 | Things in the basement (Things In The Basement) Author: Hatke, Ben | |
| Price: $12.29 | ||
Summary:
It was supposed to just be a normal basement. But when Milo is sent by his mother to fetch a sock from the basement of the historic home they've moved into, he finds a door in the back that he's never seen before. Turns out that the basement of his house is enormous. Milo travels ever deeper into the Basement World, he meets the many Things that live in the shadows and gloom . . . In graphic novel format.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 2.10 Points: .5 Quiz: 521871 |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (07/01/23)
School Library Journal (+) (09/01/23)
Booklist (+) (12/01/23)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 09/01/2023 Gr 3–5—The search for a sock opens doors to new worlds, both fantastic and eerie, in Hatke's newest graphic novel. Milo, shown as a brown-skinned young boy, has to retrieve one of his twin siblings' socks from the basement laundry room, but a rat snatches it before Milo can grab it. Milo finds the courage to pursue the rat and discovers secret chambers that lead to a fantastic world inhabited by such denizens as a floating skull, a sensitive one-eyed tentacled creature, an army of mushrooms, and a ghost—all of whom he will need in order to locate the sock and get back home. Hatke is at his best in this book that blends fantasy with reality, deftly harmonizing murky greens and browns with cool blues and purples to create an eerie and wonderful atmosphere. His command of light is breathtaking, with a small torch borne by Milo providing warmth and denoting safety as he delves deeper into the subterranean landscape. Leaving his tale sparsely worded, Hatke uses illustration to weave a story of friendship and bravery. VERDICT A recommended first purchase for graphic novel collections.—Rosemary Kiladitis - Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 07/23/2023 *Starred Review* Charged with fetching his baby sister’s sock from the laundry, Milo is forced into a showdown with the foreboding basement of his new house. Thanks to a slippery sock rat, though, he’s drawn downward, and as room after impossible room becomes castle, cavern, and underground lake, this ever-deepening mystery shifts into an epic, mythic adventure as he travels on. On this grand premise, Hatke hangs a tale of remarkable visual bounty. Indeed, there are few out there producing works that give you more to look at, or perhaps more to take from what you see. The story is well aware of this: one of Milo’s stalwarts on this trip actually speaks in pictures, and the other is literally an eyeball. The creatures are merely the tip of the visual iceberg, though; the precision of movement and action keeps even the extended silent passages riveting, and the extraordinary control of shadow and color gives each location its own unique tone, saturated with a sense of emotion and eerie history. Generous in structure, as well, just when the tale could come to a satisfying conclusion, it opens wider, its most heart-pounding moments still ahead. Hatke creates a catchy internal mythology for this subterranean world, too, and offers heroic examples of perseverance, commitment, friendship, and teamwork. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.
