If you’re a frequent reader of this blog, you know that I’m a huge proponent of what I call “book extenders.” That’s when a book has other things for kids to interact with, like a movie or a board game or even toys.
The Scott Pilgrim series has just dropped as an animated series on Netflix. That’s awesome, because once young people are hooked on that and have watched it, they can go to the graphic novels and experience it a whole different way. There is also a PlayStation game.
I haven’t watched the Netflix show yet–I definitely will, especially since the brilliant book series and movie was set (and shot) in my old neighbourhood in Toronto. But even without that, it’s such an amazing series and the books are fantastic.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a hilarious graphic novel series by Canadian author/artist Bryan Lee O’Malley. Somewhat of a slacker, Scott Pilgrim begins to date the remarkable Ramona Flowers after she makes a delivery at his home. He finds out that to date her, he will need to defeat her seven super-villains exes. Like, fight them. But they’re super-villains. And he’s human. A slacker-human. See how this is going?
Angst, love, frustration, humour, camaraderie and utter nonsense — the series has it all. I highly, highly recommend you read the books and, of course, encourage you kid to do the same. And again, that may be before or after they’ve watched the movie and seen the new Netflix special. Whenever they read is fine–as long as they read.
The movie and the Netflix series have an all-star cast including Michael Cera (as Scott Pilgrim), Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Satya Bhabha, Keiran Culkin, Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, and Jason Schwartzman.
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Check out this great conversation with Scott Pilgrim movie director Edgar Wright and CBC’s Tom Powers. It’s available on CBC’s Q podcast. Click here for that: https://link.chtbl.com/QwithTomPower.
As always, check out your local independent bookstore to find these great products. However, if that’s not possible and you decide to buy the Scott Pilgrim books or PlayStation game on Amazon by clicking below, I receive an itsy bit of money that helps me offset the costs of running this blog. Thank you!
