Explorer: The Mystery Boxes

We have a lot of Kazu Kibuishi fans who read OWL Magazine. Some of you were lucky enough to meet him at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival!

So, we’re going to talk about Explorer: The Mystery Boxes for our Book Club today. This book is edited by Kazu and it’s a compilation of seven unique graphic stories that all include a mysterious box.

I don’t usually read a lot of graphic novels so this was a great experience for me. I really enjoyed how this book was divided into short stories as I never got bored reading it.

As far as story, I liked ‘The Escape Option’ because it gave me lots to ponder. But as far as illustration, by far, my favourite was ‘Whatzit’. The vibrant yellow and red colours were a nice change from the consistently dark colours used in most of the stories. I also really like the grandson who was an adorable and diligent worker. The ending was just perfect!

If you’re a fan of graphic novels, I think you’ll really enjoy this book. There’s lots to leave to the imagination and the illustrations are amazing.

Here are my questions for you:

1. Which story was your favourite and why?

2. How did you feel after reading the story ‘The Escape Option’? What’s the message of this story?

3. Which style of illustration did you like best and why?

Let me know what you thought of this book!

-Kim, owlblog@owlkids.com