Kids's graphic novel day with my pals

Ricky Ricotta and his Mighty Robot by Dav Pilkey
Magic Pickle by Scott Morse
Korgi by Christian Slade
Little Vampire by Joann Sfar
Knights of the Lunch Table by Frank Cammuso
Kaput & Zosky by Lewis Trondheim with Eric Cartier
Stinky by Eleanor Davis



YNL: Well, hello guys.
Prosper (8), Mao (7), Zhou (5), and Wendy Darling (5): Hello.
YNL: Happy Professional Development Day to you.
Prosper: Thank you.
YNL: So, you guys have been reading ALL DAY. Anything you've noticed about the books you've been reading?
Wendy Darling: They're comic books.
Prosper: They're all chapter books.
Mao: ANNND... the Ricky Ricotta books, all of them have the last line "That's what friends are for"!
Zhou: I noticed that they're all good. Magic Pickle is good.
YNL: Which one did you like the best?
Zhou: All the Ricky Ricotta books that we read.
Wendy Darling: The Ricky Ricotta.
Mao: I'd really say Ricky Ricotta's Might Robot vs. the Jurassic Jackrabbits.
Zhou: I would say two things: Ricky Ricotta's Might Robot vs. the Jurassic Jackrabbits and Magic Pickle.
Prosper: I kind of liked Kaput and Zosky.



YNL: What do you think about the art?
Prosper: The what?
Wendy Darling (his little sister): The pictures!
Mao: The art in Magic Pickle is really good. Because it's like comics and I like comics because they have like little squares of action.
YNL: Do the little squares do anything for you?
Mao: It's just like saying "Here's this, here's that, in this order."
Prosper: I like it because it really looks like a pickle.
YNL: So more realistic is better?
Mao: Speaking of pickles, can we have one?
Prosper: The drawings in Kaput & Zosky are pretty good but they're not perfect, but they don't have to be perfect to be a really good comic. I think the words have to be perfect.
YNL: So the words in Kaput & Zosky are perfect?
Prosper: Kind of. [lost reading again]



YNL: Hey, [Prosper], that page doesn't have words at all!
Prosper: Actually doesn't have to have words to be great. Look at this, [Mao] - he's walking along he meets this guy he shoots him, he's walking along he meets this guy he shoots him, he's walking along he meets this guy he shoots him, he's walking along he meets this guy he shoots him, he's walking along he meets this guy he shoots him...
Boys: Aww haww haww! That's great!
YNL: And that's funny.
Mao: Yeah
Prosper: Uh huh
YNL: How come?
Mao: Because it's like he keeps on shooting people and then someone else shoots HIM. that's the funny part.
Prosper: Look at this: [narrates a wordless page] Yay! Ha la lala, and then he gets out and he's like 'What the?' and dee dee dee, BLAM [hee hee hee] and then Oooh! Weee!



YNL: Ok guys. Here's Korgi.
Wendy Darling: I liked Korgi.
YNL: What did you like about it, little girl?
Wendy Darling: Because the girl was brave.
YNL: What about they way she's drawn? here's Kaput & Zosky, which art do you like better?
Wendy Darling: Kaput & Zosky. I like the color.



Mao: Little Vampire was good, because he threw up the guy that the monsters ate when he wanted to do kung fu to him, and in the end he was brung back to life and he was giant.
YNL: So you liked that there was a lot of surprises?
Mao: And I liked that there was chemicals involved, and the chemicals, they made him forget about what's happened, and they made him normal size again.
YNL: Do you wish you had a chemical like that?
Mao: Yeah!
Prosper: Why?
Mao: So I could make people forget everything and become tiny.
Prosper: What about if you shrunk somebody who was only this big, then they'd be a milliperson!
YNL: Hey, Kaput & Zosky: It seems like these guys are kind of mean.
Prosper: Why?
YNL: Why? Because they shoot everyone all the time?
Prosper: Heh heh
Mao: Actually that never occurred to me, because the red guy is always like SHOOT SOMEBODY! and the other guy is always like 'Wait, first we have to make sure nobody's around' - so they're really opposite!
YNL: Is that opposite?
Mao: Wellll, they THINK opposite but they have the same goals.
YNL: What's their goal?
Mao: Their goal is to go in charge of every single planet.



YNL: How about Stinky: did you like it?
Everyone: Yes.
YNL: There's no shooting in it...
Mao: No. But there is trying to get rid in it.
[And they're lost again. Prosper has Stinky, Wendy Darling is reading Korgi, Zhou has Ricky Ricotta, and Mao is into Kaput & Zosky]
YNL: Should I leave you guys alone to read?
Prosper: Yes.
Mao: Yes.
Zhou: Yes.