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Articles by Ben Hatke
Home/World: A Circumnavigation of Our Shared Earth is a hell of a graphic memoir/graphic journal
Eisner award–winning author Ben Hatke recounts his epic circumnavigation of the globe in Home/World, a profound graphic memoir perfect for fans of Bill Bryson. One spring morning, Ben Hatke walked out his door and headed east, carrying a sketchbook and the audacious trust that if he journeyed long enough, the curve of the earth would bring him home again. What he met was a world more perilous and more generous than he ever imagined.
Sleeping Beauties: 4 Picture Books Inspired by Bedtime
Sleeping Beauties: 4 Picture Books Inspired by Bedtime New works cover everything from dreams to gods to insomnia. From “I Forgot How to Sleep.”Credit...Bruno Zocca Ben Hatke is the author of eight graphic novels for children and four picture books. His next book, the graphic memoir “Home/World: A Circumnavigation of Our Shared Earth,” is due out in October. Aug.
HOME/WORLD | Kirkus Reviews
An accessible, informative journey through complex issues during turbulent times. Immersion journalism in the form of a graphic narrative following a Syrian family on their immigration to America. Originally published as a 22-part series in the New York Times that garnered a Pulitzer for editorial cartooning, the story of the Aldabaan family—first in exile in Jordan and then in New Haven, Connecticut—holds together well as a full-length book.
20 Books That Offer Pure Escapism
If wild queer comedy can somehow be used to thwart evil and bring about world peace, this is the book that will save us. Full review >
'Tumblebaby,' by Adam Rex, and 'Meeselphe,' by Claude Ponti Original
I'm on an overnight train, rolling westward. I'm traveling from Harpers Ferry, W.Va., to Chicago - off to see my daughter's college play, an alchemical reimagining of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" as a circus. Along the way, as the scenery fades to dark, I read two picture books. Both are journey books. Both are clever concoctions of seemingly disparate elements that, when combined, crackle with life. A good journey book, after all, captures the almost indescribable flavor of life on the move.
A Graphic Novel for Young Readers Original
AMAZING GRAPES, by Jules Feiffer At the end of May I found myself on a voyage across the Atlantic aboard the Queen Mary 2, a mere week before the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Among the passengers were several World War II veterans. Four of them were well over the century mark, and another four were 99. My own grandfather was in Normandy in 1944, so to be traveling with the veterans was humbling, to put it mildly.
3 Picture Books About Darkness and Light
Several years ago my daughters came back from hiking and announced that they’d found the entrance to an undiscovered cave, perhaps even a whole system of caverns. I was skeptical. After all, they were hiking a maintained trail in a national forest, just 10 minutes from our house. There were even picnic shelters close by. Still, I went with them for a look. They showed me where they’d gone off the trail, sliding down a steep bank of leaves.
Stars in Their Eyes
Jessica Walton, illus. by As´ka. Graphix, $24.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-338-81880-2; $15.99 paper ISBN 978-1-338-81879-6 Walton and As´ka interrogate themes of body image, fan culture, and self-discovery via a queer, disabled teen in this thought-provoking graphic novel. Nothing is going to stop bisexual 14-year-old Australian Maisie from attending her first fan convention and meeting her hero, Kara Bufano, an actor from her favorite television show who, like Maisie, uses a prosthetic leg.
The Story of Gumluck the Wizard (Gumluck the Wizard #1)
The Story of Gumluck the Wizard (Gumluck the Wizard #1) Rex (A Little Like Waking) deftly wraps big themes—friendship, honesty, justice, self-awareness—into an absurdly silly and heartfelt series launch chronicling a wee wizard’s quest to become a helpful hero.
True True by Don P Hooper
Don P. Hooper. Penguin/Paulsen, $19.99 (384p) ISBN 978-059-346210-2 Seventeen-year-old Gil, who is of Jamaican descent, is anxious about starting at a new school in Manhattan, away from his predominantly Caribbean Brooklyn neighborhood. But with a partial scholarship and Augustin Prep’s top-notch robotics program on offer, Gil can’t pass up the opportunity.
RAR #86: 5 Authors and Illustrators You Might Not Know About (But Probably Want To!)
Today, I’m hoping to tell you about some authors/illustrators you may not have heard about before! These aren’t necessarily new authors, but they may be new to you.
Once, Twice, Thrice Upon a Time
Children’s Books Sept.
Mighty Jack | Ben Hatke | Macmillan
Jack might be the only kid in the world who's dreading summer. But he's got a good reason: summer is when his single mom takes a second job and leaves him at home to watch his autistic kid sister, Maddy. It's a lot of responsibility, and it's boring, too, because Maddy doesn't talk. Ever. But then, one day at the flea market, Maddy does talk—to tell Jack to trade their mom's car for a box of mysterious seeds. It's the best mistake Jack has ever made.
MIGHTY JACK AND ZITA THE SPACEGIRL
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3 Books to Celebrate the Power of Girls this March
The views expressed in this post are those of a Spoke contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Red Tricycle. As March includes International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, at Stratford School, we have curated a list of inspirational books for young women. These books about heroines all have a compelling message, which is: there is a power that’s in you and it’s up to you to discover it and then do something good with it.
