Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale, Illustrated by Nathan Hale
What happens when you take the infamous Shannon Hale, pair her up again with her husband Dean, and illustrator Nathan Hale (no relation), the retelling of a famous fairy tale, a feisty heroine, a bit of steampunk and wrap it all up in a graphic novel? Calamity Jack! A companion novel to Rapunzel’s Revengee (my review), Calamity Jack focuses in on Jack from the well-known tale of Jack and the Beanstalk.
Jack describes himself as a criminal mastermind but with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. He was born to scheme and spent his childhood thinking up one caper after another. But when one caper goes too far and results in him both being a wanted man and a disappointment to his mother, Jack leaves the city for the wild west where he meets Rapunzel. Of course, you have to check out Rapunzel’s Revenge for that adventure.
Calamity Jack picks back up with Rapunzel and Jack on their way back to the city where Jack discovers that the Giants have not only taken over the city but are also holding his mother captive as ransom. Jack must try to make up for his past deeds, rescue the city from doom, regain his mothers trust, and not lose Rapunzel’s love in the process.
While I enjoyed Rapunzel’s Revenge more than Calamity Jack, it’s still a fun story. Honestly, I just couldn’t get past the idea of giant ants in the story. But that’s me talking as an adult and let’s face it, kids will think that giant ants are the most awesome thing ever! I think I mentioned this in my Rapunzel’s Revenge review, but I’m not totally in love with the illustrations as I would have preferred cleaner and simpler lines. But as a graphic novel should, half of the story is in the illustrations and I lingered over them.
Very whitty dialouge and fun bantering with a lot of action adventure make Calamity Jack a worthy retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk story.
I went to the launch party for Calamity Jack, so check out my post with video if you missed it!
Links of interest: Maw Books review of Rapunzel’s Revenge, Rapunzel’s Revenge launch party, The Actor and the Housewife, Austenland, Book of a Thousand Days, and Princess Academy. Maw Books interview with Shannon and her yummy zuchinni soup. Shannon Hale’s website, Dean Hale’s website, and Nathan Hale’s blog.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books. January 5, 2010
Hardcover, 144 pages. ISBN 1599900769
My copy source: purchased
Calamity Jack is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
Today’s post is part of the Kidz Book Buzz Blog Tour. Check out these awesome bloggers who are also participating: Whispers of Dawn, Reading is my Superpower, firesidemusings.blogspot.com, Through the Looking Glass Book Review , Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams, Becky’s Book Reviews, The Hungry Readers, The Friendly Book Book, My Own Little Corner of the World, Book Blather, GreenBeanTeenQueen, Book Crumbs , Abby (the) Librarian, Dolce Bellezza, Homeschoolbuzz.com, The Book Cellar, Carrie’s YA Bookshelf, Bookshelf Monstrosity, Everyday Reading, Frenetic Reader, and KidzBookBuzz.com.
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Category: Book Reviews, Fiction, Young Adult
Tags: A-D Title, blog tour, E-H Author, female author, Fiction, graphic novel, Kidz Book Buzz, LDS author, male author, published 2010, Utah author
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illustrator Nathan Hale (no relation)
What are the odds? lol.. did they hunt for an illustrator with their name? Ah, this looks quite fun and clever. I’m learning that there’s more to Shannon Hale than Austenland and The Actor and the Housewife.
on January 13th, 2010 at 3:32 pmNot only what are the odds of them having the same last night but also the fact that they both live near each other as well. The editor asked them to not communicate with each other about the book but they did anyways!
on January 13th, 2010 at 8:34 pmSo true, Kool-aid Mom. So much more to Shannon Hale than Austenland and The Actor and the Housewife. I saw Shannon and her husband do a reading of Calamity Jane last summer and their interpretive dancing at the end was something that I’ll never forget. Hilarious! Calamity Jack should add even more fun fodder to their dramatic presentations.
on January 14th, 2010 at 9:54 amIt was so fun to meet you and shre the long lint time! Can’t wait until we all get together!
on January 14th, 2010 at 10:28 am