Colleen Frakes

The back cover says, "The story of a perfectly ordinary childhood in a perfectly extraordinary place..." and the book seems to take that as a mission statement. This is a perfectly ordinary graphic novel with perfectly ordinary art and stories. Not bad, not great, just mild and good.

It was a little odd that in a book called Prison Island, I think there may have only been a single illustration of the actual prison. I guess I was expecting equal amounts of prison and life after visiting Alcatraz last summer and learning about children living on that island during the tour. By keeping the book's perspective firmly fixed to her own childhood view of the island, Frakes leaves me feeling mostly satisfied but wishing for more.… (altro)