Real Men DO Eat Quiche

My son asked me to make quiche last week.

Not something you expect to hear from a 10-year-old, especially one who tends to only eat food he's sure he likes. But when he showed me the recipe he wanted me to make, I had to laugh. Because it was in here.

Yeah. Who knew a graphic novel could make my kids try something new?

I've written about the Bone Series before. Author Jeff Smith started off publishing them himself. Word of mouth and the internet made these books wildly popular. They appeal to reluctant readers, and girls read them just as much as boys.

But did you know that they're #3 on ALA's list of Top 10 Banned Graphic Novels? Figures. What would you expect from a book that encourages kids to eat quiche?

Just for the record, the recipe is DELICIOUS! Thanks, Jeff :D

A Bone to Pick

Graphic novels are SO not my thing. Reading from box to bubble annoys me, the pictures are distracting and the type face is usually more fun than functional. Not to mention the fact that really, this is nothing more than a glorified comic book. Make that a very expensive comic book.

But then I'm not a 10-year-old boy.

And according to my 10-year-old boy, BONE is the best graphic novel series out there. He should know. He owns all nine books in the series.

Mixing humor with magic and mayhem, BONE follows the adventures of three cousins after they are exiled from Boneville. The illustrations are clean and simple and believe it or not, Time Magazine compares the story to Lord of the Rings, naming the BONE series as one of the 10 greatest graphic novels of all time. You know you've made it when Time Magazine is reviewing your comic books!

The funny thing is, the Bone series started out as black-and-white comic books that author Jeff Smith published himself when no syndicate would take on his comic strip. He started his own company, Cartoon Books, in Columbus, OH and over the course of 12 years, put out BONE as a series of 55 comic books. Scholastic started publishing the colorized versions as books in 2004. With the final book released back in January, the series has captured a whole new market that wasn't even alive when the original books premiered!

So while these books may not be the first thing I reach for, they are certainly a publishing success story. I can appreciate that. In fact, my son has saved up his own money to buy most of the BONE books in his collection. At ten bucks a pop, that's no small investment. For a 10-year-old, it's nothing short of true love.

What a novel concept :)