Nobody Likes a Goblin

Nobody Likes a Goblin
Written and illustrated by Ben Hatke

My rating: ★★★½

ISBN: 978-1626720817
Publisher: First Second
Date of publication: June 7, 2016
Age: 4 - 8 years
Genre: Fantasy
Format: library book

Themes: goblins, fantasy adventure, friendship, treasure

Goblin cheerily lives in a cosy, rat-infested dungeon with his only friend, Skeleton. Every day, Goblin and Skeleton play with the treasure in their dungeon. But one day, a gang of "heroic" adventurers bursts in. These marauders trash the place, steal all the treasure, and make off with Skeleton―leaving Goblin all alone! It's up to Goblin to save the day. But first he's going to have to leave the dungeon and find out how the rest of the world feels about goblins.

I have to say: when I want to introduce my children to the awesome nerdy world of high fantasy, this will be the book I'll read. A perfectly hilarious homage to the D&D-Tolkien-RPG-fantasy culture, it's pretty obvious that this will be a favorite among us geekier adults. Hatke just got the characters and art down perfectly. Oh man, the illustrations! Besides caricature-ing the classic fantasy roles, the emotions and actions of the little (yes, and slightly cute) goblin give needed support to the simple storyline. They're fantastically done.

In the end, however, the story itself isn't my favorite. The jokes fell a bit flat, the pacing was just slightly off (he finds Skeleton pretty quickly and easily, after only a couple bad run-ins), and while it's great Goblin finds some friends, why did he say he was king? Feels a bit like a lie. Honestly, it's just a great nerdy book and I'd still recommend it to the right people. I just really appreciate the fact that it's a true fantasy picture book―let's get our kids introduced the good stuff!

Find it at your library or on Amazon

Little Robot

Little Robot
Ben Hatke

My rating: ★★★★

ISBN: 978-1626720800
Publisher: First Second
Date of publication: September 1, 2015
Age: Grades 1 - 4
Genre: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction

Themes: friendship, robots, STEM

When a little girl finds an adorable robot in the woods, she presses a button and accidentally activates him for the first time. Now, she finally has a friend. But the big, bad robots are coming to collect the little guy, and it's all up to a five-year-old armed only with a wrench and a fierce loyalty to her mechanical friend to save the day!

This is just an all around good book. There's so many small details to appreciate, as well as the story as a whole. For instance, the text is sparse, with the art acting as the main story-teller. The girl is the only character that actually talks (the robots all make nice-for-reading-aloud robot noises). And then there's details like this:

This emphasizes the simple art-filled, minimal-text feel of the book. I love it. So, on the whole, it makes a great book for kids of all ages—reader and non-reader, alike.

As for the actual story, I really appreciated the lesson it has in friendship. The little girl is obviously pretty lonely, and with this new robot friend, is trying to navigate the difficulties of balancing what she wants with the needs/wants of the robot. Plus, don't forget, there's evil robots to contend with, adding a classic good vs. evil subplot to the book.

The lack of fifth star was due to little bits and pieces that I didn't understand/appreciate. But really, I'd still recommend it. I think it'd even be an awesome classroom study, because there's so much to infer in the story and lessons to learn about friendship. A great graphic novel for the younger crowd. Try it out.

Find it at your library or on Amazon