Giants Beware! and Dragons Beware! are Great Graphic Novel Fantasy Adventures

It’s the sequel to the excellent Giants Beware! a book so good that it was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature in 2013 (a rare honor for a graphic novel). And though Dragons Beware! can stand alone just fine, the first book is so much fun, and sets up the characters so well, that it really should be read first.
It all begins when young Claudette learns why there’s a wall around her town. The XXXIL Marquis de Mont Petit Pierre set out one day to kill the “Baby-Feet Eating Giant” who was threatening the town…but instead of slaying the giant, he returned home and constructed a huge wall to keep the giant out. Outraged by this cowardice, Claudette decides to slay the giant herself! She is not deterred by danger, though her father, the town’s blacksmith, lost both legs and an arm fighting a dragon, and so she convinces her best friend, Marie, the daughter of the current Marquis, who dreams of being a princess, and her timid little brother, Gaston, who wants to be both a sword maker and a master chef, to set out with her to find and kill the giant. There’s lots of tremendous danger and difficulty along the way, met and mastered by the various skills and temperaments of the kids. Marie’s princessly talent for diplomacy is especially important, and even headstrong, impetuous tomboy Claudette learns violence is not the answer to this particular problem.

Dragons Beware! sends the intrepid threesome on an even more exciting (and dangerous) mission. An evil magician is attacking their town (with flying stone gargoyles) and the only thing that can defeat them is the magical sword that Claudette’s father made long ago, and lost in the belly of the dragon Azra (the one responsible for his injuries). Claudette is still fierce as all get out, Marie is still confident that diplomacy is best, and little Gaston has forsworn cooking to become a fierce fighter, which he thinks will make his dad happy. And in the meantime, a bunch of (rather lame) princes are trying to win the hand of Marie…
Like the first book, Dragons Beware! mixes a story of adventure (this one with scary magic and dragons!) with great characters who get to develop their own individual strengths (Gaston’s dad encourages him to go back to cooking, and Gaston finds he has a talent for magical recipes as well as for crepes suzette) and once again Marie’s determination to use words before violence is essential for the happy ending. And without Claudette’s insane spunk and determination there would have been no happy ending to get to!
All of this goodness is brought to vivid life by the bright, expressive graphics that enhance the characterization and story-telling beautifully, and my boys and I can’t wait for more!
Do your kids love graphic novels?