Dueling Reviews: The Professor's Daughter

{Previously reviewed by A. Fortis}

She needed an escort.

He was...just lying around the house.

When famous Egyptologist Professor Bowell is out of town and his daughter takes the world-renowned Imhotep IV out of her father's collection, it's only because she's lonely. She doesn't really mean any harm. Her father is too busy combing the world for more antiques to pay much attention to her, and she's grown into a young women who'd like to be out and about with a beau.

There probably isn't a more dashing and...er, old world escort than Imhotep IV. This is the first time he's been awake and alive in thirty centuries, and with the lovely Miss Bowell on his arm, what could go wrong?

In a word: everything.

First it's the poisoning.

Then it's the kidnapping.

Then...it's Queen Victoria?? In the Thames?!

All these adventures are all in the name of true love. And true love always wins...right?

This quirky and creative graphic novel is a quick read and has wonderfully dramatic and funny illustrations. Readers looking for a fast-paced silly story will enjoy it, and the pleasing sepia-toned drawings are dreamy and detailed and interspersed with color drenched panels that move the action along. A happy bonus at the end of the book is a set of sketches from the British Museum!

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This review was first published in the January '08 Edge of the Forest Children's Literature Monthly.