About the Author

Hidenori Kusaka is the writer for VIZ Media’s Pokémon Adventures. Running continuously for over 20 years, Pokémon Adventures is the only manga series to completely cover all the Pokémon games and has become one of the most popular series of all time. Kusaka is currently working on the 14th story arc, Pokémon: Sun & Moon. In addition to writing manga, he also edits children’s books and plans mixed-media projects for Shogakukan’s children’s magazines. He uses the Pokémon Electrode as his author portrait.

Mato was born in Aichi Prefecture on November 27. Her astrological sign is Sagittarius. Her first manga story, "New Year X-mas," appeared in 1993 in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Her best-known works include the title Nightingale.

Reviews

Gr 4-6-Action-packed and fast-paced, this book contains all of the video-game thrills Pokemon fans would expect. Professor Oak has created a Pokedex, a device that provides strength and attack statistics on every one of the Pokemon, a useful tool in a world in which battles are waged with the help of these small creatures. When the Pokedex is stolen by the mysterious Silver, Oak enlists the brash, wise-cracking Gold to retrieve it. Along with his Pokemon sidekick, Aibo, Gold must avoid plenty of peril in his pursuit. The cliffhanger ending might compel many young readers to pick up the next installment in the series, but it fails to satisfy. The dialogue is quick moving to the point of being hard to follow-readers may have to double back to catch everything. The black-and-white manga artwork mirrors the breakneck speed of the dialogue. The small scale of the panels, paired with the abrupt jumps in perspective, occasionally leads to confusion. This book reads right to left, back to front, to maintain the order of the artwork. Experienced manga readers will have no trouble with this, but newcomers will need time to adjust. This is not an ideal starting point, but a high-energy addition to a series with an enthusiastic following.-Travis Jonker, Dorr Elementary School, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.