Eisner Nominations: Best Publication for Kids

We'll be doing a column soon covering all these nominees, but here are my quick reations to each. It's a pretty solid lineup, but we need to read more before I can evaluate them all properly.

Amelia Rules! and Amelia Rules! Funny Stories, by Jimmy Gownley (Renaissance)
I have to be honest here - I haven't read a lot of Amelia Rules! The art just doesn't appeal to me personally so I haven't bothered to crack open the pages, but I know the girls have both read "The Things I Cannot Change" -- I promise I'll read it tonight.

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, edited by Jeremy Barlow (Dark Horse)
I really, really like these books. There's definitely some cartoon violence, but how can you tell a story about Jedis without it? I completely dig the art and could just stare at the pages all day. That said, we've only bought few issues -- we'll get some more soon.

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 and Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, by David Petersen (Archaia)
Here is a link to our review of Mouse Guard: Fall 1152.

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, by Peter Sis (Frank Foster Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
I have no idea how this Caldecott winner has evaded my radar. I'll definitely be picking up a copy this week. Check out the preview at Amazon -- looks very intriguing.

Yotsuba&!, by Kiyohiko Azuma (ADV)
We have one trade of this title and we all liked it, but the translations are a bit akward at times. The girls had to ask me more than once to explain what was going on. I'll pick up a couple more volumes so we can give it another go.

Looks like I've got some shopping to do!

One last note: there are two titles in the Best Publication for Teens category that I absolutely love -- Mighty Skullboy Army and Laika. Go check those out for sure.