Mail Order Ninja - Another Take

Well, it was nearly a week and finally someone in the house picked up Mail Order Ninja and read it without prompting or suggestion. Afterward, I asked my eldest, age 10, to give me her brief review.

Today I read Mail Order Ninja, and it was better than Millions but not as good as Al Capone Does My Shirts.

The thing I really liked about this was how at the end the Ninja's fights came together with the boy's life.

What would have made this better is if the fights were easier to understand and those little bio cards were kinda funny at the beginning but eventually got kinda annoying.

I would recommend this book if someone were looking for a quick and funny graphic novel that was in a series.

*****1/2 (out of 10)

For the past couple of weeks she has been driven to read from the Massachusetts Children's Book Award list -- at least 25 books total by the end of this month -- and the most recent two books she's read were Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko. It's interesting that she compared this book only to her most recent reading and not other graphic novels she has read. She really didn't like Millions (didn't say why) and she really loved Al Capone (ditto). In the graphic novel category she really really loved Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and wanted more like it; I wasn't exactly comfortable with her reading that but that wasn't for me to say.

The bio cards she makes reference to are meant to introduce major characters and I have to agree, they could have been humorous but they were annoying.

She didn't ask if the second book in the series was available or indicate any interest, but to be fair she still has about 10 more books on her list to read by the end of the month.

And rumor has it there's a galley copy of a certain third book in a particular series floating around the house that must take precedent over others.