WWII Graphic Novels: A Timberdoodle Review

This is a sponsored post. I received this item from Timberdoodle in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts and words and opinions are, as always on this page and in real and regular life, all completely and totally my own.

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It was a quick and easy yes when Timberdoodle presented two graphic novels as a review option.

As a kid – and as a grown up, frankly – graphic novels never pulled me in. I liked hearty, thick books. Descriptions. Dialogue. Details.

But my kids. My goodness, they ADORE a good graphic novel. (And, let me tell you the truth, they adore a whole host of bad ones too.)

The graphic novel genre may not be my favorite, but it’s such a giant lure to my children – and has been for so long – that I have no desire to banish it or condemn it. I’d rather find a way to get great versions in their hands.

And we’ve read a few. Aunt Betty Ann has been a great supplier of books to my kids over the years through her work at a library. We have a lovely graphic novel about Anne Sullivan and a beautiful one about Herschel Page, plus we’ve read fantastic ones about Harry Houdini and handful of other really neat options like an Anne of Green Gables one and A Wrinkle in Time one too.

The two novels I”m reviewing today are about World War II and the Holocaust.

The kids said they had a Tin Tin vibe – another series my children devoured.

Here’s the cool thing about graphic novels, even if I don’t tend to read them thoroughly myself. My kids will read them about any and every old topics – history, biographies, you name it. Because they love the genre. They think the format is fun and engaging.

And. Even better – they’ll RE-READ them. Each time going back to these same books, which means they are studying a subject or a time period or a person over and over, truly imprinting it on their brains as a part of their own experience.

(Which is why I do care that they are of good quality, when at all possible.)

I had good intentions to have the kids write this review themselves. And maybe I’ll make time for them to go back and do that.

But for now, I think the best review I can offer is this:

These books came in the mail. The boxes were opened and the books were sitting on the counter. I had not even picked them up. Then, they were not sitting on the counter. Time passed. When I asked the kids to find the books so I could take a few pictures, every single child in my house had already read both books, without me asking or even mentioning anything about the books.

Isn’t that all we really want? Good literature, good stories, good ideas – in their hands, in their minds, in their hearts?

The other thing that graphic novels can do that not every book can do is to offer such a wide appeal. I have a ten year old. And two sixteen year olds. They both enjoyed the graphic novels. As did the fourteen year old and the twelve year old. Done! Every age loves it for different reasons, which allows me to have some good discussions about history or whatever subject matter, and know that all five kids have read the same material at their downlevel, therefore giving us common ground for discussions.

I’d call that a successful review that pretty much wrote itself.