A Graphic Novel

Magic Pickle

Morse, Scott.  (2008).  Magic Pickle.  New York, NY: Scholastic.

This picture was obtained from: http://www.allenspiegelfinearts.com/information.html

“My powers are the result of important scientific endeavour.  Accidents happen, though, and heroes are born.  Count yourself lucky.”

-          Page 8 of Magic Pickle

A Little about the Book:

Underneath the floor of JoJo Wigman’s bedroom, the Magic Pickle was created in a secret government lab.  The Magic Pickle has been awakened after a long sleep to fight the Brotherhood of Evil Produce before they take over the world.  JoJo Wigman helps the magic pickle defeat most of the Brotherhood of Evil Produce except the Romaine Gladiator.  The Romaine Gladiator escapes and hides in JoJo’s fridge.  When JoJo quickly packs her lunch for school, she does not notice she packs the Romaine Gladiator until she opens her lunch in the school cafeteria.  Once again, the Magic Pickle arrives and helps JoJo fight the Romaine Gladiator.  With some quick thinking by JoJo and the Magic Pickle’s skills, they are able to defeat the Romaine Gladiator.

Illustrations

The illustrations were vibrant in color.  My eye was constantly moving across the page.  The illustrations themselves added a lot of adventure and action to the story.  Without the illustrations, the story would be very boring and lack action.  The illustrations were the best part of The Magic Pickle.

Themes:

·         Heroes

·         Teamwork

Age Level:

The Magic Pickle is appropriate for children who are nine years old.  Some of the vocabulary used may be challenging for younger children. 

Children in Grade 4 and up should be able to read The Magic Pickle.  Some of the vocabulary used is hard to understand and may be hard for children to read by themselves.

Personal Response:

I personally was not a fan of The Magic Pickle.  The story did not go into much detail.  The reader was taken through the story at a very fast pace, which left me wanting more information and clarification.  I also was not a fan of the characters.  Although the use of vegetables was supposed to add humour to the story, I felt they were not humorous at all. 

I would not recommend The Magic Pickle to anyone.  I feel there are other graphic novels, which are written better, and have a better story line.

Teacher Ideas:

Art

Have students draw a comic strip about a super hero.  Make sure students pay attention to how they can use lines to create movement and how they can use their pictures to create action in their comics.

Language Arts

Have students add words to their comics.  When students are done creating their comics, have them share their comics with the class.  

Magic Pickle Website:

Click here to go to the Scholastic Magic Pickle Website