Amelia Rules!: The whole world's crazy

Funny graphic novel about Amelia and her three pals. Has some adult humor in it which is not inappropriate for kids, just more likely that adults will get it. Amelia is dealing with a new school after she and her mother move from Manhattan to a small town in Pennsylvania after Mom and Dad divorce. Book deals with some real problems while still remaining funny. A good addition to an elementary school collection.

On the story: The story centers around 9 year old Amelia after her parent's divorce. Amelia and her mom relocate and end up living with her Aunt Tanner. Each chapter/segment begins with Amelia speaking to the reader of the graphic novel and giving some background information on either her life, or the story coming up. Amelia shares with her readers stories about her secret crush and the love triangle between her, Rhonda and Reggie. She shares stories about her new school, the club she belongs to where she is a superhero. She shares stories about bullies that her and her friends try to fight off. My favorite story is the Christmas story, where her club/gang of super heroes try to prove Santa is not real. Throughout she relates how she show more feels about the divorce and her separation from her dad, and we see how she reacts to her mom's outbursts when her mom is on the phone with her dad. The last story provides a little bit of comfort when Amelia gets to go on a camping trip with her father and they have a heart-to-heart. This is definitely a series I want to follow so I can see what happens with Amelia, her friends, and her family.

On the style:
*I really enjoyed how Gownley useds the shirt on Pajamaman to portray emotions, moods, etc. as well as all of the ways he depicted moods and well-being through the speech bubbles. For example, Reggie when feels sick and says he feels sick, the speech bubble is a sickly green. When someone has an icy tone, the speech bubble looks like it has ice dripping off of it. There are even heart-shaped speech balloons. I especially like the storm cloud over Amelia's head when Rhonda shows up at her house.

*Also, any book that mentions Taco Bell multiple times is a winner, in my opinion!

*Loved the note-passing scenes, as well as the small touches like the chocolate moustache at the end, the hearts for eyes, Pajamaman's ever-changing shirt, and the blurred out backgrounds to emphasize distance. show less

In Amelia Rules! Volume #1 The Whole World’s Crazy by Jimmy Gownley, Amelia really does rule in her humor, humanity, and nine-year-old child (and occasionally adult-like) sensibilities. In Amelia’s crazy world, life is not all fluff and sunshine. She’s the child of recently divorced parents, she’s living in a new town in a one Tanner-tantrum away from homelessness home (i.e., her Aunt Tanner’s house), and she’s recently been branded into the nerd group at school. Fortunately, Amelia has tremendous reserves of wit and wisdom that she showcases in each episode—episodes that are part funny, part sad, part cynical, part hopeful, part inspirational, and completely down-to-earth kid friendly.

Amelia, Reggie, Rhonda and Pajamaman, show more the G.A.S.P. (Gathering of Awesome Super Pals) group, display unique personalities; they are each depicted with humor and warts and all. Amelia, well, she rules! Reggie’s fixation on superheroes leads to many a memorable moment—his number one career choice was pharmacist, but since that seemed so unattainable, he chose superhero as a new gameplan. Rhonda looooooooves Reggie, and this leads to a bit of love-to-hate animosity between herself and Amelia. Pajamaman (consistently depicted in the same sleepwear) is a quiet presence, but he manages to add humor and depth to Amelia’s story.

For instance, in one episode, Amelia discovers Pajamaman is a latchkey kid (latchkey being a term defined multiple ways by the kids) who receives no presents from Santa. She resolves to become Pajamaman’s Santa by giving away her own Red Captain Ninja. Amelia Rules! may be laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s not without its share of depth, touching on issues such as poverty, bullying, divorce, parenting, truth, loneliness, and, well, overall world craziness or sanity.

For child readers, Gownley replicates everyday childhood life through familiar issues, locales, and events–his episodes include familiar childhood realities such as outwitting the school bullies, cheating in freeze tag, passing notes in class, making Christmas lists and debating the existence of Santa Claus, (repeatedly) visiting the principal’s office, not to mention the plethora of jokes about gross bodily functions (and you may find yourself wary of Taco Bell ever after). For adult readers, Gownley inserts small touches such as Amelia’s interrogation of Santa at the Consumaway Shopping Center, her father’s employment in the licensing department for Softee Chicken, and her school attendance at Joe McCarthy Elementary “Weeding out the wrong element since 1952”.

