If there’s anything my partner and I have learned from repeated visits to comic conventions, it’s that there are a whole lot of comics out there featuring animal-people that do not identify themselves as “furry” because the creators don’t. We’ve long been aware of Kazu Kibuishi’s beautiful and charming webcomic Copper, the story of an adventurous boy and his more cautious canine companion (also available in collected form from Scholastic—just sayin’). A few years back, we picked up the first volume of Kibuishi’s new story series Amulet, and were hooked.

Amulet is the story of Emily and Navin, who are moving with their mother to an old family home after the death of their father puts the family in financial stress. The house was the property of Emily’s eccentric great-grandfather Silas, so it’s not long before the kids discover an old workshop where Silas built his many toys. And it’s not much later before a creepy monster that looks like the offspring of an octopus and a lamprey swallows their mother, leading them back through a magical passage in the house’s basement to a strange world.

If it weren’t for the odd amulet Emily found in the workshop, the kids would not have survived their fight with the octolamprey (technically called an arachnopod). But the amulet speaks into Emily’s mind and gives her the power to fight off the creature, if not to free her mother. The amulet then leads them to a house and a strange collection of friends, and the quest to recover their mother becomes something much greater.

The furriest thing in volume 1 (“The Stonekeeper”) is a stuffed pink rabbit named Miskit, who’s been built by Great-Grandfather Silas to be Emily’s companion and guide. But in volume 2 (“The Stonekeeper’s Curse”), the kids arrive at the city of Kanalis, and meet its inhabitants, who, Miskit explains, “are very slowly being altered by an ancient curse. It is what gives them the appearance of animals.” Emily says how terrible that is, and Miskit replies, “I don’t believe they see it as anything quite so negative. This curse has affected them for so many years that the new generations see it as simply a fact of life.”

And yes, the book is full of animal-people. Mammals, birds, even mollusks and other, odder creatures. But it is not spoiling anything to tell you that the most important one is a fellow named Leon Redbeard, who is a fox (he’s on the cover, see, not just of the second book, but also of the third, “The Cloud Searchers”). He understands the power of Emily’s amulet and knows much more about the shadowy figures now hunting her because of it.

Even without the furry element, these books would be recommended. Kibuishi has a good sense of storytelling and an even better sense of art and design. His style is a lovely, simple fusion of Japanese and European comic styles—think Moebius drawing manga. The simplicity of the characters makes them appealing and distinctive, and although his art tends to simplify, Kibuishi is certainly capable of rendering lush, gorgeous backgrounds.

The coloring really stands out as well. Like the art itself, it’s deceptively simple. Kibuishi is a master of light and shadow, in which even the simplest panels take on life. Though the story is worth reading, I often found myself just flipping through the comic to look at the art in some of the more detailed panels.

And the story complements the art well. Emily’s rapport with her family is shown very nicely in a few pages, and although her story is somewhat reactive at the start (her mother is kidnapped and she must give chase), Emily is given plenty of choices to think about and make along the way. The amulet promises power, but makes no secret of its price (though it does not tell the whole story all at once, of course). And the mysterious stranger stalking the children as soon as they arrive in the new land has his own story, which proves to be intertwined with theirs.

Amulet is accessible to children, but the stories are complex enough to be enjoyed by adults, too. If it takes a heroic fox to get you to look at the book, so be it. You won’t be disappointed.

(You can still find Copper online, as well as Kibuishi’s other projects, at http://www.boltcity.com/. )

Few modern authors have the talent of blending the classical with the modern that Neil Gaiman does. In Odd and the Frost Giants, he melds that talent with the not inconsiderable feat of writing a good children’s book. Finally, he adds that rare gift, writing a book with a fox in it*, to make a delightful little tale.

I grew up on Greek and Norse myths, and so, apparently, did Gaiman. He’s invented a little one here, in which Thor, Loki, and Odin (the Big Three of Norse mythology) are transformed into animals and cast out of Asgard. The longer they stay in animal form, the more the animal nature will take them over. Enter Odd, a staple hero of children’s books, a young man who isn’t understood by his community. He’s too quiet and introspective to be a good Norseman (shades of How to Train Your Dragon), and his penchant for taking long, solitary walks in the woods has left him with a permanent limp following an accident in which a tree fell on his leg and shattered the bones.

One winter seems to go on forever, and the Norsemen, trapped in their lodges, become more and more edgy and belligerent. Odd decides it will be more peaceful out in the woods, even if it is still winter. In the course of his travels, he meets a fox who, curiously, entices him to follow it to a bear with his paw stuck in a tree, surrounded by angry bees. Odd sees the problem immediately, and decides that the animals seem non-threatening enough that it’s worth taking the chance to free the bear. Not only do they not kill him, they follow him to an abandoned woodcutter’s cabin he knows of. He invites them inside and they stay the night.

