A Lovecraftian interlude in the children’s 80-page graphic novel The Secret of The Stone Frog, a book in which 7-9 year-old advanced or assisted readers get a very palatable and gentle lead-in to a later sampling of Spirited Away, Alice in Wonderland, and even H.P. Lovecraft (the end of “The Festival”)…

Secret of The Stone Frog was the debut hand-drawn book by David Nytra of Canada, in 2012. I liked the art and layouts but wasn’t overly keen on the main dialogue lettering, which often seemed too computerised for my taste. If you’re going to the trouble of hand-drawing everything, why spoil the effect with digital lettering? But I guess school library sales are important at this end of the publishing market, and librarians probably assume they need ‘lettering clarity’ for ease of reading by their less able patrons. Currently the book is only available in paper.

It would be a fine Christmas stocking filler for intelligent and imaginative 7-9 year olds. If the primary dialogue were to be re-lettered, the whole book colourised in a soft watercolour underlay, and a better cover added, then it would probably sell nicely as a Kindle ebook.

Nytra took the same characters on a similar but fantasy medieval-themed 120-page dreamlands outing in 2015, Windmill Dragons, but I haven’t seen that one.