Meanwhile by Jason Shiga

Grades 6 and up--

Let me start off by saying, I'm not really a graphic novel person, nor am I into choose-your-own-adventures. However... Meanwhile by Jason Shiga is BOTH of these things and was SO MUCH FUN to read. While I'm a person who loves a long novel with character development for days, I can absolutely see why someone (anyone, really!) would want to pick up this book.

In this extremely interactive graphic novel, Jimmy starts out on a seemingly ordinary afternoon, in search of an ice cream cone. But this is only the beginning. Once you choose chocolate or vanilla, the adventure really begins. Each choice leads you to a new page, new characters and new adventures. While one page might just take you home for a nice relaxing evening, another might give the opportunity to use a time machine or a "killitron" (read to find out more).

The beauty in this book is in its cleverness - it literally took almost 10 years to publish due to the complex nature of the structure! The comics are bright and accessible, once you figure out how to read it! You could read this book in 10 minutes or spend an entire weekend exploring its many possibilties.

VERDICT: A must-have in middle and high school media centers, it has an extremely wide appeal to young and old, male and female, as well as high and low readers. (Though I might include a how-to-read guide along with it.) Also - though the pages are thick, this particular book requires a lot of tender care to ensure the tabs (and thus story) stay intact!