Ernie ColónReseñas

This graphic biography of Anne Frank is great for intermediate and middle school kids, even high school. It's a powerful way to learn about her life and the Holocaust. I really loved it and think it's an important book to read. Powerful story of what happened in history

This book would be good for intermediate and middle grades, it would be a good example to teach about graphic novels and to start a unit about WWII. The book starts with giving background on Anne's parents, the moves more into Anne's life. Eventually it follows the story of her diary.

Pretty good overview of Che's life in graphic novel format.

I have always been interested in the life and death of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, so when I spotted this in our GN collected I took it home and expected a good story. And I wasn't disappointed -- not with the story, anyway. Although Jacobson keeps stopping the action and backing up to fill in historical facts, Che's life was just so convoluted that recreating it had to take many twists and false starts. One has to have an understanding of why he felt the way he did, and of the histories of the many countries in which he tried to foment revolution, or else one is hopelessly lost. Che was a true idealist, and though he doesn't come off as an unsullied hero, he is also far from villainous.

My beef, though, was with the illustrations. Ernie Colon left me so very confused from frame to frame; his style is too changeable for my taste. His depictions of Che were inconsistent -- so much so that at times I confused Che with both Raul and Fidel Castro!

However, I feel overall that I know much more about the man and his passions than I did before, and that was the point.

Intermediate, Middle; Historical, Graphic Novel, Informational, Nonfiction; This book has beautiful illustrations and tells the story of Anne Frank and the Holocaust through illustrations, speech and thought bubbles, and direct quotations from the Frank family that have been recorded. This a great book to talk about the Holocaust as it simplifies it into pictures for developing readers or those passionate about history.

I have to agree with another reviewer here in GoodReads who said this was the version for him. Yes, this is the version of the report for the rest of us, so to speak. I borrowed this one from the public library, but we went on to order it at my workplace, the UHD library.

Find my note on the book here:

[http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/11/short-booknotes-on-graphic-novels-7.html]

Anne Frank was a teenage girl that was important during the War with Germany. During this time the Jewish people were being killed because they weren't pure Germans. Her family was forced to go into hiding. They ended up hiding in her fathers job which was a bank. While in hiding they were forced to live with another family and a man. This is what made her write in her diary about her every day experiences in hiding. The diary was given to her on her birthday before the family went into hiding. In this diary she spoke about her feelings and what she went through. She was not happy about the war and lived scared of what would happen if they were found out. During hiding they had to be quiet during a certain time period because of the workers downstairs and the police doing sweeps looking for the Jewish people. Eventually after years of hiding her family was found and forced into the concentration camps. In the camps they would not feed them. They would kill the sick Jewish people right away as well as the older. They would kill them by shooting them and putting them in gas chambers. Her family was put into different camps accept her sister Margot and her. Her father was the only survivor of the holocaust. He was given her diary and because of her dream in being a star one day and being a journalist he published her diary. Now today you are able to go to Amsterdam and see her diary and her old home. In her old home her hiding place is on display for you to see. I have been to the museum, it will make you cry. It was sad to see what happened to her family. Her family was brave and it made me feel we should never treat anyone different.

A biography of the famous Holocaust diarist in graphic-novel format, this book provides additional background and context on Anne Frank's family and historical events of the time. I've read a lot of Anne Frank books and I learned a lot from this one, perhaps because the authors had access to many materials at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, which commissioned this project. The format makes this important story accessible and inviting to an audience that might not otherwise read the diary or other accounts of Frank's life.

I'm glad it exists, as a (relatively) easily absorbed summary of the full 9/11 Commission Report. I found the art overly dense in places, though, and a little problematic in the way it set up racial differences between the hijackers and the victims. I'm not sure why nearly everyone who worked in the WTC, for instance, were white, suit-wearing professionals; that doesn't reflect the huge racial, ethnic, and job diversity on display in the 9/11 Memorial.

This graphic novel is based on the final report provided on 9/11 by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. This version is a fact-based and beautifully illustrated look at the events leading up to the attacks on 9-11, the attacks themselves, the U.s. response and the commission's recommendations for how to better prepare our country for future issues, as well as steps to take to minimize the possibilities of successful future attacks. I found this book to be an excellent resource for people of all ages, but particularly for students who might be adverse to reading a typical nonfiction book.

The 911 Report: A Graphic Adaptation ( Sid Jacobson & Ernie Colon) NY: Castlebridge Enterprises: 2006

YA: Informational: 131 PG

Summary: This novels explains how the terrorists plotted the attack on 9/11 and all the preparation prior to the attack. Osama Bin Laden's journey from business man to terrorist leader is explained. The ideas of the terrorist and all the training they did is shared as well.

