Meanwhile

Fun little choose-your-own-adventure style graphic novel. As Chekov (nearly) said, when you see a Killotron in the lab after a few pages, most paths will lead to someone pushing the big red button.

This children’s graphic novel has been formatted so that you can choose how you want the story to unfold and may be confusing for younger readers or people used to reading graphic novels in the traditional manner. As explained by the introduction page, you follow the story by following a series

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of connector pipes that lead you in maze like directions from frame to frame and from page to page. Although the cover boasts 3856 story possibilities, at 80 pages, there is a lot of overlapping in the possible story outcomes. Once the logistics of reading it are out of the way, the stories that unfold are amusing and can range into areas of time travel, memory transfer and doomsday machines. I found the story lines and illustrations to be simple, funny and fairly engaging, and the fact that you can read this book several different times and come away with different outcomes adds to the appeal.

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With the question 'Chocolate or vanilla?' the reader of 'Meanwhile' embarks on a graphic-novel/choose-your-own-adventure crossover where a series of choices can lead to 3856 possible stories. The art and text are arranged in a non-linear fashion, linked by a series of tubes that connect various

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parts of the book in all directions, with different parts of different stories presented on the same page and tabs along the edge of each page to assist with finding the leaf a tube leaving the page is headed to. The individual stories are straightforward and straight out of b-movies and comic books, but the branching of the possibilities can be mind-blowing. It is also possible for the reader to become caught in a loop of story, which could be frustrating to some readers. The art is done in an appealing comic style, but the directionality of the connecting tubes is in some cases confusing, and many people will need to follow the tubes with a finger to keep their place. This is not a book to introduce graphic novels, but for experienced readers of the format, 'Meanwhile' will be an engaging read which pushes the limit of what can be done with the printed page. This book would be a great choice for middle school boys, or anyone who identifies as a geek and cares more about how the story is told than the story itself.

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This book was so much fun to read; I've reread it at least half a dozen times just to see if I can make a happily ever after moment. I would highly recommend this to anybody; adults included.
The pages are laminated and would last for a long time ever if used over and over again.

A clever little puzzle in the form of a graphic novel in the "choose-your-own-adventure" style.

Remember those classic comics where you read left-to-right or right-to-left depending where you live on the globe? Well, in Jason Shiga's "Meanwhile", he puts a whole new twist to the traditional word "comic".
In this book, you'll be reading up and down, left to right and even off the pages to

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another! Many secret codes may be found, but cheating your way through is never a way to discover its telltale secrets! Your goal is to find the best possible ending; technically, this is at least 15 books in one book!
The story is about a young boy who you play as in this world; you get to make his life changing decisions. The first one comes up very quickly, where you meet this crossroad of tubes you can follow; you either pick the left road, or the right. Your decisions can lead to a neverending spiral, a bad or good ending or even lead you to kill him. The decision is yours.
Although some pages look similar, it's not a photocopy error. This makes the reader quite confused a times, and may become frustrating. But, if you can decipher the storyline and at least follow it, Jason Shiga will give you an interesting comic read that will last you at least a week!
This book is best for readers who enjoy "Choose your own Adventure" Books, and comic-lovers; if you are one of those, pick up this book right now and you won't be disappointed.

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This is going to be a hit with my library kids, but as someone who is a completist by nature I found it totally exhausting. It is IMPOSSIBLE to follow every storyline, and I get seriously frustrated when I can’t do that. Not for me, but does what it does well.

A new kind of choose your own adventure book. What kind of ice cream do you want today? A very creative and intricate aggregate of storylines. It is a little confusing and requires a bit of concentration with the navigation the first time, but can provide hours of fun guiding your own story and

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starting a new one.

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Meanwhile is the ultimate, mind-boggling choose-your-own-adventure book, with every page and almost every panel providing multiple choices for the reader. A boy who visits an ice cream shop and is soon embroiled in a mad scientist's three inventions, a time machine, a thought-reader, and a

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world-ending "killitron" machine. Using a finger to follow little tubes that branch from one panel to another, and to different pages, the reader can explore 3,856 story possibilities, with most ending in doom and destruction. Meanwhile was entertaining for my kids for the first few readings (each of which involved reading multiple story lines), but we were ultimately frustrated by repeatedly coming to our doom or looping back to where we started. Definitely worth a look, if only to admire the sheer complexity and ingenuity of the story.