In the middle of the night, Odd wakes to hear the animals arguing in human voices about whose fault their predicament is. Blame seems to settle on the fox, despite his protests. When Odd sits up and confronts them, the animals reveal themselves as Odin (eagle), Thor (bear), and Loki (fox). They explain their predicament: a Frost Giant has taken over Asgard. This is the cause of the endless winter, as well, and so if Odd can help the gods return to their home, his village will also benefit.

Gaiman bases this tale in an old Norse myth, in which Loki helps the gods cheat a Frost Giant by seducing his stallion. The Frost Giant in this book, it turns out, is the other’s brother, and has taken over Asgard on a mission of revenge. The anchoring in actual Norse myth gives the book a hold in reality that makes it more compelling. I felt at times as though I were reading a newly-discovered Norse myth.

And yet, Gaiman brings a modern sensibility to the characters. Though they are undeniably Norse, they talk in modern English. For example:

“I think,” said the bear, “as a responsible adult, I should point a few things out.”
“Talk is free,” said Odd, “but the wise man chooses when to spend his words.” It was something his father used to say.
“I just thought I should point out that we are wasting our time. We don’t have any way of getting to the Rainbow Bridge. And if by some miracle we crossed it, look at us—we’re animals, and you can barely walk. We can’t defeat Frost Giants. This whole thing is hopeless.”
“He’s right,” said the fox.
“If it’s hopeless,” said Odd, “why are you coming with me?”
The animals said nothing. The morning sun sparkled up at them from the snow, dazzling Odd, making him squint.
“Nothing better to do,” said the bear after a while.

This is a very short read (by my estimation, about 15,000 words), but an enjoyable one, with a satisfying conclusion. About the only fault I can find is that Loki doesn’t remain a fox*. But as the trickster god, I’m sure he took on the shape again at some point in his life. As he says in the book, “It wasn’t the first time I had turned into animal form—I was a horse once, you know—but it was the first time it was imposed on me from the outside, and it wasn’t a nice feeling. Not a nice feeling at all.”

Odd and the Frost Giants, though, leaves quite a nice feeling. I was swept up in the book, and Gaiman expertly weaves all the trappings of myth into the story. So if you grew up on Greek and Norse myths, like I did, you will enjoy this non-traditional addition to the library.

* I’m joking, of course. There are many very very good books without foxes in them.

Okay, that’s not quite how Leviathan goes. It’s an alternate history of World War I that follows two young protagonists through an engaging, thrilling adventure.

Prince Aleksandr of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is awoken one night by two of his tutors with the news that his parents have been killed. Since there was a great scandal when his royal father married his common mother, the prince’s succession is one of the big questions in the empire, now, and his tutors seem to think that he’s in danger. When they are pursued by one of the Empire’s elite fighting machines, a kind of walking tank, their fears appear to be justified.

Deryn is a young woman in England whose father was a sky-pilot before he died. Determined to join the British Air Service despite the proscription against female servicemen, she masquerades as a boy named Dylan and enlists. Her first adventure is a wild one, as the medusoid gasbag she is trying to bring in for a landing gets spooked and flies almost to the channel. She has to be picked up by the Leviathan, a British airship that is a living organism, a giant whale filled with hydrogen-producing bacteria and covered with manufactured species like hydrogen-sniffers (six-legged dogs who patrol the outside of the skin looking for leaks) and message lizards (trained to recognize the recipient and parrot the message).

The Germans and Austrians are trying to foment war, with their Clankers–elaborate machines–against the French and British, Darwinists whose technology stems from genetics and breeding of creatures. At the same time that Aleksandr is fleeing his own people, Deryn–Dylan–is aboard the Leviathan on a mission hoping to prevent that same war, with a mysterious scientist and her pet thylacine.

The split narrative gives us a great chance to see both empires and their cultures, as Alek and Deryn both grow up “on the job,” as it were. Deryn, motivated and passionate about her service, is soon regarded highly on her ship, while Alek’s fortunes suffer almost the reverse. A fugitive in his own land, he thinks only of getting to neutral territory.

Soon enough, of course, their paths cross, and we see not only the preconceptions, but the perceptions each has of the other’s world and technology. Meanwhile, the mysterious scientist takes Dylan into her confidence, and Alek’s tutors work as best they can to turn the encounter with the hated Darwinists to their advantage.

Leviathan is the first in a series, a well-written young adult adventure with a great cast and a vividly imagined world. Westerfeld does a terrific job bringing the alternate history to life and populating it with fully-fleshed characters. The creatures spawned by the Darwinists are imaginative and immensely entertaining to watch, and the book is full of lavish illustrations by Keith Thompson that add a wonderful dimension to the book. If you enjoy young adult fantasy, this is one you shouldn’t miss.