Amulet: The Stonekeeper

Spoiler Alert!: Most of the big reveals in this story are given away in this review.
by Courtney Hilden

Amulet: The Stonekeeper is the first book in a graphic novel series that follows Emily and her brother Navin as they struggle to rescue their mom, who has been taken by a tentacled monster. Despite the overly-used premise and nods to other fantasy stories, this first part of the Amulet story manages to feel fresh.
The story opens up on a family vacation, one that ends in tragedy after a car crash kills Emily and Navin's father. Because of his death, their mother moves them both to their ancestral home, which has an opening to a mystical world that Great-Grandfather Silas (still somehow alive) was running with the help of an amulet. Similar to the titled ring in The Lord of the Rings, the amulet's power comes with serious, personal drawbacks, but to save her mother, Emily decides to wield its power. Great-grandfather's gang of helpers, including a bunny-like Misket, help Emily and Navin, and the story ends before readers can know if their mom survives.
The artwork is stunningly cinematic, especially in their color choices and background detail. The monsters feel new, with a strangely combination of the Halloween ghouls of Invader Zim and the many characters, good and bad, from Hayao Miyazaki. The children, Emily and Navin, are perfect cartoon characters, both simple and expressive. (The series is now in the process of being made into a movie, and given the fantastic art, this is not surprising.)
It is also nice that the main hero is Emily and not a young man. So often in fantasy stories that are written for both genders the hero is male. Often, female characters play small roles or ones that confine them to feminine roles (as mothers, nurturers, or even in Avatar: The Last Airbender, where the main female character, despite considerable power, was the one doing most of the cooking and laundry.) Here, Emily is a character who is without an disadvantage that could be coded as "womanly." She is tying to save her last living parent and take care of her younger brother, a role that could have easily been male, but here, thankfully, is not. It is time both young girls and boys read a story about a real girl, one who is brave and well-intentioned but imperfect, and this looks like a great series to do so with.