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geekwayne's review against another edition
3.0
'Dracula Marries Frankenstein' by Susan Schade with illustrations by Jon Buller is a part graphic novel, part prose book. It's also the second book in the Anne of Green Bagels series, which I liked better.
This time out Anne and Otto and company want to make a monster movie. When they suddenly (?) spy a creepy looking castle, they realize it's perfect. Now they just have to get permission from the homeowner and write a script. The problems occur when the homeowner stumbles upon the movie set and has a raging fit over the idea of a same sex movie being filmed on her property. A viral video goes live and things get worse before they get better.
This book alternates between text and comics like the first one, but I liked the first one more because the comics were Anne's weird dreams. This time around the story feels more rushed and there are lots, maybe too many, things going on. The art is still good, and overall it was ok.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Papercutz and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
This time out Anne and Otto and company want to make a monster movie. When they suddenly (?) spy a creepy looking castle, they realize it's perfect. Now they just have to get permission from the homeowner and write a script. The problems occur when the homeowner stumbles upon the movie set and has a raging fit over the idea of a same sex movie being filmed on her property. A viral video goes live and things get worse before they get better.
This book alternates between text and comics like the first one, but I liked the first one more because the comics were Anne's weird dreams. This time around the story feels more rushed and there are lots, maybe too many, things going on. The art is still good, and overall it was ok.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Papercutz and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
ljrinaldi's review against another edition
4.0
I don't remember the first Anne of Green Bagelss book other than I was unimpressed.
I was prepared for more of the same, but this mix of a chapter book and a graphic novel moved along well, as sthe kids in the book decided they wanted to make a monster film where Dracula. Married Frankenstein's monster. None of them thought, oh, that will be a same sex marriage, they just thought that would be a funny horror movie.
It isn't until Augusta, whose house they are filming at, learns what the movie is about, that she has a fist about homosexuality, and same-sex couples, and how horrid it all is.
The story wides along, until we discover why Augusta feels that way, and what happens next.
The kids are all, what is her problem, doesn't she know it is legal?
It is a cute story, and I enjoyed it, except for the singing bits, which may have been what I didn't like about the first book, as I don't think you can really write about singing in a print book.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
I was prepared for more of the same, but this mix of a chapter book and a graphic novel moved along well, as sthe kids in the book decided they wanted to make a monster film where Dracula. Married Frankenstein's monster. None of them thought, oh, that will be a same sex marriage, they just thought that would be a funny horror movie.
It isn't until Augusta, whose house they are filming at, learns what the movie is about, that she has a fist about homosexuality, and same-sex couples, and how horrid it all is.
The story wides along, until we discover why Augusta feels that way, and what happens next.
The kids are all, what is her problem, doesn't she know it is legal?
It is a cute story, and I enjoyed it, except for the singing bits, which may have been what I didn't like about the first book, as I don't think you can really write about singing in a print book.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
atalinay's review against another edition
2.0
Maybe I shouldn't have judged the book by the title cause it seemed like it would be a fun story. I would've preferred the entire story to be illustrated in graphic novel format. And the storyline about homophobia was rushed and don't think it accomplished what it set out to do because of this.
jmanchester0's review
4.0
What an odd book! Not to say that I didn‰ЫЄt enjoy it, but it was just a bit different. Which is nice. These mixes of prose and sequential art are interesting - are they new or enjoying a resurgence?
It was definitely an interesting story. Though I hope that young people don‰ЫЄt get out of it that people always change in such positive ways so quickly - especially on their own. Or that people have actually have experiences that lead them to abandon their prejudice; they usually don‰ЫЄt.
Thanks to NetGalley and Papercutz for a copy in return for an honest review.
It was definitely an interesting story. Though I hope that young people don‰ЫЄt get out of it that people always change in such positive ways so quickly - especially on their own. Or that people have actually have experiences that lead them to abandon their prejudice; they usually don‰ЫЄt.
Thanks to NetGalley and Papercutz for a copy in return for an honest review.
dee_dee_reads's review
3.0
There were quite a few things in this one that sold me: it wasn't a traditional graphic novel but it wasn't a regular chapter book either; it was quirky (Anne and her friends are little oddballs); there was D-R-A-M-A.
I saw some people referring to the lgbt storyline as being poorly done/resolved too quickly, but I think it was perfectly paced for the length of the book overall. We had our conflict-we got an explanation-the entire situation was resolved. Voila.
Of course more could have been said, of course real life never fixes itself so quickly or easily, of course the excuse of 'I was hurting so I hurt others' is NEVER an acceptable excuse. Of course, of course.
There are flaws, yes, but I think it's still worth the read.
I saw some people referring to the lgbt storyline as being poorly done/resolved too quickly, but I think it was perfectly paced for the length of the book overall. We had our conflict-we got an explanation-the entire situation was resolved. Voila.
