Review: Lost Boy by Greg Ruth

I started at a new school in Washington DC last week. On the first day, I stopped through the library to see what our students were checking out. It was my first trip through the collection and I couldn't have been more impressed with the graphic novel selection. Not only did I find an incredible amount of complete series, they had many of the obscure titles that have been fan favorites. More importantly, every one of the graphic novels looked beat up. Not that it was a surprise to see the signs of heavy circulation.

Greg Ruth's Lost Boy is a welcome addition. The images Greg creates in black and white are among the most intricate I've seen from a middle grade graphic novel. In a story spanning five decades, Nate's discovery of an old tape recorder unlocks a mysterious disappearance leading to secret and dangerous world. It's clear that Greg Ruth has developed an incredibly intricate story around his ancient world and its inhabitants. At times, the complexity of the background world mixed with the time shifts makes the story, as a whole, difficult to fully grasp. Fortunately, the illustrations are compelling enough to pull the reader through.

I've watched kids who tell me, "they're not readers" devour Doug TenNapel's similarly creepy stories for years now. In an era where there is still not enough material to satiate these readers' needs, Lost Boy will be a welcome addition to any collection. For Greg Ruth's first middle grade graphic novel, the illustrations are nothing short of triumphant. The precision and detail could only be matched if Chris Van Allsburg fell down the rabbit hole and came back with a graphic novel.