The Bramble

July 8, 2013
Nordling, a veteran of the comics industry, produces a fast-paced, largely wordless story that might end on a note of menace—or might not. The neighborhood kids scorn small, pokey Cameron when he plays tag with them. In need of solace, the boy explores a deep, thorny tunnel and emerges into a community of monsters whose lumpy bodies, big eyes, and striped horns make them look a lot like Wild Things. Zick, an artist who has worked in comics and film, draws storyboard-style panels in shadowy hues that evoke deeply tangled forest thickets and occasionally make the action hard to decode. When Cameron first arrives, a hedgehoglike creature saves him from a huge wave that’s terrorizing the Bramble, and they forge a cozy friendship. Cameron defeats the wave when it reappears by messing with its mind: “Tag,” he tells the wave, dodging and feinting. “You’re it.” Returning home, Cameron wows the kids who scorned him, but a hulking monster with sharp claws is seen lurking as Cameron celebrates—and the story ends there. An unsettling story about coming into one’s own. Ages 5–9.

September 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 3-Nordling's career in comics and Zick's work in film animation are evident in this collaboration. Presented in sequential and inset panels, the narrative unfolds primarily through wordless images. The Bramble is both a gateway to another world and a mysterious, but benevolent, phenomenon. As the story begins, Cameron is playing tag when a bigger boy taps him and leads away the other kids. As the protagonist broods, the Bramble grows into a massive wall. Out pops a pint-size creature sporting four arms, two legs, and an amulet that it drops on the ground. After Cameron seizes the necklace and follows it, sepia tones turn to blue, and the otherworldly calm is interrupted by a rush of purple beings fleeing a Fantasia-like wave. The hero is lifted into a tree by his new friend and then taken to a campfire ceremony that involves cavorting and howling at the Moon. When the menacing wave returns, the boy confronts and tags it, an action that seems to empower him for the final game back in the real world. Readers will be drawn in by the cover depicting the youngster peeking into the Bramble and will be amused by the reverse scene on the back. A limited palette illustrates mood and setting. Close reading will untangle the feel-good story line.-Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013
In this heartfelt tale, a boy's encounter with a fantasy world allows him to find acceptance in the real one. When Cameron tries to join in a game of tag, he's bullied and teased. The illustrations, done in a comic-book format with multiple panels, heartbreakingly display the boy's feelings of rejection and loneliness. But when a creature from the bramble leaves an amulet behind, Cameron--like Alice with the White Rabbit--follows the creature through a dark hole. He emerges into a world where an ominous wave brings terror to all the creatures. Despite this, they welcome and befriend him, and when the wave reappears, Cameron bravely faces it. A game of tag defeats the wave, releasing long-lost creatures back to beloved family and friends. Nordling and Zick's metaphor becomes clear as Cameron returns to reality and finds the courage to challenge the bully to another game of tag. The wave and the bully are one and the same, striking fear into those around, overpowering--even distorting and removing--people's kindness and friendship. But this time, Cameron is victorious, and the boy accepts him into the group. The artist's energetic pencil illustrations skillfully create atmospheric environments and intriguing creatures. Different tints are used to indicate the two sides of the bramble, but both worlds are filled with texture and detail. This nearly wordless tale offers much for readers to discuss and interpret, as the power of the individual to make a negative or positive impact in the world is explored. A good addition to the overcoming-bullies bookshelf. (Picture book. 3-5)

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2013
Preschool-G Cameron is the odd little boy out when it comes to neighborhood games. Excluded once again when the other kids take off, leaving him to be it alone, he wanders into the woods and discovers an enormous bramble patch, from which emerges a sweet-looking creature he follows through the thicket into a world of playful, rambunctious monsters, who include him in their games. Cameron knows that he doesn't belong in their world, though, and bolstered by his newfound confidence, he returns to the park and holds his own with the kids who shunned him before. Nordling's and Zick's experiences at Pixar and other animation studios is clearly at work in the brightly colored pages, bulbous-nosed kids, and big-eyed beasties as well as the pacing, which makes the story feel like an animated short. Though it lacks the literary refinement of Maurice Sendak or Geoffrey Hayes, this book is a good example of the new breed of animators turned children's picture-book creators, who are very accessible to the growing number of kids more familiar with stories onscreen.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
In this practically wordless story, a boy plays tag in the woods with older kids who make him forever "it." When he crawls through a thatch of trees, he enters a dimension in which he becomes a hero to the woodland beasts, igniting his confidence. The drab comic-book-style panels seem to run together, making the would-be-uplifting story somewhat confusing.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)