The Alison Dare Series by J. Torres, illustrated by J. Bone

[description from goodreads]

Alison Dare: Indiana Jones meets Lara Croft in fabulous, graphic adventures.Alison Dare is not your typical twelve-year-old. She's the daughter of an archaeologist/adventurer and the masked hero known as the Blue Scarab. To top it off, she's also the niece of an international super-spy; it's no surprise that a craving for danger is in her blood! Unfortunately, her parents have locked her away at the prestigious St. Joan's Academy for Girls, hoping that this would lead to a more "normal" life for their daughter.

But despite all the strict rules at the school, Alison and her best pals - Wendy and Dot - somehow manage to find themselves involved in adventures that rival those of Alison's globetrotting, planet-saving relatives. Whether it's magic genies, super-powered bank robbers, or a dastardly baron bent on world domination, Alison Dare delivers the best thrills since Indiana Jones and more action than Lara Croft!

---

The books in this series are Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures and Alison Dare: The Heart of the Maiden. They both have similar summaries and formats- both are graphic novels that are made up of a bunch of smaller stories rather than one story with one main plotline- so I decided to review them together.

I'm not a big "short story" fan so I preferred the The Heart of the Maiden because the parts are more connected than in Little Miss Adventures. However, I still found the individual stories in each to be super amusing. Some stories were more exciting than others, but all of them were fun to read. I wish some were developed a bit more because it felt like there was always a little bit more to the magic/mythology included in each, but I liked being able to finish each story quickly, especially since I read these during crazy studying-for-finals time. Similarly, I wish there was a bit more character development/introduction- it felt like I was already supposed to know who everyone was when I began book one. Still, I liked the characters because they were quite fun and imaginative- superhero dad = awesome. Archeologist mom = also awesome.

The graphic novel format also super cool. I don't often read graphic novels, but I really like them. Staring at pretty pictures is always fun.

The Alison Dare series is definitely geared for a younger audience, but I very much enjoyed them. They're super cute and I'm sure Little Khy would have loved them.

Part of the blog tour is to take a picture of Alison out doing stuff. Here's mine:

In this photo, Alison Dare has encountered John Green Bobblehead and Nico the Barista. Based on the expressions on John and Nico's faces, I'm going to say that they are surprised Alison is driving. I am a bit surprised too, since she's only 12. However, I'm sure she needs the car for some wacky, entertaining adventure.

Links: author blog/illustrator blog/enter to win an Alison Dare prize pack over at the publisher blog