adventure
At first, I thought Cooking with Monsters Volume 1 The Beginner’s Guide to Culinary Combat by Jordan Alsaqa and Vivian Truong was going to be a little scary as they are fighting monsters. And it looked older than what it turned out to be, so I was expecting mature death scenes. I thought it was going to be way more serious than it really is. But in the end, the only thing I can say is this graphic novel is: Over. The. Top. The end.
Yet, I also need to say, it is worth it. Things are funny with fighting the monsters (though I’m not sure of the rating system… a C is less than a S, but an A is greater than both…?) and having to cook a meal at the same time, but it is more than that. Family and friendship and love dynamics all come into play. The “haves” and the “have nots” issues are there. The idea of refugees and immigrants and the next generation after a family immigrated. Family legacy comes into play. The idea of stop, think and act instead of just acting comes into play. It is a great coming of age story that took a fun route. You’ll be begging for a second course.
But before you go find book two (which I believe is currently available as well) you might want to know about this one. The idea is simple: Kids go to the city to join a cooking school that not only teaches the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, but how to fight all sorts of mythical monsters (basilisks with cute crowns, a Scentipede, Bull(horned) Toads). And like I said above, there is more than cooking as life comes into play. Rivalries, jealousy, not understanding the reasoning of family members, and the currently relevant issues of refugees and “go back to where you came from” when you were born next door to the person saying it.
I liked the manga/comic book/graphic novel inspired illustrations. They are bright, simple, and let you capture the story and not be distracted. I was worried about being too gory, but the death of the critters is handled nicely. The basilisk is given the “Xed out eyes” to show it is caput. Yes, the weapon/fork is placed in the body so you can see it has caused the death, but it’s nothing that you haven’t seen before. I would go with at least aged 10 and up, but some concepts might be better for the 12-13 and up age range.