Sword & Laser Kids discussion

I too just finished the book, although I was surprised at how thick it was. I admit that I picked it because the cover looked like a shorter book -- I should have checked the page count! But I enjoyed it enough to sit and read it through in a day.

I liked Eva learning to be innovative and confident -- she starts out so protected that I worried about her, but by the end she's survived and conquered all her adventures. I liked the science and the illustrations -- the hints of human catastrophes, the life forms based on microbiology, the pictures at the start of each chapter that helped form my images (or that I refused to accept as my mental pictures of some things were very different).

I've handed my copy over to my 16 year old, to get a closer-to-kid-eye view. I think I would have liked it as a kid -- the mysteries, the adventures, the connections at the end. Also, it feels like a thick book, but my copy has wide margins and those illustrations, so it moves fast. So it's a good confidence builder of a book.

I wasn't surprised at the thickness of the book, it was always catching my eye whenever I wandered through the Children's Fiction section of my local library. But I had never cracked it open to see the illustrations and the "large print" of the text.

As much as I enjoyed the books (I just finished book 2), I can't help but feel like I've already SEEN this story in animated form. I know I haven't, but some of the visuals just seem so familiar. If any book series is screaming for an anime adaptation, it's this one. (Someone want to send this one to Studio Ghibli?)

On a side tangent, regarding the "confidence building" nature of reading this book, has anyone else read the Brian Selznick illustrated books: Wonderstruck or The Invention of Hugo Cabret? Those books rival the final volumes of Harry Potter in heft, but are 80% illustration.
(BTW, great books, both of them.) But there's a pleasantly inflated sense of accomplishment when you read such a thick book in about an hour. :)

I knew the book was big since it's in my school library. But I also know DiTerlizzi's work so expected it to be heavily illustrated.

And yes, I've read both of those Selznick books. They're wonderful. There are kids who love them for the very reason you mention. In fact I sometimes have parents and teachers question students who they think are getting a book that's "too big for them" and have to show that they're 85% illustrations.

Last week my 13 year old niece was reminiscing about the fun she had with the Hugo Cabret book years ago. She had asked for something to read and then tried to balk when I handed it to her -- it was far too big! But I assured her she could finish it in a day, because she was just that good of a reader. Dubiously she started it..., loved it, and finished it that afternoon.

She still laughs about how I tricked her into reading a "big" book.

I started out skimming the illustrations, because I'm really a text-based reader. I'm TERRIBLE at graphic novels because of this; so many times I just can't tell which character is which because I'm so bad at visual cues. But after a few chapters I'd not only study the chapter beginnings, but page back during the story to see how my visuals matched up with the pictures.

I don't know if anyone else chose to read the rest of the WondLa trilogy, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

However, I wanted to comment that each book in series feels a bit different from the last. The first one is primarily about the exploration of Orbona and the mystery behind Eva's appearance here.

The second seemed more of an environmental, border-line political sentiment. And the third is a morality tale with your good vs. evil fight.

I will say that in the third book, DiTerlizzi added the name of a geographic location called "Hayao's Hook." Which seems far too on-the-nose for it not to be an homage to Hayao Miyazaki.

I actually haven't finished the first one and it's not thrilling me at the moment. Don't know if I'll make it to the others or not.