Critique: Very informative. The images area little harsh, this would be better suited for an older group of students.

Activity (After): What is something new you learned from this book?

I never read the original 9/11 report because it was so long. I tried, but it seemed boring to me. I've read so many books on September 11th, but none like this.I found this one and thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did. The organization was pretty good and easy to follow except for a few small portions. I learned facts that I previously hadn't learned. Every frame was interesting. I would recommend it to all.

Essential Reading

(Full disclosure: I received a free ARC for review from the publisher, Hill & Wang.)

- 4.5 stars -

This is actually the second graphic novel by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón that I've read in as many weeks - though it didn't quite register until I was several chapters in. I won a copy of their previous book, The Torture Report: A Graphic Adaptation, in a Goodreads giveaway; and, while I ultimately recommended it, this was due more to the book's Very Important subject matter than its successful execution. Heavy on text and with a flow that proved hard to follow, The Torture Report was a bit of a slog.

While Three-Fifths a Man: A Graphic History of the African American Experience is similar in style and form to The Torture Report, the narration is infinitely more succinct, engaging, and intuitive. I can count on one hand the number of times I got lost between panels; and, though this still isn't ideal, it's a huge improvement over The Torture Report, which led me astray on nearly every page. The chronology also makes more sense, with fewer time jumps; when Jacobson and Colón do flit back and forth in time, it's in a way that feels natural and doesn't confuse the reader or disrupt the narrative.

Don't get me wrong: Three-Fifths a Man is still pretty heavy on text, but given the breadth of the topic, it never feels tedious or repetitive. This sits in stark contrast to The Torture Report, where everything after the first third of the book felt like a bad case of déjà vu.

The title perfectly encapsulates the content of Three-Fifths a Man: from the beginning of African slavery in the so-called "New World" to the birth of the Movement for Black Lives, this is a graphic history of the African American experience. Jacobson and Colón cover a pretty stunning range of events in a mere 179 pages, including but not limited to the trans-Atlantic slave trade; the Civil War; Reconstruction; the rise of the KKK and other white nationalist hate groups; Jim Crow; WWI and the great migration; the Depression and FDR's The New Deal; WWII, and the (gradual) opening of the US military to black soldiers; the rise of the Dixiecrats; the New Reconstruction and the Civil Rights era; Reagan's War on Drugs and the advent of the New Jim Crow; the beating of Rodney King and the focus on police brutality and racism; and ending with the election of our first black president, Barack Hussein Obama (and I absolutely do not include his middle name as an insult here).

I really love the idea of using non-traditional media to engage kids with difficult or "boring" topics. Three-Fifths a Man is more honest and thought-provoking than any high school text book I can remember reading. This should be in American history classrooms and public school libraries across the country. If I'd been introduced to texts like this as a child or young adult, I think I would have developed an interest in history and politics at a much younger age.

Also, Hollywood should take note: Three-Fifths a Man includes a number of historical figures and events that are all but screaming for their own scripts, television shows, and film adaptations. From the West African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai (History Channel, can you hear it? That's the sound of your next Vikings calling to you!), to black soldiers who fought on both sides of the Revolutionary War, as well as in World Wars I and II and the Civil War, and people like W.E.B. Du Bois, Denmark Vesey, Colonel Tye, Zora Neale Hurston, and Josephine Baker (So much Josephine Baker!), there's a world of potential here.

As much as I loved Three-Fifths a Man, I found it somewhat skewed toward the men. I feel like the authors expended a little less effort undoing the erasure of women (specifically, black women) from history than they did on whitewashing. For example, while the Fifteenth Amendment is rightly described as "male suffrage" - women, including black women, would not be granted the right to vote for another fifty years - the Nineteenth Amendment doesn't merit a single panel.

In particular, the final page on the Black Lives Matter movement felt like it was tacked on at the last minute, like an afterthought. Nowhere is it mentioned that the BLM founders are women of color (some of them queer), let alone single them out by name. This seems inexcusable, given the importance of BLM (quite possibly the new civil rights movement). That said, I received an early copy, and it's possible that the final pages will be redrafted prior to publication. This seems even more likely given the 2016 election and the resurgence of white nationalism Trump's "victory" ushered in. Likewise, I wonder whether the finished copy will end on the same cautiously optimistic note.

