book data
248 ratings, 3.86 average rating, 71 reviews
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published
January 1st 2008
by GRAPHIX
binding
Hardcover, 208 pages
setting
Unknown
isbn
0439846803
(isbn13: 9780439846806)
description
After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house pr...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 329)
Read in January, 2008
Meh.
Every story, whether it's being told orally, as a book, as a graphic novel, or in a kind of performance is allowed to reuse old tropes. Particularly when the story being told is appropriate for kids, there's a talent in figuring out how to use familiar images and objects in new and exciting ways. It's what distinguishes the good writing from the knock-offs. The storyline that involves a hero who finds a powerful object of some sort that could be good or could be bad is one pretty...more
Every story, whether it's being told orally, as a book, as a graphic novel, or in a kind of performance is allowed to reuse old tropes. Particularly when the story being told is appropriate for kids, there's a talent in figuring out how to use familiar images and objects in new and exciting ways. It's what distinguishes the good writing from the knock-offs. The storyline that involves a hero who finds a powerful object of some sort that could be good or could be bad is one pretty...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommended to Sheila by:
Brigid Shoganrecommends it for: middle schoolers who like a good fantasy adventure.
This will be a good book to booktalk to 6th graders! If they haven't gotten into graphic novels, it'll be a good entre into that genre. The illustrations blend so well with the text to portray the emotions of Emily, her brother, Navin, and parents. The story begins with a terrible tragedy that then brings the family to their ancestor's creepy old home in the middle of nowhere. Emily discovers a pendant (the amulet) that has some strange powers. During the night, the family awakens upon hearing s...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommended to neeecole by:
nicole.recommends it for: everyone! youngins', teens, old folks, me, you, your mom
Just finished Amulet: Book 1: The Stone Keeper and I want moooooooore! I bought this at Comic Con this year, after it was recommended by my friend Nicole. She knows the artist/author and he signed it with a cute little bunny drawing! Any way, GREAT! adventure/fantasy graphic novel series... and I heard it's already being optioned for a movie. I am super happy to see another female heroine in the lead role, so the little girl inside of me jumps for joy and longs for the days of having silly adven...more
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Read in December, 2008
I picked this up in my school library and read it in about 20 minutes. The lack of length of the book does not detract from its depth. It is by the same author responsible for the Flight graphic novels and he is a talented artist. The story is intriguing - the beginning is as exciting as a film. The young protagonist is in a car accident with her mother and father. The father sacrifices himself to save his wife and child. We move on then to discover that the family has moved to a family ho...more
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Read in September, 2008
This book had tragedy, adventure, and heart. Loved the story, loved the artwork. Can't wait for the sequel.
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Read in July, 2008
Too much like Spiderwick Chronicles to be a completely satisfying read.
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Read in November, 2008
This graphic novel opens with one of the most frightening and heartbreaking car accidents I have ever seen textually or graphically rendered, which gives you a pretty good idea right off that this isn’t your typical comic book or YA fantasy fare. It’s also got tentacle monsters and a cool steampunky vibe. I only wish it weren’t so slight: this is just volume one, which means reading it is kind of like watching the pilot for a new TV show…and then not getting to see episode two for months...more
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Kazu Kibuishi is perhaps best known as the editor of the Flight anthologies, first for Image and then for Villard, but those who actually read the table of contents know that he has also been a contributor to each installment. His short stories have always been among the best in each new edition of Flight, but his talent, both in telling a story and in drawing, seemed to be overshadowed by his role as editor. His new book, however, is a solo effort, giving him the chance to prove his mettle as ...more
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Read in February, 2008
Simply one of the best graphic novels I've ever read. And this is a YA story, and I'm a person who reads adult comics all the time. Yeah, it's that good.
The story--which opens with a truly unbelievable car crash in the prologue--revolves around two children, Emily and Navin, their mother, and their transportation to another world. What makes this seemingly cliche premise stand out is author/illustrator Kazu Kibuishi's understanding of the way families actually talk to one anothe...more
The story--which opens with a truly unbelievable car crash in the prologue--revolves around two children, Emily and Navin, their mother, and their transportation to another world. What makes this seemingly cliche premise stand out is author/illustrator Kazu Kibuishi's understanding of the way families actually talk to one anothe...more
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Read in June, 2008
I believe this is Kibuishi's first foray into epic fantasy, and it's a really great start. His mastery of cartooning, comics, and illustration burst from every panel, from the death of loved ones to funny car faces to battling octopus monsters. One of my favorite part of this and all of Kibuishi's work is his generous use of space in the service of timing. Space is time in comics, but it's also money. Every time you draw a panel that doesn't directly serve the narrative, that's another few h...more
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Reviewed by Michaela Pallante aka "Mickey" for TeensReadToo.com
After the tragic death of their father, Emily and her brother, Navin, move with their mother to a new town to start a brand new life. Their new house is very old and has been in their family for years. Emily is very interested by this old house, particularly one room upstairs in which she finds a beautiful necklace with a very pretty stone in it.
