servingupstories's review
3.0
A heartfelt story about grief, imagination and growing up that feels all too brief. I absolutely adored the relationship between Dylan and his grandfather and only wish to have gotten more of their mischievous adventures. Very much gave me a bit of My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You I’m Sorry vibes - even though I never finished reading that book. Oop.
suspiciouspinecone's review
4.0
It looked so cute. It looked so sweet, I didn't even bother reading the back before I borrowed it.
It should be illegal to make books this sad look so cute.
CW: death, dementia, mild cursing
It should be illegal to make books this sad look so cute.
CW: death, dementia, mild cursing
thenextgenlibrarian's review
5.0
Beautiful and moving! What an amazing graphic novel that teaches about love and loss. I bawled my eyes out!
bluehairedlibrarian's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
4.0
This book hurts. Like a lot. Dylan is incredibly close to his grandfather. They play at superheroes and go on adventures that his mother doesn't approve of. One morning when he can't find his grandfather, his mother tells him that he is at a "better place." Dylan takes that to mean the senior care center that his grandfather had a brochure for, and thus starts an innocently planned adventure to track down the "Better Place" and reunite with his grandfather.
For an adult reading this, the message is clear - don't sugarcoat death with your kids. Explain what has happened and help them process the trauma. For a kid, this is a sad story about exploration and loss, feeling lonely and disconnected from the adults around you. It's not all trauma and darkness though. Moments of levity occur, especially when Dylan befriends a resident of the senior care home and they go on a clandestine mission to break out without anyone noticing. Still, this is not a book I would hand out easily without warning to a kid or an adult.
For an adult reading this, the message is clear - don't sugarcoat death with your kids. Explain what has happened and help them process the trauma. For a kid, this is a sad story about exploration and loss, feeling lonely and disconnected from the adults around you. It's not all trauma and darkness though. Moments of levity occur, especially when Dylan befriends a resident of the senior care home and they go on a clandestine mission to break out without anyone noticing. Still, this is not a book I would hand out easily without warning to a kid or an adult.
usernameinvalid's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
This is phenomenal. I meant to read this slowly but found myself emotionally incapable of putting it down. I laughed and cried. There are some subtle acts of creative genius hidden in this book including:
1. The foreshadowing & meaning of crashes within the story. It starts with a fantasy, and a crash that brings Dylan and Grandpa down to earth jolted out of the fantasy.
This repeats when Grandpa is in his driving fantasy until something wakes him up and a grave and serious reality takes over.
Dylan has his own crash before he goes to try to visit Grandpa at the home which is one more instance of the fantasy being literally crashed and one more piece of the fantasy connection between Dylan and granda is broken: the swear jar.
There's the crash at the old folks home where Lloyd does his thing and the fantasy of a sweet "better place" is cracked open.
Then he drives past the truth that he just... doesn't see..
Then the rocket.
And then Dylan looking for the final crash, but this time, mom is there.
Each time the place Dylan was in and his connection to reality changed. His conception of "a better place" changed.
2. The two surrogate Grandpa and the way they are drawn. The parallels within each set of those conversations. In each of those interactions Dylan heys closer to understanding a form of reality.
3.The guest artists
a) Having Jeff Lemire guest design a meta comic book. Because yes this is a perfect easter egg for Essex County.
b) Having other comic artists draw different illustrations of the comics within the comic. Because as someone who is fascinated by how comics evolve based on who writes them it's..so smart and subtle.
c) Nate Powel does the last comic within a comic. Which is a rewrite of our character confronting the "better place". So subtle.
4. The use of color. The way Dylan's fantasies become "A better place" for him that he's chasing. Slowly the colours fade as he builds A Better Place with his mother. They are able to take new roles in a fantasy closer to home.
5. Drawing a theme park is hard. Shawn Daley's Wonderville made me... experience Canada's Wonderland. That's a hard thing to capture and it evoked strange emotions and memories that made me smile and feel.
6. The changing meaning of "better place" throughout this comic were so clever. I know I mentioned that earlier in this review but it warrants repeating.
7. The stakes were huge! The whole comic I was terrified for Dylan and his mother. I'm happy the final pieces of my fragile heart didn't break further here!
Spoiler
1. The foreshadowing & meaning of crashes within the story. It starts with a fantasy, and a crash that brings Dylan and Grandpa down to earth jolted out of the fantasy.
This repeats when Grandpa is in his driving fantasy until something wakes him up and a grave and serious reality takes over.
Dylan has his own crash before he goes to try to visit Grandpa at the home which is one more instance of the fantasy being literally crashed and one more piece of the fantasy connection between Dylan and granda is broken: the swear jar.
There's the crash at the old folks home where Lloyd does his thing and the fantasy of a sweet "better place" is cracked open.
Then he drives past the truth that he just... doesn't see..
Then the rocket.
And then Dylan looking for the final crash, but this time, mom is there.
Each time the place Dylan was in and his connection to reality changed. His conception of "a better place" changed.
2. The two surrogate Grandpa and the way they are drawn. The parallels within each set of those conversations. In each of those interactions Dylan heys closer to understanding a form of reality.
3.The guest artists
a) Having Jeff Lemire guest design a meta comic book. Because yes this is a perfect easter egg for Essex County.
b) Having other comic artists draw different illustrations of the comics within the comic. Because as someone who is fascinated by how comics evolve based on who writes them it's..so smart and subtle.
c) Nate Powel does the last comic within a comic. Which is a rewrite of our character confronting the "better place". So subtle.
4. The use of color. The way Dylan's fantasies become "A better place" for him that he's chasing. Slowly the colours fade as he builds A Better Place with his mother. They are able to take new roles in a fantasy closer to home.
5. Drawing a theme park is hard. Shawn Daley's Wonderville made me... experience Canada's Wonderland. That's a hard thing to capture and it evoked strange emotions and memories that made me smile and feel.
6. The changing meaning of "better place" throughout this comic were so clever. I know I mentioned that earlier in this review but it warrants repeating.
7. The stakes were huge! The whole comic I was terrified for Dylan and his mother. I'm happy the final pieces of my fragile heart didn't break further here!