Product Description

The life of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa combined with a story of a friendship between a small girl and boy in Hawaii. The story of a small girl and her one-day friendship with a strange boy while on vacation with her family in Hawaii. Their lives are forever changed as they explore the island and themselves. Bookended by full-color biographical excerpts from the life of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, the central story's themes reflect those of the filmmaker and is told through black and white half-toned, fully-painted artwork. The Barefoot Serpent is offered as a 128-page hardcover graphic novel, in the same size and format as the Little Golden Books of old. This is definitely Scott's most unique and ambitious graphic novel to date.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #719232 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-22
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .33" h x 6.76" w x 8.16" l, .49 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

From Booklist
Morse presents the main story of his genuinely lovely book in a range of grays and a style resembling Japanese manga, UPI cartoons (e.g., Gerald McBoingBoing), and the old Captain Kangaroo feature, Tom Terrific. The grays constitute a constant reminder of the mournfulness that perforce hangs over the action, in which a little girl journeys to Hawaii with her parents after her older brother's death. There she meets a little-boy wheeler-dealer and tags along as he hustles a mask he has carved and plays in sand and surf. Rejoining her father, she infects him with her restored spirits; the family flies home refreshed. Sandwiching that story is a child's-picture-book-like sketch of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. The drawing style is very similar to that of the little girl's story, but figures are more angular, and Morse paints them against abstract backdrops in a range of soft colors, expressionistically employed. How does this relate to the little girl's story? Well, Kurosawa experienced great sadness, too, and he "showed the world what youth and freedom could do." Ray Olson
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