Emily's cool find is soon overshadowed by a very stran...more
After the tragic death of their father, Emily and her brother, Navin, move with their mother to a new town to start a brand new life. Their new house is very old and has been in their family for years. Emily is very interested by this old house, particularly one room upstairs in which she finds a beautiful necklace with a very pretty stone in it.
Emily's cool find is soon overshadowed by a very stran...more
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Read in March, 2008
I’m going to go ahead and say something that will not surprise you at all, so please don’t do a mocking spit-take with your morning coffee: graphic novels are unique. They have the ability to draw in reluctant readers like nothing else in print. Must be the cool pictures. Some GN’s hit, some miss, and some reside in a place I like to call “Inbetweensville”. While it didn’t exactly move me, there’s no doubt that “Stone Keeper” will find an eager audience ready to follow this new...more
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Good yarn, quick read. Gorgeous art. I was hoping to be able to read it with my 5-year-old, but it's probably best for a slightly-older audience, what with the Dad dying horribly on page 1, and then the mom getting eaten by the land squid on page 2. And we're off!
The story moves along fairly briskly, and kind of glosses over some of the stuff I'd be interested in lingering over (Robotic stuffed bunny rabbit who drives an automech suit? Can we talk about that a little bit?). But I get...more
The story moves along fairly briskly, and kind of glosses over some of the stuff I'd be interested in lingering over (Robotic stuffed bunny rabbit who drives an automech suit? Can we talk about that a little bit?). But I get...more
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Read in July, 2008
Thoroughly enjoyable, even if it feels a bit cobbled together from familiar elements here and there. What I most love here is (a) the Bone-like way Kibuishi mixes genre fantasy and horror with lighter fair (bunnies and robots and vacuum cleaners with eyes and so on); and (b) that the horror elements really do have the squirm and snap of genuine horror. The creepy-crawlies in the story are the sort to set the skin to crawling, and the opening tragedy is pulled off with an emotional concision that...more
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Read in February, 2008
Following a family tragedy, Emily's mom moves her and her brother to an ancestral house in the middle of nowhere, where weird things happen, Mom gets swallowed by some kind of tentacled-monster thing, and Emily has to save her and keep
her little brother out of harm's way. Emily is guided by a voice from the amulet she found in the old house, and is helped by the variety of sentient toys her great-grandfather has charged with her care.
I'm not explaining it very well, but it mak...more
her little brother out of harm's way. Emily is guided by a voice from the amulet she found in the old house, and is helped by the variety of sentient toys her great-grandfather has charged with her care.
I'm not explaining it very well, but it mak...more
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A great lead into a series that I cannot wait to see through. A book seeming with possible influences from animation icons Don Bluth and Hayao Miyazaki, this story is mature and intense to be just a kid's novel. Kibuishi has surprised me with this story, and I wait in anticipation for the next issue in the series.
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
miyazaki fans
I really enjoyed this story! The plot took a slow and meandering path setting up the story's foundations so that most of the action is in the last third of the book, but the next volume carries quite a bit of promise from where things left off.
The story runs something like this: After the death of their father/husband, a mom and her two kids move into their great-grandfather's house. While exploring the house, the mom is sucked into a dimension with nightmares and curious dreams arou...more
The story runs something like this: After the death of their father/husband, a mom and her two kids move into their great-grandfather's house. While exploring the house, the mom is sucked into a dimension with nightmares and curious dreams arou...more
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Read in December, 2007
In mid-2006, Kazu Kibuishi temporarily placed his monthly webcomic Copper on hold so he could work on a new project, Amulet. I'll admit that I was feeling more than a little grouchy at the time this knowledge came out; what was this strange new interloper that was coming between me and my beloved Copper? It was a little silly, with Kibuishi's stories in the Flight anthologies as well as Daisy Kutter having certainly proven that Kibuishi wasn't a one-trick pony. But in the back of my head was alw...more
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Read in August, 2008
Quite glossy and illustrated in full-color, this is a slick but intense production. The death of Naven and Emily's dad is depicted in the prologue, in very emotional detail, and when the story picks up 2 years later, their mom is swallowed whole by a slimy, toothy monster. Their attempt to rescue her, plus the discovery of an amulet, leads the siblings to an alternate world, apparently ruled by their great-grandfather. Several cantankerous robots and/or worried rabbits, one of whom looks like...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Becky by:
PW Comics Weeklyrecommends it for: 5th grade and up; fans of Spirited Away, Coraline, Bone
Eeeek, this book was so good! After a tragic prologue, Emily and her little brother Navin must move with their mother to an old family mansion, where (you guessed it), things are not quite right. I don't want to put any spoilers here, but I found this story to be exciting, inventive, scary, gross, and heartwrenching, with monsters that would do Miyazaki proud. It's pretty creepy at times, so I'd give it to older elementary kids (the ones who didn't get nightmares from Coraline). The colors and l...more
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