House Of Secrets News!

	OWLY by ANDY RUNTON — A Great Read for Non-Readers!! Any Owly graphic novel by Andy Runton is a consistently unique experience in illustrated storytelling, and is a great book for any preschooler or young child. For, unlike practically all comics, the Owly series of graphic novels rely on the wonderfully illustrated and cartoony expressions of it’s characters and easy-to-read pictographs in word balloons to tell it their stories. Owly books give young kids a great reference point for understanding an illustrated story and sequential art without having to “read” dialog. Definitely a book that both parent and child should share.
	BONE series TPB's by JEFF SMITH — Multi Eisner and Harvey Award Winning Stories! One of the wonderful things about the Bone Series particularly in trade paper back (TBP), is that there’s a volume just right for practically every reader and all ages. The original series ran from 1991 to 2004 and has garnered numerous awards and fans of every age. There are a lot of volumes of Bone to choose from. The early, humor packed, TPB's are great jumping on points for young readers and as the stories progress through the series volumes, complexities of storyline and character development see an arch that is epic in scope, yet retain humor throughout. Listed as one of TIME MAGAZINE'S top 10 graphic novels of all-time.
	AMULET by KAZU KIBUISHI— Beautifully Rendered, Fantasy Graphic Novels for Older Kids! Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet Graphic Novel is wonderfully crafted, richly colored, high-fantasy adventure that touches upon some familiar fantasy allegories and universal themes, but with a lovingly tender eye, from an older child's perspective. It’s a story of loss, family, friends and the love that helps them find each their way back to each other. I would warn that the opening prologue may not be suitable for children under 12, parental discretion is advised. If your child enjoys Amulet, be sure to ask about Kazu’s other masterful volumes of work, Flight and Daisy Kutter.
	DC KIDS!— A whole lottta fun with comics for every reading level! DC has been just ahead of Marvel in gettng comics for kids out in the mainstream market. There are comics for pre-schoolers to tweens at every reading level. Super Friends, Tiny Titans, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!, Looney Tunes and more are available monthly to provide your kids some great comics fun! Since DC’s been at it a while, you can also find available trade paper backs of some of their older kid-friendly series: Batman Strikes!, Batman Adventures, Justice League Adventures, Justice League Unlimitied, Teen Titan Go! and much more. Be sure to ask your HoS staff for availability and their favorite picks for kids!
	MARVEL ADVENTURES: AVENGERS — Team comics, great characters, easy reads, fun for all! It’s been a long time since I read comics like these. Back in the seventies I remember some of the mainstream comics titles (not many) still had a little of this “kid-ness” in them. In the eighties however…forget about it. It was all grim and gritty (except KG’s Justice League…still darn funny). Comics became “adult” in all manners of ways (subject matter, dialog, themes, artwork) and nothing was left for the kids. Well now, flash forward to Marvel Adventures, books Marvel touts as accessible fun reads for kids 6 to 60… and guess what? They are!! The Marvel Adventures: Avengers book in particular does a great job, issue to issue, of pulling some great characters and stories together and creating a really fun read. Not much set-up is needed and backstory issues to issue is seldom needed. It’s a fun frolic through the Marvel Universe.
	WEALTH OF DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH!! — Small & Independent Publishers at it for Years! Small and Independent publishers have been carrying the load of producing kid-friendly comics all these years while the big two have been moving their entire portfolios of titles to PG-13 status. As mentioned before, it has only been over the last few years that the big two have made concerted moves back to providing young readers with appropriate fare, but these are still a small segment of their product lines. So if you're looking for more materials suitable for younger readers, please be sure to check in with your House of Secrets staff to find out more about some great reads for your kids, that you may never have heard of.

As mentioned on the home page, this year’s Free Comic Book Day was a real blast for patrons, friends and families visiting our humble little comics shop. Kids marveled with wonder at real-life Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Mr. Incredible and Spider-man walking through the shop, posing for pictures with everyone that asked. More importantly though was the opportunity for young readers to actually pick up some funny books that were made just for them! As comic publishers have finally, over decades of neglect, recognized that children have been underserved, they have recently began publishing a number of titles directly solely at kids. Here is a list of some of our favorites at the House of Secrets.

Some are for younger readers, others for tweens. Be sure to ask any of our staff for recommendations to meet your child’s reading skills and appropriate subject matter. Feel free to come by the shop on the weekends to discuss the right reading material for your child.