Through the Looking Glass Book Reviews: Alison Dare

Welcome!

Dear Book Lovers, Welcome! I am delighted that you have found The Through the Looking Glass blog. For over twenty years I reviewed children's literature titles for my online journal, which came out six times a year. Every book review written for that publication can be found on the Through the Looking Glass website (the link is below). I am now moving in a different direction, though the columns that I write are still book-centric. Instead of writing reviews, I'm offering you columns on topics that have been inspired by wonderful books that I have read. I tell you about the books in question, and describe how they have have impacted me. This may sound peculiar to some of you, but the books that I tend to choose are ones that resonate with me on some level. Therefore, when I read the last page and close the covers, I am not quite the same person that I was when first I started reading the book. The shift in my perspective might be miniscule, but it is still there. The books I am looking are both about adult and children's titles. Some of the children's titles will appeal to adults, while others will not. Some of the adult titles will appeal to younger readers, particularly those who are eager to expand their horizons.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Alison Dare Double Blog Dare Tour and Contest

Alison Dare has been seen in pursuit of Baron
von Baron is Ashland,Oregon (note Mount Ashland
in the background)

Tundra books has released two graphic novels about Alison Dare, a young teen who has unusual parents and who has tends to have rather extraordinary adventures involving dastardly villains, lamps with genies in them, walking mummies and more. Here is my review of one of the titles.

Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures
J. Torres
Illustrated by J. Bone
Graphic Novel
Ages 8 to 11
Tundra Books, 2010, 978-0-99776-934-4
   Alison Dare has a very unusual family. Her mother is a world famous archeologist, and her father is a librarian who is secretly the Blue Scarab, an honest to goodness super-hero. Most of the time Alison is in school, but every so often she gets to go on special trips with her mother, Dr. Alice Dare.
   In the first adventure in this collection, Alison is on an expedition with her mother in the Sultanate of Shahrazad and she is bored to tears. Alison’s mother is busy working so Alison decides to take a peek at some of the things her mother has stashed on one of the tents. Inside a crate she finds a lamp which she rubs, thus summoning a genie. Alison knows that she has three wishes - as per tradition - and her first wish is to summon her friends Wendy and Dot. The girls are not, for some bizarre reason, delighted to be whisked away from the lives to join Alison in an adventure. They do warm up to the idea though when Alison accidentally summons 1001 knights. The knights lavish Alison and the girls with lovely clothes, fantastic foods, and other delights. Things are looking up, until the knights decide that Alison’s mother is an “interloper” who should be removed.
   In the second adventure we find out how Alison’s parents met and how her father, who was a scholarly librarian, was turned into the Blue Scarab, a superhero with all kinds of fantastic powers.
   Finally, there is the story of “Alison Dare and the mummy child.” In this thrilling adventure, Alison goes to the museum to see her mother’s new exhibit and to set up a family picnic there – she is hoping to bring her estranged parents together. Instead Alison finds herself in a power struggle between her parents and Baron Von Baron, a ‘bad guy’ who wants to take over the world (isn’t that what most of them want to do?).
   Readers who like an exciting story that is full of evil doers, superheroes, and a sprinkling of magic and archeology, will greatly enjoy this book. With tongue-in-cheek jokes and completely outrageous plots, the three stories in this book are highly entertaining and enjoyable.

You are invited to enter the Alison Dare contest hosted by Tundra books. This is what you have to do to enter:

1. Save the image above to your computer and then print it out.
2. There are two different poses for Alison Dare, but you only need to choose one (although if you wanted to do both, go for it!).
3. Please cut out the Alison Dare figure you have chosen. Feel free to colour and decorate.
4. Put Alison Dare in front of a famous landmark, in an exotic location, or in the face of danger. You can also be creative with common everyday objects.
5. Take a photo (or photos) of Alison Dare! There is no limit.
6. Send your photo of Alison Dare and witty caption to tundra@mcclelland.com before June 30, 2010.

You can see my Alison Dare photo at the beginning of this post!

Please visit the Blog Tour webpage to see what other bloggers are doing.

Here is some information about the author and illustrator of this exciting series:

J. TORRES is a Shuster Award-winning, Eisner Award-nominated writer whose credits include adaptations of Disney/Pixar’s WALL-E and CTV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation, the comic book series Teen Titans Go and Wonder Girl for DC Comics, as well as the graphic novels Lola: A Ghost Story and the YALSA-listed Days Like This for Oni Press. He has also written for children’s magazines, books, and television. The author lives just outside of Toronto, Ontario.

J. BONE is an Eisner Award-nominated illustrator of several critically acclaimed comic books and graphic novels, including Spiderman: Tangled Web, Batman / The Spirit, and Paul Dini’s Mutant, Texas. J. Bone lives in Toronto, Ontario.