HEARTS by Thereza Rowe is a Toon Book. For those unfamiliar,
Toon Books is a company that publishes high-quality graphic novel specifically
oriented toward children. Toon Books are distributed by Candlewick Press. HEARTS
is a short story about a female fox named Penelope who loses her heart in the
sea. Thus begins a dangerous voyage filled with sharks, cats, and other strange
creatures to get her heart back. The images in the book are full of bright
colors and the overall design of the illustrations are quite playful. However,
in terms of content, there’s not much here. Also, I think the more symbolic
elements of the story will be lost upon the younger readers that the book is
oriented towards. Overall, HEARTS is a high-quality and brilliantly illustrated
graphic novel, full of interesting illustrations, but somewhat confusing in
plot.
