Boys Over Flowers

Boys Over Flowers: Volume 1. Yoko Kamio. English adaptation by Gerard Jones. (2003). San Francisco, CA: Viz Media.

Awards and Honors: none

Review:
When working class teenager Tsukushi Makino is accepted into an elite high school, Eitoku Academy, she immediately feels out of place. Things get worse for her when the popular boy's clique, the F4, decides that they want her out of their school. The group mercilessly bullies her and at first Tsukushi is scared, but she eventually decides to fight back. Further complicating matters, Tsukushi's bravery causes her popularity amongst her classmates at Eitoku Academy to rise, and she begins to develop a crush on one of the members of the F4. The first volume in the series leaves off with Tsukushi striking an uneasy truce with the F4, but with problems developing with the girls at Eitoku Academy.

Opinion:

I am not a big reader of manga, so unfortunately I don't have much to compare this book with. The soap opera type serial did not appeal to me, though I know it is popular with many older tweens in my community. I would personally hesitate to recommend this book to younger tweens, because the bullying scenes are pretty intense.

Ideas:
This shojo manga series has also spawned a popular Korean television drama. Manga has great appeal to the community that I work in, and I think it would be cool to make a display of Korean DVDs and the books or manga that inspired them.

The Dreaming

The Dreaming

written and illustrated by Queenie Chan. 2005. Los Angeles: Tokyo Pop. (1598163825).

Author/Illustrator Website: http://www.queeniechan.com/

Media: pen and ink on Deleter brand A4 comic paper

Awards and Honors: none

 

Annotation:
Twin sisters Jeanie and Amber are accepted to a prestigious and isolated boarding school in the Australian bush that harbors some dark secrets.

Personal Reaction:

     The Dreaming is a traditionally drawn manga comic with spooky and suspenseful plot. Twin sisters Jeanie and Amber are accepted to a prestigious and isolated boarding school in the Australian bush, but from the minute they arrive strange things begin to happen. There's a creepy vice principal, a walled-off room, bizarre paintings and some really disturbing dreams. These occurrences coupled with the scary rumors they hear from their fellow students are enough to spook Amber, but Jeanie thinks it's all a lot of nonsense until one of their friends goes missing in the middle of the night. The book is the first in a trilogy and leaves off at the height of the suspense. I've never been a fan of the manga genre, but teens (especially girls) would likely enjoy this series. The dialogue is believable, the illustrations are detailed and expressive, and the storyline is engaging and suspenseful.