Yet if Three-Fifths a Man makes one thing clear, it's that we must never take our rights, or social progress, for granted: from the ascendancy of Andrew Johnson after the assassination of President Lincoln, to Reagan's undoing of FDR's New Deal, history is unfortunately brimming with incarnations of modern events. As Junot Díaz writes in Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times, "This is the joyous destiny of our people—to bury the arc of the moral universe so deep in justice that it will never be undone."

http://www.easyvegan.info/2018/01/16/three-fifths-a-man-by-sid-jacobson-and-erni...½

Under-appreciated by mainstream comic fans, Ernie Colón rarely worked on super-hero titles and is probably best remembered as the co-creator of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld and artist on titles such as Arak, Son of Thunder and Marvel's Conan. Colón demonstrates his considerable talents in seven tales adapted from the classic radio show Inner Sanctum Mystery. "Death of a Doll," "Alive in the Grave," "The Horla," and "Lived Once—Buried Twice" offer sufficient chills to interest even the most jaded horror comics fan. The only negative to these largely excellent stories is the missing historical data on the original episodes and the show itself. Essentially, Inner Sanctum serves as a showcase for the extraordinary Colón.

Anne Frank's story told in graphic novel format. This edition authorized by the Anne Frank House.

RGG: It's a graphic biography, not a graphic version of Anne Frank's Diary, meaning it lacks emotional intensity, but it does provide to the reader who pays attention a lot of context knowledge. Reading Interest: 10-12.

RGG: It's a graphic biography, not a graphic version of Anne Frank's Diary, meaning it lacks emotional intensity, but it does provide to the reader who pays attention a lot of context knowledge. Reading Interest: 10-12.

This graphic novel is a gorgeous well-written portrayal of the events of Anne Frank's life and life during WWII. This is a perfect addition to a home collection or any young adult collection. The writing and art work are easy to relate to and the graphic presentation is a relevant and appealing display.

Quite an extraordinary book. It helps provide historical context for Frank, her family, and the diary. I wish I had come across it when I was a teenager.

It really is just right.

This graphic novel did an excellent job of giving the 9/11 report. I know that the events that day can be hard to take in so this is a very manageable way to understand it. 9/11 was a huge historical event in our nations history and I think this book can be taught with a 9/11 unit to give a better idea to what happened. The timelines were my favorite part. They broke down what specifically happened at what time on each plane. I would recommend this book!

How do I rate this "Liked It" when it's such a tragic story?

RGG: It's a graphic biography, not a graphic version of Anne Frank's Diary, meaning it lacks emotional intensity, but it does provide to the reader who pays attention a lot of context knowledge. Reading Interest: 10-12.

One of my favorite books from my childhood was The Diary of Anne Frank, so I knew that I would find a graphic biography of her life fascinating. This graphic novel goes above and beyond, detailing her life beginning before the rise of the Nazi Movement to beyond her death and the eventual publishing of her diary. Having her life detailed in picture brought a new meaning and emotion to her story, which is obviously harrowing. The illustrations are excellent here, and the layout reminds me of the comics that you would find in a newspaper, which is a really interesting format. I would love to see this book used in a classroom setting while teaching history either as an addition to The Novel or possibly as a substitution for The Novel, as I found it equally as affecting.

This book first begins with the lives of Anne Frank’s parents that led into the years after World War II. I think the original Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl offers more emotion for readers young or old, whereas this graphic novel lacks the great emotion that comes with Anne's first-person account/narrative. The information is presented in more of a straight-forward impersonal style. I found the maps and diagrams enclosed in this book interesting, and I appreciated the detailed diagrams and images of the annex where Anne and her family hid for 2 years. The “snapshots” shown throughout the book were interesting and provided an abundance of background information, such as: life in Germany during World War I, info on the German economic crisis and the rise of the Nazi party, the Wannsee Conference, and the concentration camps. I think the artwork could have been better, however. The art is a realistic approach which is appropriate and disturbing at times, but something about the art could have been more refined or offered more movement. This book also includes a Chronology near the back and suggestions for further reading. I feel that this version of teaching young readers about Anne's sad story and the atrocities that occurred is best for children or people who prefer learning more visually. I think my favorite part of this book was the information given about Anne's father Otto, with real quotes from him. The book gives life to him by describing the type of man he was and the level of respect he drew from those around him. The book reveals how he personally responded to a great many of the letters he received from readers after the first publication of Anne's diary. It was so nice to read about his hopes that Anne's book will have an effect on peoples lives and promote unity and peace, because it has had a profound effect on millions and fortunately doesn't seem to be fading away anytime soon.

If you've read "A Diary of Anne Frank," this graphic novel account of the Frank family provides a fresh perspective. If you've never read the diary, this may inspire you to pick it up. Never overwhelming or dry, this work provides the historical background for the times and the stark realities of being Jewish during WW2. It also shows the regular life of the Franks including birthdays, moving to a new home, and social gatherings. Well done!