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Looking for Art, Adventure, Mystery and Suspense?: Find It in The Nameless City!

13 Apr

If cel-shade art, adventure, mystery, and suspense are aspects that you feel are missing from your life, then The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks is the book series for you! The art is a unique style that is rarely utilized in media and blends into the tone of the narrative as well. Its cel-shade art, blending colors with thick dark shades that emphasize the world and characters around it, are eye candy for first-time readers who are just getting into graphic novels or for someone looking to have an aesthetically pleasing reading experience. 

Set in a parallel version of Ancient Asia, the story unfolds when a boy named Kaidu moves into, yep, you guessed it, The Nameless City! Kai is sent on a ship with other young men to train as soldiers of the city. Kai discovers that the reason behind the city’s unique name is because it has been conquered countless times. Each conquest meant a new name until it grew its infamous name, The Nameless City. As Kai explores the city, he bumps into a girl named Rat, a child of the streets and an orphan, who sees Kai as an intruder since he is not a familiar face and does not respect the city and its culture.

Kai and Rat start rough yet find themselves growing closer while helping each other. In time their chemistry evolves, as they run across the rooftops, trade skills, and goods to survive. I enjoy Faith Erin Hicks’ choice in showing a calendar every chapter to show how many days have passed. You can tell through the days that Kai soon goes from skeptical about the city to falling for the nameless city, and sneaks in as much as possible to explore new locations. One afternoon Kai and Rat find vital information that forces them to work together to stop a disaster that can end the little peace that the Nameless City has. Can they stop this threat? Who is trying to destroy the nameless city? Why don’t you find out today? You can read The Nameless City right now available on eBCCLS and other comics by Hicks on Hoopla.

Written by:
Andre Lebron
Circulation Assistant

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Halloween Horror Reads for Teens

30 Oct

There is no better way to get into the Halloween spirit then to borrow some Horror-themed YA reads for FREE at the Hoboken Public Library. Below are four suggested reads that are great for Halloween, Day of the Dead, and even all year round. If you like to feel the anxiety and adrenaline that comes with being a little scared and comfortable at home, CHECK OUT these awesome reads!

Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds
by Gwenda Bond
Stranger Things Suspicious Minds
The hit thriller Netflix series has a prequel!!! In the series, we are familiar with curious characters like Eleven. Like most things in the series, Eleven’s past is still a mystery. This book investigates Eleven’s mother’s past and the moments that set things in motion for the original series. The author, Gwenda Bond, makes the story her own with respect to the show by introducing new characters and following along with the original story. If you are a fan of Stranger Things, this is the book for you.

For Grades: Middle and High School

Theme: Science Fiction, Horror, Paranormal, Mystery, Horror

Coraline
by Neil Gaiman
Coraline
Leaving your friends and moving away is tough, and there are no siblings to bother in Caroline’s case. She is not afraid to tell her parents that it was not fair that they had to move. But her parents do not care to acknowledge it or her for that matter. She is the only kid in the building of weird neighbors like Mr. Bobo, the mouse trainer, and Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, the building’s fortune-tellers. Even they could not keep boredom away. She counted the windows and the doors to fill in time but stumbles on a small door in the wall. This door happens to open to another dimension where the “other mother” lived. The other mother was the replica of her birth mother, except she gave her the attention she craved, and she had the TWO BLACK BUTTONS for eyes. The reader can get a virtual taste of the story’s setting through the black and white illustrations sporadically throughout the book. Coraline could not wait to go through the door and hang out with her “other mother and father.” But the day came when the “other mother” asked her to stay with her at the price of letting her sew buttons into Coraline’s eyes. Coraline escapes, the other mother is not happy, and kidnaps her birth parents. What can Coraline do now?  You can also borrow the movie adaptation.  You can also check out a previous post about Neil Gaiman here.

Grades: Middle and High School

Theme: Paranormal, Horror, Graphic Novels

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
In Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Jacob grew up listening to his grandfather, Abraham’s, stories. He told stories of surviving monsters of human and mystical forms during World War II. Jacob always looked up to him, but as he grew into a teenager, he started to doubt his grandfather’s stories where true. When his grandfather is found brutally murdered, he ventures out to the island setting of his grandfather’s stories to find out more about him and his death. He stumbles upon to an orphanage of children with peculiar abilities. There is a boy with bees in of him and a floating girl which are displayed in old fashioned style pictures throughout the book. Little did he know was that his presence made the children valuable to the murderous monster’s that lark in the shadows.  A movie adaptation is also available.

Grades: Middle and High School

Theme: Orphanages, Mystery, Supernatural, Monsters

Thornhill
by Pam Smy
Thornhill
The Thornhill orphanage intertwines the lives of two girls. Mary was a mistreated orphan of Thornhill 35 years before Ella moved into the neighborhood. How do they connect all those years apart? The secret is a diary and dolls! In this book of traditional text and haunting grayscale illustrations, the reader cannot help but wonder what became of Mary and if she wants Ella to join her.

Grades: Middle and High School

Theme: Bullying, Orphanages, Ghosts, Supernatural

By Elbie A. Love
Young Adult Library Associate

Want more Halloween suggestions?  Check out our Halloween Urban Fantasy post and favorite Horror movies.

 

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