Jellaby: Monster in the City

Book two follows the adventures of Portia, Jellaby, and Jason as they venture into Toronto to find a way for Jellaby to get home. Along the way they learn to navigate transit systems and traffic and come to an amusement park. There they take rides, run into a tough trio of kids, and also encounter a mysterious masked stranger who seems to know a lot about where Jellaby is from. A major threat also arises, threatening their lives and friendships, making them question who they can trust.

This second book from Kean Soo, a cartoonist who started publishing stories about Jellaby in the Flight anthologies and who posts his work online at The Secret Friend Society, goes beyond their initial encounters and focuses on how being friends with a little dragon might play out. Reviewer Dave Ferraro was disappointed by how this focus worked and hopes that Soo "will return the character to his playful roots." The School Library Journal's Ernie Cox differs in opinion and felt the book would be a strong contender for the Caldecott Award. The School Library Journal also put this book on their Best Comics for Kids 2009 list.

Although volume one is still out of print, this one is still available from Disney Hyperion. A preview is available here from the author.

Jellaby

Ten-year-old Portia is having a tough time adjusting to her new neighborhood, life at home without her father, and the kids at school who give her a hard time. Complicating things even more, she happens upon a giant purple monster in her backyard, though the monster is not so scary (aside from trying to eat her flashlight, that is). She starts an unlikely friendship with Jellaby and strives to keep the monster a secret. That does not last long when a lonely little boy named Jason starts snooping around.

This book is charming, fantastical, and yet firmly grounded in reality, with very real life circumstances and well-defined characters. It is the creation of Kean Soo, a Canadian-Asian artist who began the story as a webcomic at The Secret Friend Society, a site run jointly with his artist colleague Hope Larson. Soo does not have many credits in comics as of yet, but he publishes frequently in Flight, where Jellaby first appeared. This interview contains lots of information about his life and work.

Jellaby is a book that has much to offer readers of many ages. Esther Keller was impressed with Soo's craft, noting that "the art and story work together seamlessly, so that the reader will have to read the pictures as well as the words to get a full story – and all the jokes." Michael Jung praised the book, writing that "with his oversized head, huge mouth, and expressive eyes that seem simultaneously naïve and intelligent, Jellaby is a monster any kid (or adult) would fall in love with." J. Caleb Mozzocco added, "This is a great little suburban adventure story that I'd recommend to just about anyone of any age." Personally, I very much enjoyed the book and was extremely disappointed when I came to the end and found I had to wait for a sequel.

Luckily, the sequel is out now, but there is also bad news. This first book is now out of print, but the first 64 pages, as well as a few short stories can be found here from the webcomic site.