From School Library Journal Gr 3–5—With his friends gone for the summer, Kevin starts to feel lonely and secludes himself in the woods. Suddenly, he discovers a magical Golem made of rock that is eager to play with him. Kevin and the Golem are great friends at first, building boats and forts, but the magical being does not respond well to commands and ends up doing more damage than actually helping. Frustrated, Kevin leaves the Golem, which creates even more problems when the monster goes into town unsupervised. Exley's tale is an interesting take on the Yiddish myth, as the Golem takes on the role of friend to a boy desperately in need of one. The pacing is clunky, however, as panels jump forward in time with no explanation or exposition, leaving readers lost as to what's happening and why. The lack of substantial dialogue also makes the story confusing, though it may make this appealing to early readers. Exley's orange and blue color palette is an interesting choice, and creates a folksy feel to the overall experience. The slim, chapter book-style also adds to the handcrafted appeal, but may not hold up to repeat check outs. VERDICT An interesting, if additional, offering.—Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI Read more Review Exley's tale is an interesting take on the Yiddish myth. . . . Exley's orange and blue color palette is an interesting choice, and creates a folksy feel to the overall experience. . . . An interesting, if additional, offering.—School Library JournalThe art lifts this story to a class above many of his contemporaries, told in a scale that predicts the views and feelings of the young boy central character.—Down The TubesExley possesses an idiosyncratic artistic style that gives Golemchik its all-ages magic. […] his panel layouts are simple and workmanlike, but stuffed with stylistic stuff that belie realism in the best and most fantastic ways. His use a limited color palette of oranges and blues offset with the tiniest touches of white adds to the fantastical nature of the story while reinforcing the charm, charm, charm all the way down.—Comics BulletinExley’s art is lovely. There’s a storybook quality to it, with strong character design and an eye for natural shapes.—Sequential StateI loved the artwork for Golemchik. I think that the art is frankly wonderfully and successfully tells the story.—Comic BastardsExley’s art has a sort of precise imprecision that gives it a semblance of life, especially when the human characters are offscreen. Page five, for instance, is a lovely, silent page of spiders and butterflies and trash strewn across the forest floor, depicting the golem coming to life against a backdrop of nearly abstract shapes that mythologize the detritus of mediocre human existence. Exley gives pollution a touch of poetry on this page; in doing so he shows the potential to create legends from the prosaic. As you say, it’s charm, charm, charm all the way down.—Comics Bulletin Read more See all Editorial Reviews
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