James Patterson expands his Daniel X adventure with Daniel X: Alien Hunter, a graphic novel. I had a student a few years ago who loved James Patterson’s young adult novels. I even made a few accelerated reader quizzes for him, so he could get extra credit. I respect Patterson for motivating preteen and teen boys to read.
This graphic novel is a quick read full of action and mystery. Daniel’s parents were murdered, and he discovers that his father was an alien who hunted outlaw aliens on Earth. Daniel finds his father’s list of outlaw aliens and is on a mission to find his parents’ killer. Over time Daniel has practiced and honed his own alien powers. He can use his imagination to create just about anything he wants, including friends.
Daniel is hunting #7 on the list in this installment of the story. Patterson includes enough twists, turns, and monsters to keep young readers turning the pages. Daniel’s foe is almost too much for him. I imagine the most interested age group would be boys 9-12. My seven-year-old has already asked if he can read it when I’m done. I’m not sure he can keep up with dialogue or the vocabulary, but I’ll let him give it a shot.
I find Patterson’s writing a little heavy handed at times for a graphic novel. For example, when it starts to rain, Daniel actually says in a thought bubble, “It’s starting to rain. I’d better get inside.” Well, we have the picture. We can see that it’s raining. The art appears to be computer generated. It looks good, but its not spectacularly original. Overall, I think its a graphic novel preteens will like.
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