Saints by Gene Luen Yang

$6.00 NZD

Category: Graphic Novels | Reading Level: good

From American Born Chinese author Gene Luen Yang: an innovative look at China's Boxer Rebellion told from two points of view, in two companion volumes. China, 1898. An unwanted fourth daughter, Four-Girl isn't even given a proper name by her family. She finds friendship - and a name, Vibiana - in the mo st unlikely of places: Christianity. But China is a dangerous place for Christians. The Boxer Rebellion is murdering Westerners and Chinese Christians alike. Torn between her nation and her Christian friends, Vibiana will have to decide where her true loyalties lie...and whether she is willing to die for her faith. ...Show more

Changing Times - The Story of a New Zealand Town and its Newspaper by Bob Kerr

$6.00 NZD

Category: Graphic Novels | Reading Level: very good

Matt McPherson is cycling around town delivering the last edition of the town newspaper, The New Zealand Times. It is being closed by its owners, but as Matt makes his last deliveries we slip back in time and learn about some of the stories the newspaper has covered since it began in 1840. Using wonder fully detailed illustrations of the changing landscape of the town in combination with excerpts from the newspaper, author Bob Kerr takes the reader through a brief history of New Zealand, from the first settlers, the gold rushes ...World War I, the Depression of the 1930s, World War II and up to the present day. At the end of the book, we find Matt saving the newspaper by appointing himself editor, putting it online and running it from his laptop. Here the reader can actually go online to a website related to the book to learn more about all of the New Zealand history they have been reading about, from the Treaty of Waitangi to the Howard Morrison Quartet when it came to play in the Memorial Hall in 1960. All of these resources are at Te Ara, our national online encyclopedia. Changing Times is a fascinating introduction to our history for 7-12-year-olds. It will also engage parents and grandparents who will recognise their own lives and family histories in its pages. But, mostly importantly, Changing Times is an exciting adventure that places 11-year-old Matt at the centre of the action, something author Bob Kerr has also experienced - as a boy growing up in Tokoroa, his first job was delivering the South Waikato News. ...Show more

Ultimate Spider-Man 1 - Power and Responsibility by Bill Jemas; Brian Michael Bendis

$10.00 NZD

Category: Graphic Novels | Reading Level: very good

The comic book publishing event of 2000 is coming to a bookstore near you. Ultimate Spider-Man, which received extensive press coverage and was the highest selling comics launch of the year, is the reinterpretation of Spider-Man's origin, updated for today's teens. Starting over at the beginning, the st ory of how a tortured teen is embued with startling powers, has been completely reimagined to appeal to the hi-tech, media savvy youth of today. In the process, great steps were taken to make the unfolding saga reader-fiendly to the non-comics convert. "Our characters have been around for almost 40 years", explained Bill Jemas, Marvel's President of Publishing and New Media, explaining the reasoning behind Ultimate Spider-Man. "It's great that our comics are so rich that storylines run forever, but we want the Ultimate books to be accessible to the first-time reader. Someone will be able to pick up an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man and have enough information to understand and appreciate it". An outsider even amongst his own peers, high school student Peter Parker is a young man at the crossroads of destiny. Orphaned as a youth and raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, Peter finds himself the target of a constant barrage of pranks perpetrated by school jock "Flash" Thompson and his burly bud, nicknamed "Kong". But when fate intercedes and Peter finds himself the recipient of strange and amazing powers, how long can our hero ignore the painful prodding? And when industrialist Norman Osborn takes a deadly "interest" in this development, will Peter be able to avoid a violent case of "corporate downsizing"? When backed into a corner, will our hero learn that with great power there must comegreat responsibility? ...Show more

Ultimate Spider-Man 2 - Learning Curve by Brian Michael Bendis

$10.00 NZD

Category: Graphic Novels | Series: Graphic Novel PB Ser. | Reading Level: very good

Peter Parker takes a job at the Daily Bugle, learns of the Kingpin's ties to his uncle's murder, and tries to figure out how to stop his Spider-Man alter-ego from interfering with his relationship with Mary Jane Watson.

Ultimate Spider-Man 5 - Public Scutiny by Brian Michael Bendis

$10.00 NZD

Category: Graphic Novels | Reading Level: very good

Space Dumplins - A Graphic Novel by Craig Thompson

$15.00 NZD

Category: Fiction | Reading Level: very good

Highly acclaimed graphic novelist Craig Thompson's debut book for young readers about a plucky heroine on a mission to save her dad.For Violet Marlocke, family is the most important thing in the whole galaxy. So when her father goes missing while on a hazardous job, she can't just sit around and do noth ing. To get him back, Violet throws caution to the stars and sets out with a group of misfit friends on a quest to find him. But space is vast and dangerous, and she soon discovers that her dad is in big, BIG trouble. With her father's life on the line, nothing is going to stop Violet from trying to rescue him and keep her family together.Visionary graphic novel creator Craig Thompson brings all of his wit, warmth, and humor to create a brilliantly drawn story for all ages. Set in a distant yet familiar future, Space Dumplins weaves themes of family, friendship, and loyalty into a grand space adventure filled with quirky aliens, awesome spaceships, and sharp commentary on our environmentally challenged world. ...Show more

