The Porcupine of Truth vs. Ultraman

This was an easy round for us at DDM. We are unanimously voting through The Porcupine of Truth. We really liked the artwork of Ultraman and appreciated the storyline where the father was trying to protect the kid from his own destiny. Overall, the storyline moved too slowly. The whole book was only one battle. And it referenced a lot of past events which will probably show up as flashbacks in the next books, but in this book alone we felt a bit confused. Alana noted that there were almost no female characters in the novel, and the one female that was in the early part the book was shown mostly only from the waist down, with emphasis on her rear end. All that said, we acknowledge that there is a big audience for manga, as I was reminded when I offered up both books for my class to read during DEAR time. Way more kids wanted to read Ultraman than The Porcupine of Truth. However, the one kid that did read Truth really liked it too!

Porcupine - Brandy Lee found this to be a page turner. As she noted, "I read a bit, and then picked it up again and again until I finished it all. I guess I was wondering what other calamities the characters would get into. When I read books about hot topics or touchy themes, I always think about what type of kid I would recommend them to. You know, because books can sometimes help kids who are personally dealing with those same issues - death, gender, bullying, LGBTQ, etc. I'm not really sure if I could recommend it to anyone for that reason, but I liked it just as a book for entertainment." We thought the ending should've been fleshed out more, as it wrapped up fairly quickly after the main conflict was solved. I thought there were certain subplots that could've been cut out entirely, as the book dragged for me in some places. Overall, it is the better book and we'll see how it does in the next round!