The Lost Colony, Book Two: The Red Menace - Softcover

Klein, Grady

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1596430982 ISBN 13: 9781596430983

Publisher: First Second, 2007

Synopsis

"A zany cast of slaves, ex-slaves, capitalists, opportunists, inventors, and just plain regular folk lead the way through this colorful and delightful tale. . . ." -VOYA
 
In The Red Menace, the much-awaited second installment of The Lost Colony series, the beloved and not-so-beloved islanders confront war profiteering, the Indian Wars, and other unwelcome visitors to their hidden realm.
 
Grady Klein cooks up a fresh serving of shocks and delights in this one-of-a-kind take on American history.  Along with magic potions, stage tricks, and farting contests, be prepared for tragedy, controversy, and even shameful secrets.  And of course, plenty of reasonably priced merchandise. 
 
It's wintertime on the island, and The Lost Colony explodes with intrigue in a chilly palette of pastel shades, splashed with the patriotic red, white, and blue.  In this continuing feast for your eyes and mind, human nature plays out in all its grim hypocrisy and hilarious contradiction--and just like most things on the island, the Red Menace itself isn't what it seems. 

About this title

About the Author:

Grady Klein is an award-winning freelance illustrator, designer, and animator.  His work, which includes the animated short DUST BUNNY, has appeared in print and on screen all over the world.  THE LOST COLONY 2 is his second book.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 9 Up–Edweard Stoop makes his way onto an island that isnt on any maps and proceeds to paper it with posters for an upcoming slave auction. This act and his very presence precipitate a series of hijinx on the part of the residents. The characters are all given amusing ways of talking, and many have a secret agenda in their interactions, but the main point of the story is to provide or provoke a comic perspective on race and slavery, ending in a resolution that literally comes out of a machine. The exaggerated characters border on offensive, with attitudes that would be easier to classify if the story or artwork, and not the cover flap, informed readers that the action takes place in the 19th century–a claim undercut by relentlessly anachronistic dialogue and situations. The artwork is clever, with marvelous colors and elegantly rendered backgrounds, but the characters have been reduced to an objectified simplicity that makes them difficult to read. Additionally, visual sequences are frequently interrupted by sudden vignettes, either of a flashback or a metaphor rendered literally. These seem to exist in order to inject an additional dose of comedy into the proceedings while breaking up lengthy expository narratives. What they serve to do, however, is jar readers and further fracture the reading experience.–Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, MA
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About this edition

• Publisher: First Second
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1596430982
• ISBN 13: 9781596430983
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128