What I'm Reading Now -- Pride of Baghdad

K had to read Pride of Baghdad for a class she took on the Iraq War, and she recommended it to me.  Pride is, I'm - um, proud? - to say, my second ever graphic novel! I always wrote off graphic novels as part of the manga genre, and I don't really get manga.  As far as I can tell, they're just comics for grownups, but I was never really that into comics even as a kid.  Probably just not for me.

However, graphic novels are different.  They're stories, just in a different format.  Which I guess is why they're called "graphic novels," but I never thought that one through before.

Anyway, the first one I read was  Laika by Nick Abadzis.  I heard about it on NPR, and it sounded like something I might enjoy; it's the story of the first Russian space dog, and boy was it good.  They weren't kidding.

So, Laika opened me up to the possibility of graphic novels as an enjoyable genre, and the K recommended Pride.  It's the story of a small pride of lions who are inadvertently freed from the Baghdad Zoo after the city is bombed.  That's about as far as I've gotten, but I like it!

Maybe I like these books for the animals more than the graphic novel format.  Thoughts?