70 Must-Read Books for 3rd Graders
Books for 3rd graders and beyond are obviously the best gift. When buying for kids, books are even better because you can pick out something that will directly help them build skills they need for school. Picking out a book can be fraught. What do kids today even read? Are comic books considered books or not? How do you know what reading level kids are at? And which classic books are too racist, too sexist, or too distant to connect with kids today?
Graphic Greats: Ben Hatke in conversation with Cory Doctorow
In a format sure to inspire emerging artists, illustrators, animators, and writers, superstar graphic novelist Ben Hatke (Zita the Spacegirl, Little Robot) will be in conversation with NYTimes bestselling author Cory Doctorow (Little Brother, In Real Life). Hatke will discuss his writing and drawing style, do some sketching, and tell us how his memorable characters are conceived.
Barnes & Noble Booksellers Picks for September
For nearly two decades, Jim Killen has served as the science fiction and fantasy book buyer for Barnes & Noble. Every month on Tor.com and the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog, Jim shares his curated list of the month’s can’t-miss new SFF releases. Star Wars: The Force Awakens introduced a ton of instantly iconic new characters, but none more mysterious and enigmatic than First Order military leader Captain Phasma.
Fellow Muggles and Magic Folk: The Harry Potter Epilogue Takes Place Today
The epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book began with three words: “Nineteen years later…” When the book was released that day was still a decade off. Fans did the math, accounting for the amount of time it would take from the Battle of Hogwarts and marked mental calendars accordingly. The years ticked by. You woke up on an ordinary day and “nineteen years later” was now. It’s weird when pop culture catches up with you.
Aliens Among Us | Tor.com
When I think of aliens, I think of a man named Siggi. A wiry fellow with the weathered face of an outdoor laborer and nicotine-stained fingers, he was a fixture in the Studentenstadt student housing complex in the north of Munich, a place where I lived during my early twenties.
The Twilight Pariah Sweepstakes!
We want to send you a galley copy of Jeffrey Ford’s The Twilight Pariah, available September 12th from Tor.com Publishing! All Maggie, Russell, and Henry wanted out of their last college vacation was to get drunk and play archaeologist in an old house in the woods outside of town.
Mighty Jack and the Goblin King
Like a bolt from the blue, Jack’s little sister Maddy is gone—carried into another realm by an ogre. When Jack and Lilly follow Maddy’s captor through the portal, they are ready for anything… except what they find waiting for them in the floating crossroads between worlds. Even the power of their magic plants may not be enough to get them back to earth alive.
Steal the Stars | Tor.com
Science fiction. Fantasy. The universe. And related subjects. Main menu tagged with Steal the Stars © 2017 Macmillan | All stories, art, and posts are the copyright of their respective authors Back to top
Graphic Novels
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First Second graphic novel cover reveal for Gene Yang, Jason Shiga, more
A boy without a shadow falls in love with a ghost. A serial killer learns braille to help his blind cellmate read Dante’s Inferno. An Indian-American girl living in Orange County discovers her heritage with a little help from a magical pashmina. First Second Books boasts a diverse lineup for fall 2017, and EW can exclusively reveal the covers for all 14 graphic novels, including titles by acclaimed creators Gene Luen Yang, Ben Hatke, Alex Alice, and Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi.
The Blurry Line Between Comics and Picture Books: Ben Hatke on His 8 Favorite Eye Candy Hybrids
Ben Hatke is a true magician. Few other comic creators can dissolve the confines of reality to explore other planets (the Zita series), launch daring robot escapes (Little Robot) and host mythic bed and breakfasts (Julia’s House for Lost Creatures) with such soul. The man also literally breathes fire. His latest offering from First Second Books, Nobody Likes a Goblin, continues the kid-friendly cartoonist’s descent into imagination, featuring a likable green monster in search of his skeleton buddy.
Mighty Jack | Tor.com
Jack might be the only kid in the world who’s dreading summer. But he’s got a good reason: summer is when his single mom takes a second job and leaves him at home to watch his autistic kid sister, Maddy. It’s a lot of responsibility, and it’s boring, too, because Maddy doesn’t talk. Ever. But then, one day at the flea market, Maddy does talk—to tell Jack to trade their mom’s car for a box of mysterious seeds. It’s the best mistake Jack has ever made.
Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s
Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s "Scarfolk is paranoid and cynical, and often touches on themes such as surveillance and the diminishment of civil rights. To a certain extent, Scarfolk is speculative because it plays with the recent political developments and either subverts them or exaggerates them to the point of absurdity, though that’s becoming difficult with people like Donald Trump and the incumbent British government.
ZAP! POW! Comics are for kids again
Comics really do help developing readers. I've seen it firsthand. When my daughter, Angelica, first started picking up my old Calvin and Hobbes collections she would come downstairs and tell my wife and I the funny things Calvin did. Then, slowly, she started coming downstairs and telling us the funny things Calvin said. Comics are also great tools for language studies.
Paperback Graphic Books
When you purchase an independently ranked book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. Best Sellers Methodology A version of this list appears in the June 1, 2014 issue of The New York Times Book Review. Rankings on weekly lists reflect sales for the week ending May 17, 2014. Lists are published early online.
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