C.C. Almodovar Reviews *Amulet Book 1*

Review of Amulet: Book One The Stonekeeper
Title: Amulet: Book One The Stonekeeper
Author: Kazu Kibuishi
Artist: Kazu Kibuishi
Publisher:GRAPHIX
Publication Date: 2008

“Szrak, Hweeee, Squawk, Krnch, and Szzt,” are just a few of the exciting words that are in this thrilling and adventurous first installment of Kazu Kibuishi’s book Amulet. Amulet is a graphic novel centered around a young girl named Emily and her little brother Navin. This story is very action packed. In the prologue, Emily’s family is driving to pick up Navin, Emily’s younger brother, when her father swerves to miss a broken down car and drives off the road. The car flips over and nearly falls off of a cliff. Emily and her mother, Karen, are the only ones to get out before the car slides off of the cliff with Emily’s father still inside, killing him when the car crashes at the bottom of the cliff.

The story begins with the family moving in to a new town and moving into an old family house to try to ease their financial needs. The first night in their new house, they hear a strange noise in the basement. Karen goes down to check it out and is abducted by a creature to a different land. Emily and Navin follow right behind her and start their journey to get her back. Emily finds a special amulet which has secret powers. She must learn how to use it and control it in order to help their journey. They make new friends along the way which help them on their journey to rescue their mother. Amulet is an exciting story. The fluid illustrations in addition to the text make it very easy to read. The illustration panels read almost like an action film using different angles to show movement rather than just being static. The quality of this book is superb and the story just draws the reader in and makes them want to continue reading the later volumes to find out what happens to Emily and Navin.

Amulet possesses some characteristics of young adult literature and also contains some of the “Best of the best” ideas. This story is centered on two pre-teens, Emily and Navin. It follows them on their journey into a new land in order to search for their mother. Many readers could identify with the story’s main character, Emily. She is an adventurous girl whom loves her family deeply. She has already lost one parent and will do whatever she can to protect her mother and brother. A “Best of the best” quality represented in the book is that Emily takes responsibility and gets credit for her actions. When she learns about the amulet and its powers, she has to accept them. She is given the responsibility of taking care of the amulet and controlling its power.

Another “Best of the best” quality is that the story is quickly paced, but it is not simple. The story has a good amount of action which makes it a fast-paced story and Amulet deals with a few serious topics. It deals with a death of a parent and also the kidnapping of the other. Emily and Navin are left alone in an unfamiliar land to rescue their mother. The language in the story is also very easy to understand and the dialogue is not very lengthy, which contributes to the fast paced story.

Another “Best” quality is that the story is optimistic. Emily and Navin’s father is dead and their mother has been kidnapped. Instead of crying at home they are taking action and try to rescue her. Whatever Emily is feeling she does not let it get to her. She wants to get her mother back and will do whatever it takes. Emily and Navin come close to rescuing her a few times but their attempts get foiled at the last minute. They, however, do not give up and try to come up with a different way of approaching the rescue. Amulet has a silver lining and even though this is the first book in the series, the readers can see that Emily is beginning to change from a little girl to a young responsible woman. These elements of young adult literature are use to help create an original story that can be both relatable and entertaining to you adult readers.

Amulet contains many elements of young adult literature; however, it does not contain them all. The story does not include different ethnicities and cultures, which is a “Best if the best” quality. Emily and Navin go into a new mysterious land that is somehow in their basement. They do not know where they are or what kind of different creatures they see. The story shares a little information about the new world but is very limited. The story also is focused on the main characters and their journey. This book is used to set up the story and it does not show or mention different ethnicities or cultures of our world. For readers who are not into fantasy, this book may be difficult for them to get into because it is not relatable in that way. Another “Best of the best” characteristic which is limited is the variety of genres and subjects that are relatable. The story deals with death of a parent and with the kidnapping of the other and how Emily is coping with them. These topics are family oriented and show readers that it is important to care for family. This story does not touch on other important topics to young adult readers such as drinking, dealing with the opposite sex, school, and puberty. This may limit the relatable content to its readers and have less of a connection to them.

This graphic novel is very interesting and entertaining, and I would recommend young adult people to read this book. It is very entertaining and is action-packed, which makes the reading flow easily and quickly. Since this is a series book, it will interest the readers to continue with the story and find out what happens to Emily, Navin, and their mother Karen. Like some quest-type stories, this book is optimistic and has a silver lining. You can see that Emily is slowly changing from a little girl to a young adult. She is becoming more responsible and taking credit for her actions. Even though this book does not have other topics that are in young adult books such as dating and puberty, this is still a very entertaining book. The title Amulet does not provide a lot of information to go off of but the prologue gives an abundance of information and illustrates the situation the family is in at the beginning of the story.

I would recommend this book to young adults both in middle school and high school. This book is easy to read without being boring. The story sucks the reader in within the first couple of pages and leaves you wanting more. I believe the easy flow will also help young adults read cover to cover. This is a quest or journey story, and I believe it can appeal to many people.

I believe even adults would enjoy this book and the Amulet series. It may not change the lives of people but it is very entertaining and can be a great escape from the real world.