The Cartoon History of the Universe 1-7 : Volumes 1-7 by Larry Gonick

$20.00 NZD

Category: Graphic Novels | Series: Cartoon History of the Universe | Reading Level: very good

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

$14.00 NZD

Category: Fiction | Reading Level: very good

In kindergarten, Jarrett Krosoczka's teacher asks him to draw his family, with a mommy and a daddy. But Jarrett's family is much more complicated than that. His mom is an addict, in and out of rehab, and in and out of Jarrett's life. His father is a mystery -- Jarrett doesn't know where to find him, or even what his name is. Jarrett lives with his grandparents -- two very loud, very loving, very opinionated people who had thought they were through with raising children until Jarrett came along. Jarrett goes through his childhood trying to make his non-normal life as normal as possible, finding a way to express himself through drawing even as so little is being said to him about what's going on. Only as a teenager can Jarrett begin to piece together the truth of his family, reckoning with his mother and tracking down his father. Hey, Kiddo is a profoundly important memoir about growing up in a family grappling with addiction, and finding the art that helps you survive. ...Show more

The Mystery Knight: A Graphic Novel [George R.R. Martin] by George R R Martin; Ben Avery

$14.00 NZD

Category: Graphic Novels | Reading Level: very good

A full-color graphic novel edition of The Mystery Knight, one of the thrilling Dunk and Egg novellas from George R. R. Martin's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and a prequel of sorts to A Game of Thrones. "Every wedding needs a singer, and every journey needs a mystery knight." Westeros is eerily peacefu l. King Aerys I sits on the Iron Throne. A ravaging plague has abated. Yet beneath the surface, tensions linger sixteen years after a failed rebellion. In these restless times, noble hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall-Dunk, to his friends-and his precocious boy squire, Egg, travel the Seven Kingdoms performing chivalrous deeds, though Egg's bloodline must be concealed at all costs. After heading north for Winterfell, Dunk and Egg are lured off the kingsroad by a wedding feast-and an unusually lucrative tournament. The champion jouster will claim a rare trophy indeed: a dragon's egg. Dunk, always better in a melee, would be satisfied with a hot meal, a cup of wine, and a purse full of coins. But a treasonous plot is more likely to hatch before another dragon ever stretches its wings. Someone's on to Egg. And a mystery knight with designs on an even bigger prize soon throws the entire affair into chaos. ...Show more

Beards of Our Forefathers by David Malki (Artist)

$10.00 NZD

Category: Graphic Novels | Reading Level: very good

Dark Horse Comics is proud to present this handsome hardbound collection of David Malki's Ignatz-nominated comic strip Wondermark. One of the Internet's new generation of self-syndicated comic creators, Malki repurposes illustrations and engravings from 19th-century books into hilarious, collage-style c omic strips. ...Show more

Area Ten by Christos Gage

$8.00 NZD

Category: Graphic Novels | Series: Vertigo Crime

In New York City, a killer known as "Henry The Eighth" leaves a trail of decapitated corpses -- keeping the severed heads to use for purposes unknown.NYPD Detective Adam Kamen leads the investigation, until a seemingly unrelated freak incident leaves him with an injury to his brain, in a section known a s "Brodmann Area 10." When he recovers, Adam's perceptions of time are altered. He becomes slowly convinced that his bizarre condition could be tied directly to the "Henry" case and that the key may lie in the ancient, mystical practice of trepanation. ...Show more

This Is Not A Pipe by Tara Black

$16.00 NZD

Category: New Zealand Fiction | Reading Level: near fine

I've decided to document my life in pictures. It's hard to draw the pole, because of the pole. Beth has a pole through her arms. This is not a metaphor. A metaphor would be a lot less inconvenient. On the other side of the room, Kenneth is creating a new religion. He thinks narrative is the operating pr inciple of the universe. He also thinks he's the hero of Beth's story. Beth is worried he's going to leave her. The creatures living in the pole may have stolen her cat. Tara Black's comic is surreal, dark, sad, perversely joyful, and if you bet someone they couldn't find another book remotely like it, you would win. It's a little bit about being married to Kenneth. It's a little bit about losing your cat. It's definitely not about the pole. I've been told I hold my pen wrong. But it's the only way I can. ‘One of the most potent, unsettling texts I've encountered.' —Tracey Slaughter 'Poetic, whimsical and painfully honest.' —Dylan Horrocks 'A strange and wonderful book, both surreal and very real.' —Tina Makereti 'A freaking masterpiece.' —Pip Adam Tara Black makes comics and sits in the front row of book events so she can draw the writers. Her work appears on The Sapling, Stasis Journal and her website, taracomics.com. This Is Not a Pipe is her first book. ...Show more