Bird Cat Dog by Lee Nordling
My rating: 3/5 cats
BIRD!!
CAT!!
DOG!!
this is a cute little graphic novel that is all pictures and no words, so it is appropriate for any age (perhaps not for babies a few hours old, but you get me), and for speakers of any language. it is the great equalizer.
it follows three creatures on the adventures of their day: a bird, a cat, and a dog. (viz., title). the stories run atop one another on each page in concurrent narratives, with some overlap as the animals cover the same ground and their stories intersect. the reader can opt to read each story separately, following one storyline to the end before flipping (or scrolling) back to follow the next one, or it can be read page by page, top to bottom. my advice is to read it page by page, which is how i “read” it the second time through. i personally thought it worked better that way, because of all the echoes of experiences between the stories and the way they encroach upon and blend into each other. but you do as you wish, this is YOUR reading experience.
in the stories, there are several parallel experiences: an initial escape/exploration, a meeting up with something bigger that wants to eat our hero (or something smaller that our hero wants to eat), encountering and fighting another member of the hero’s own species, evasion, and a return home.
it’s a cute little book, and while i think the illustrations skew a little younger-reader, it’s an interesting way to tell a story, and i think it will appeal to older fans of graphic novels for that novelty alone.
i was intrigued enough to want to check out nordling’s earlier book The Bramble, which looks like that perfect combination of cute and creepy. i’ll let you know…
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