampire fiction will be thrilled!
It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last---revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.
But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door---a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night. . . .
Added by: stovokor | Karma: 1758.61 | Fiction literature | 8 February 2009
19
You are sitting in your chair reading, The Marriage of Sticks, by Jonathan Carrol, and suddenly there's a door flying on air. You don't think twice about the improbability of this strange appearance, but get up and turn the knob. Suddenly an aroma of every Christmas that wasn't spoiled cascades into your room...freshly baked cookies, cinnamon and spice, and everything nice. Now down the chimney comes a nightmare. It pulls up a chair beside you and is prepared to stay. You can put the book down. But memories are whizzing by like traffic on the Autobahn and surely illumination is near. Jonathan Carroll is a box of chocolates, the wind behind the door, the shadow that takes shape and draws you in. The Marriage of Sticks is about so much more than selfishness and sacrifice. If the doorbell rings while you're reading it - answer. It could be wonder come to call.
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