Gownley’s glossy illustrations are displayed within the comic book medium’s basic three-by-three framework. While Gownley uses the basic nine-panel layout 9-panel layout, he also frequently enlivens this basic framework by employing flexibility—by adding or deleting borders, combining or adding panels, and alternating full-color and white-space backgrounds. At sundry points, Amelia speaks directly to readers; Amelia’s direct address is easily identified because Gownley consistently delineates these pages by depicting Amelia by herself against a white backdrop. Such direct address augments readers’ identification with Amelia and understanding of her thought processes.

Amelia does pronounce, “I rule” in one episode but also she manifests self-doubt and feelings of guilt over her parent’s divorce. Even as she confidently proclaims her normalcy in the face of the whole world around her being crazy, readers are made privy to her niggling doubt about whether the situation might actually be the other way around—the world normal and only she crazy (to which she eventually concludes, “suddenly my head hurts”). Fortunately, in the face of such doubts and insecurities, Amelia’s Aunt Tanner is always there to sit her down for some straight talk as when she declares, “You know Amelia…Just because your home is broken…that doesn’t mean you have to be.”

Amelia’s diverse support group—her G.A.S.P. pals and her Aunt Tanner—help her to make sense of (or at least to enjoy living in) this crazy world. Amelia Rules! readers will be able to take heart from watching Amelia boldly face the world around her and be better equipped to face this crazy, wonderful world for themselves.

Just a taste of Amelia’s wisecracky wisdom:

* My parents are crazy, my friends are crazy, everybody is crazy but me. I’m normal…Suddenly, my head hurts.
* I hate school! Why can’t we have the apocalypse instead.
* I tell you Tanner…It’s not easy raising a parent these days…You gotta be sharp! Aware of every little thing.
* Life is like a New York Egg Cream! It has the chocolaty Goodness of U-Bet syrup…the wholesome fortification of 2% milk, the…uh…the bubbles of…um…seltzer water…and…uh…okay, I was stretching. Life is nothing like an egg cream.

For all this and more from Amelia, don’t miss Volume 1. I’m also looking forward to diving into Amelia Rules! Volume 2: What Makes You Happy and Amelia Rules! Volume 3: Superheroes. show less

I adore this series. It has so much humor and heart-it's one of my favorite new-to-me things this year. Great for children and grown-ups, I can't think of who this wouldn't appeal to, but I think it would have a special appeal to Calvin and Hobbes or Peanuts fans. Read it read it read it!

This graphic novel is hilarious. I'm 27 and I was honestly laughing or smiling the throughout it because I kept thinking of my daughters sometimes eccentric personality! It's has reasonable & fantastic adventure, meaning it may seem a little far fetched at times but stays close enough to reality that a person can identify with it. I think the ability to identify with parts/ or the whole book is what makes it so great. I believe if parents or teachers used this book as a tool for exploring the different types of literature the reader (student/child) would be better for it, and I honestly think that it may force the reader to reflect on the messages within the book and apply them to everyday life. It literally touches on the entire show more spectrum of emotions a young person may feel, and lets them know that that's okay/normal or part of life. the fact that it gives these lessons through fantastic story teling is a way to ensure to keep the readers attention. The only thing that i thought was poorly done was the fact that the words were crammed onto each page, would have been more effective to make the book a little longer and given closer attention to each page, it is a children's book after all. show less

Amelia Rules is a funny and witty comic book reading for kids. In this book, we follow Amelia in different story plots. First with dealing with bullies and silly ways of handling them, then school issues like crushes, gym class, and the torture of waking up early. Then she moves along to fall, Halloween, and Christmas, dealing with being on the naughty list this year. Lastly, Amelia takes us on a camping trip with her dad. I like this book because Amelia's character is a strong female character, which is not very common. She isn't a typical girly girl either and faces the challenges she comes across with unique thoughts and actions. This could serve as a mentor text for graphic writing. The illustrations provide great examples of show more different styles and options of how to design their drawings while also incorporating text. The text level is for 4th grade and an accelerated reader. The text is small and uses exaggerated format that would require a reader who is strong in visual cues and meaning. show less

This is the first in the Amelia Rules series and I really enjoyed it. The stories are fun and silly and they cover some real issues that kids have (divorce, moving, problems with friends, poverty).