Thursday, September 27, 2007

CHICKENHARE: THE HOUSE OF KLAUS



AUTHOR: Chris Grine
ILLUSTRATOR: Chris Grine
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse
GENRE: Humor

FORMAT: Trade paperback
PAGES: 152 pages
COLOR: Black and white
ISBN-10: 1-59307-574-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-59307-574-3


STORY SYNOPSIS
Chickenhare, oh he of chicken body and rooster legs, find himself and his bearded turtle companion in the possession of a ruthless trader, then sold to Klaus the crazy taxidermist to … you guessed it … be stuffed. Whatever shall they do? What any good protagonist would; they join forces with other area creatures to beat the stuffing out of the taxidermist.


STORY REVIEW
Animals, adventure, a ghost and a nutty taxidermist: What else could one ask for in a comic? Chris Grine puts together the strangest characters and wraps them in a semi-dark story, producing a wonderfully unhinged comic for children. I love it. This title does not pander to the oversensitive and simply provides a solid yarn, dark though it may be, and children will respond to the fact that we give them interesting pieces of literature to read. For those who might be overly cautious or concerned, there is a happy ending and the good guys win.


ART REVIEW
The art matches the story well, and while I would have preferred color, the black and white images serve the story well.




AGE RECOMMENDATION
My Rating: Ages 8 and older
Publisher’s Rating: All Ages
All Ages Reads: Not Rated
Comics in the Classroom: Not Rated


BE AWARE:
“Sucks” (pg 151) and “pissed” (pg 138) show up. Worse words than those show up in many pieces of traditional children’s literature and children’s movies, so I don’t see it as a problem. There is a slight amount of harmless violence, but not anything to speak of. One of the bad guys gets pushed from a window; he gets hurt but doesn’t die. A knife ends up in the body of the goat, but the goat is a ghost so it doesn’t matter, and there is no blood. I do not see anything that would raise anyone’s ire.


IN THE CLASSROOM:
Great story and great art can only lead to good things when it comes to using CHICKENHARE in the classroom. Certainly not for everyone, this book will find an audience with some readers and it will speak to them. For those who want to teach writing to their students, there is an opportunity to talk about what drives a character, what motivates him or her or it. In this case, we discover why Klaus is obsessed with collecting strange animals and ends up stuffing themand placing them on his mantle. Even the very evil need friends and some people will go to great lengths to find and retain friends, even it means destroying the friendship. That may seem a bit heavy for kids, but even the very young understand what it means to need a friend.


OTHER INFORMATION:
If you like CHICKENHARE, Dark Horse recommends other titles: BONE, MIGHTY SKULLBOY, USAGI YOJIMBO, LITTLE LULU (currently in the classroom), and SOCK MONKEY. I am especially interested in USAGI YOJIMBO. It has won an Eisner award and is well regarded.


MY RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended
CHICKENHARE makes me laugh and want more. The whole time I am reading it, I imagine a knot of boys in the back of the room reading it and having the time of their lives. Remember: reading should be fun.

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