Top Ten Tuesday: Cecilia's Recommendations

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Before we get started on the TTT for this week, be sure to check out our Valentine's Day Giveaway!

This week's topic had to do with comics and graphic novels. Since neither of us really reads those, we changed it up a bit this week. 

Introducing Cecilia's first list for JUBB! Cecilia is Mariela's daughter, and since Mariela doesn't read comics, we decided to ask her for her favorite books that she wishes everyone would read. 

Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.

Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.

Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.

Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.

The Center for Cartoon Studies presents a wholly original take on the story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller in the fifth book of the award-winning series of graphic novel biographies.

Steve just wants to save his baby brother—but what will he lose in the bargain? This is a haunting gothic tale for fans of Coraline, from acclaimed author Kenneth Oppel (Silverwing, The Boundless) with illustrations from Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen.

For some kids summer is a sun-soaked season of fun. But for Steve, it’s just another season of worries. Worries about his sick newborn baby brother who is fighting to survive, worries about his parents who are struggling to cope, even worries about the wasp’s nest looming ominously from the eaves. So when a mysterious wasp queen invades his dreams, offering to “fix” the baby, Steve thinks his prayers have been answered.

All he has to do is say “Yes.” But “yes” is a powerful word. It is also a dangerous one. And once it is uttered, can it be taken back?

Graphic novel star Kazu Kibuishi creates a world of terrible, man-eating demons, a mechanical rabbit, a giant robot---and two ordinary children on a life-or-death mission.

After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids' mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals.

Eventually, they enlist the help of a small mechanical rabbit named Miskit. Together with Miskit, they face the most terrifying monster of all, and Em finally has the chance to save someone she loves.

 

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

 

All those who enjoyed shuddering their way through Alvin Schwartz's first volume of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark will find a satisfyingly spooky sequel in this new collection of the macabre, the funny, and the fantastic.Is it possible to die -- and not know it? What if a person is buried too soon? What happens to a thief foolish enough to rob a corpse, or to a murderer whose victim returns from the grave? Read about these terrifying predicaments as well as what happens when practical jokes produce gruesome consequences and initiations go awry.Stephen Gammell's splendidly creepy drawings perfectly capture the mood of more than two dozen scary stories -- and even a scary song -- all just right for reading alone or for telling aloud in the dark.If You Dare!

I am so far removed from the comic book world, it's not even funny. Well over a decade ago, I used to be super obsessed with manga, which is basically just a graphic novel. I haven't read one in a billion years, but I figured I would share the ones that I loved enough to keep over the years. 

I'd say that Cardcaptor Sakura was my introduction into the world of manga. Sailor Moon (and Holly) introduced to me to anime way back when, but it wasn't until I found this copy of CCS at the old Walden Books in the mall that I really fell in love with manga. Of course, this was way before manga and graphic novels and comics were so easy to find. I can still remember my mom taking me to used bookstores to try and fuel my habit and all of the sales people looking at me like I was insane when I asked them if they carried manga. Now, Half Price Books has entire shelves devoted to mange for a $1! Oh, to be a teen again now :p 

Cardcaptor Sakura stars Sakura, a young girl who discovers she is supposed to be the master of the Clow. Clow cards are these little cards that hold...monsters? Creatures? I'm not sure how to explain it. But they hold these little creatures that have powers, and she has to trap them back in the cards in order to keep them from wreaking havoc all over the world. It's seriously cute! 

This manga is by the same authors as CCS and stars the same two lead characters, Sakura and Syaoran. Except, older and edgier and from a different world. This was perfect for me at the time, because I was getting older myself and loved the more romantic storyline from an older Lee and Sakura. What's also cool about this anime, is that is mashes up a lot of characters and worlds from all of the CLAMP manga. So there are tons of easter eggs and fun surprises for people who love CLAMP. Now I want to go home and watch the anime! 

Surprise, surprise! Another CLAMP manga on here. I swear, it wasn't intentional. I just really love CLAMP! This one I actually stole from Holly a billion years ago. This one is very typical video game style. (It also has a video game made after it that was actually seriously good.) It's three high school girls who get transported into an alternate realm and can't get back to modern day Tokyo until they rescue the princess. It's funny and badass and just all in all a good time! 

This one might be a little embarrassing, given how much I loved it. I would beg. wheedle, bribe, and all out annoy my mother til she would take me to Walden Books (a good 30 minute drive from home) to go get the new issue of this every month the day that they came out! It was so cute and fun. This one involves a bunch of school girls who have their DNA fused with the DNA of endangered species. This allows them to transform into "Mew Mews" and help save the world from evil villains. Think Sailor Moon, but with animal identities. The only problem with this manga is that Ichigo totally chose the wrong dude. 

 

I actually own a couple of manga that are based off of video games. In fact, I got every Zelda manga for Christmas this year! It almost made the list, but really, who doesn't know about Zelda? So I decided to go with Suikoden III. Because, seriously. This game is freaking amazing. The manga is really good too, but I can't say enough good things about the Suikoden series as a whole. Suikoden III is different than the first two incarnations in that it actually has three different main characters: Hugo, Chris and Geddoe. At first, you get to play all three characters equally up to chapter 3. But then, you have to choose which one is the Flame Bringer and finish the game with just that character. It's really just a fun game and makes for a good manga adaptation.