Of course more could have been said, of course real life never fixes itself so quickly or easily, of course the excuse of 'I was hurting so I hurt others' is NEVER an acceptable excuse. Of course, of course.
There are flaws, yes, but I think it's still worth the read.
amythebookbat's review
4.0
This is called a hybrid graphic novel (alternates between regular prose and graphic/comic sections). I would say it is geared to middle grade and younger YA based on the writing style. It touches on some more serious topics such as Internet bullying and same-sex marriage, but just skims the surface. I think older YA readers might want a deeper dive into the topics (or maybe that is just me.) The story is cute an fun. A group of kids decide to make a monster movie in which Dracula and Frankenstein's monster get married and then have to deal with domestic issues. The lady who lets them use her castle flips out when she sees that they are filming a gay wedding between the two monsters and her meltdown gets uploaded to YouTube which sets off the Internet bullying subplot. I thought it was an interesting way to handle these subjects, I just wanted a little more. But then, I am much older than the intended audience, so I guess I can't fault it that much. I feel like the book falls somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars.
saoirseak's review
1.0
I received an advanced review copy of this book.
This is not a graphic novel. It's about equal parts comics and prose-- I think I would have liked it better if it were a standard graphic novel. As is, it just gives the impression that the artist didn't know how to draw half the scenes. When I reviewed a previous Papercutz book, Stitched, I noted that the page layouts were too exciting and distracted from the story; in this case, the opposite is true. The rigid rectangular panels get very boring very quickly.
Now that I've gotten through form, let's talk about the content.
So, the basic premise of this book is that Anne and her friends are shooting a horror-comedy (on their smartphones... somehow...?), filmed on location at the home of the local eccentric. When she realises their movie is about two male characters being married, she freaks out and starts yelling violent homophobic rhetoric, which gets leaked online. Someone sets her house on fire, but the nice kind children save her stuff and bring it to her, which causes her to reflect and suddenly become nice and kind and accepting, allowing them to finish the movie.
There's two things that made me extremely uncomfortable about all this.
The first I'm sure is at least somewhat unintentional, but 'Dracula Marries Frankenstein' is a comedy film precisely because its leads are married men. That's the joke. Anne talks about how nobody should be prejudiced because gay marriage is legal (.......) but the book and the film-within-the-book do present gay relationships as inherently comedic, which is troubling.
The second thing is pretty central to the whole plot, and it's the one that I think is actually dangerous. When the Ms. Herringbone reveals the secret origin of her hate, it's something personal, implying that homophobia is an individual problem to be solved at an individual level. The message of this book is "If you're just nice enough to them, homophobic people will magically stop being hateful!" and it's... Really not good. I think I would feel differently about this if Anne or Otto were presented as being LGBTQ or questioning, but as-is it feels very... abstract? This is a book about homophobia where the gay characters basically appear in the epilogue. LGBTQQ kids deserve better than that.
This is not a graphic novel. It's about equal parts comics and prose-- I think I would have liked it better if it were a standard graphic novel. As is, it just gives the impression that the artist didn't know how to draw half the scenes. When I reviewed a previous Papercutz book, Stitched, I noted that the page layouts were too exciting and distracted from the story; in this case, the opposite is true. The rigid rectangular panels get very boring very quickly.
Now that I've gotten through form, let's talk about the content.
So, the basic premise of this book is that Anne and her friends are shooting a horror-comedy (on their smartphones... somehow...?), filmed on location at the home of the local eccentric. When she realises their movie is about two male characters being married, she freaks out and starts yelling violent homophobic rhetoric, which gets leaked online. Someone sets her house on fire, but the nice kind children save her stuff and bring it to her, which causes her to reflect and suddenly become nice and kind and accepting, allowing them to finish the movie.
There's two things that made me extremely uncomfortable about all this.
The first I'm sure is at least somewhat unintentional, but 'Dracula Marries Frankenstein' is a comedy film precisely because its leads are married men. That's the joke. Anne talks about how nobody should be prejudiced because gay marriage is legal (.......) but the book and the film-within-the-book do present gay relationships as inherently comedic, which is troubling.
The second thing is pretty central to the whole plot, and it's the one that I think is actually dangerous. When the Ms. Herringbone reveals the secret origin of her hate, it's something personal, implying that homophobia is an individual problem to be solved at an individual level. The message of this book is "If you're just nice enough to them, homophobic people will magically stop being hateful!" and it's... Really not good. I think I would feel differently about this if Anne or Otto were presented as being LGBTQ or questioning, but as-is it feels very... abstract? This is a book about homophobia where the gay characters basically appear in the epilogue. LGBTQQ kids deserve better than that.
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