Maximum Ride 1 adapted by Narae Lee

Published in 2009.

Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of her "flock" - Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel - are just like ordinary kids, except they have wings and can fly! It may seem like a dream come true to some, but for the flock its more like a living nightmare when the mysterious lab known as the "School" turns up and kidnaps their youngest member. Now it's up to Max to organize a rescue, but will help come in time? (book back blurb)

This was my first manga book and it will probably be my last (except for the Labyrinth ones, I'm still seriously considering getting those). First, can someone please tell me how 'manga' is pronounced? I keep saying it like the Italian word for 'eat.' I've also pronounced pilates like pee-lats because I'd never heard it pronounced before. Can someone help me out here?

The thing is, I don't know what's normal for manga and what isn't. It's not like reading a comic book/graphic novel. I like comics. I enjoy them. But this was just weird. For instance, is it normal to have a characters actions spelled out around them (like when a character was shaking, 'shake' was actually written around the character)? I just found that annoying.

I also found the drawings really distracting, probably because they were really detracting from the plot, which was hard to follow because there were more drawings than plot-related words. I had a hard time catching onto the plot because I felt it was buried under the pictures. Every once in a while I'd grasp hold of it and like what I was reading but then I'd lose it again. It'd just get buried underneath all the busy artwork, which I don't even really like. I've always been kind of freaked out by manga-style drawings (way too angular) so that didn't help the book's cause any.

This was another BEA random grab that has taught me to be way more selective about the books I nab this time around. I just saw 'James Patterson' and pretty colors and yoink! Not again.

In all honesty, I can't tell if I liked the story. From what I've gathered of the plot it's not bad. It doesn't sound too much like my thing to read but I've heard good reviews of it. But I'll have to read the actual novels to really find out. So consider this review based purely on the manga aspect of it and not on James Patterson's work. It's safe to say I'm not a manga fan and I won't be picking it up again any time soon (unless it's Labyrinth, I might just suck it up for that). I'll leave this one to the real manga fans out there.

Know A Reluctant Reader?

More often than not (unfortunately), kids will be reluctant to read. This is usually a result of them having to read something that they don't necessarily want to. Sure, Of Mice and Men is a classic but lets face it--it's not really all that interesting to a 13 year-old in a classroom. Nor a textbook is to a seven year old in a reading circle.

The problem with a lot of the reading courses in school, especially in the younger grades where they may not have the luxury to choose what they (the kids) read in the classroom, books are assigned based on what the boards of education feel the students should be reading. That's how some of those door stoppers and naval gazers end up in those piles. Of course the classics should be read in order to have a well-rounded literary background but for the love of god mix it up a bit! Kids can't get excited about reading if they're bored to narcolepsy by it.

Publisher's Weekly has a great article on a movement that author James Patterson started called ReadKiddoRead.com. With next to no marketing and publicizing, the site's become a pretty big hit in a rather short amount of time. Its purpose is to list, recommend and review books that they (the puppet masters of the site) feel kids would actually want to stop what they're doing and read, or have read to them. The people behind the reviews all work in the publishing industry and have their fingers on the pulse of what works and what doesn't with words on the shelves.

The site is really for parents, teachers and librarians to help them get a feel for what kids will want to read instead of what they think kids should read. Big difference. The site caters to books in age ranges starting at newborn through young adult and features a set number of books at any given time. Keep checking back and you'll be able to see even more book recommendations on a rotating cycle.

So next time you come across someone that might be a little reluctant to read and you're tapped out of ideas, had on over to ReadKiddoRead.com and see what they might like. I find this would work especially well for the younger kids as I know I'm completely lost as to what they might enjoy.