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This book is appropriate for 4th and 5th graders. The words would be to challenging for the younger grades. This book is very cool the pages has tube like tunnels that guide the reader to different parts of the page that then lead then to a different part of the book. The tabs allow the pages to

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move easily to part of the story. Readers are trying to crack the code to get to the top secret. This book is lots of funny and will lead you on a new path every time.
Teachers could use this book to:
-As a free choice read. Students would really like this on their book shevels so they could read it on their own.
-Have students make predictions on what will happen before, during, and after. Have the write it in their journals so they can share the findings after.

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It is no exaggeration that you will not be able to put this book down. With 3,856 possible plot permutations the comic is addictive and fun because the reader will want to discover all of them. Even though you know it's nearly impossible to do, especially in sitting, this will not stop you from

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flipping through the pages again and again and again.

Jason Shiga has done an incredible job of creating this choose-your-own-adventure comic. The panels are realistically colored without being too detailed as to be distracting. The comic's style is also quite simple, with thick black lines around each individual panel, all of which are square or rectangular. The pages' background colors are various shades of brown and orange, as are the "tubes" connecting them.

The basic storyline follows a boy who stops in to a strange building to use the bathroom after buying a chocolate ice cream. It turns out that a mad scientist runs his experiments there, and the boy gets to experiment with the machines the scientist has created, including a time machine, the Killitron 2000, and the SQUID or Superconducting Quantum Interference Device. Each device you choose has its own set of paths to follow depending on the reader's choice. Some endings lead to an endless time travelling loop, some lead back to your house, and some paths cause world destruction, which was a bit disturbing. Each permutation features dialogue between the boy and the scientist, as well as other characters; this dialogue at times is quite lengthy and complex, although it is interesting enough to keep the reader's attention.

Overall "Meanwhile" was a fascinating read that you'll want to keep reading forever. The combination of reader interactivity, funny illustrations, and fun science dialogue make this comic a must-have.

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This book is appropriate for the fourth and fifth grades. This graphic novel may be complicated for younger students because readers have to carefully follow a tube to read it. There are many different story possibilities depending on which tube the reader chooses to follow. The reader begins with

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the simple choice of having to choose either vanilla or chocolate for an ice cream flavor. Then the choices become more complicated and the reader can discover secret codes and complete crazy mazes. The reader chooses the path for the character and that path can end in a failure or success. There is only one path to success. Readers can feel free to go back and choose a new path (different colored tube) at anytime. The book is interesting because the pages aren't read forward but they can also go backwards. Each comic boxes can be read up, down, left or right depending on which way the tubes move. Readers have to really stay focused to follow a long.
Uses in classroom:
- I would divide the class into groups and as a group they choose their paths. At the end the groups will share what happened in their story.
- Have students create their own books with alternate endings.
- Have the book in the class library for students to explore and find the secret codes on their own or with a partner.

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Fantastic children's book for ages 9+. My son and I had a great time going through this book, and it's an opportunity to talk about science (and science fiction) topics like the grandfather paradox and the many worlds hypothesis.

My only quibble is that it might be too difficult! We couldn't find a

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way to a satisfying conclusion without a bit of cheating. But like those choose-your-own-adventure books from the 80s, cheating's part of the fun!

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Wow! Jason Shiga must be a genius to have concieved of this idea and then to figure it all out. One of the most innovative books I have ever seen. It took me awhile to get the hang of it and then could only do it by using my finger to trace the tubes connecting the story. I'm guessing kids would be

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better at it and some will just love the 3865 possiblities.

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This one is a pretty cool concept because it's a combo of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure and graphic novel. I think kids enjoy reading the choose your own adventure like books because they can read the book multiple times and have a different storyline each time.

However, the art in the book isn't

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anything special. The panels of comic in the story are hard to follow, you have to follow a path of lines to pick the tab you turn to for the next segment of the story. I had a hard time the second page I turned to. You follow the tube that is the color you picked at boxes that split off, but having to follow panels up and down and around a page, with multiple storylines you can pick on each page is pretty confusing. I pretty much gave up on this book because it didn't seem worth the effort---even if following the storyline was simple, the story wasn't worth reading.

This book would be fine for any age in the 4th-8th grade range. It's probably geared more toward boys.

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really cool I liked this book because it invites you to choose different paths every time you read it.

graphic text meets choose your own adventure. Great for boys who like to "participate" in the story.

This is a bizarre new format (at least to me) of choose your-own-adventure. WOW. It had my 10-year-old, who loves "manga" (I still don't really know what this is), drawing, and comics, unable to come up for air. It was written with exactly the same kind of humor, drawing, and topics that my son

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loves...uncanny. I also had a lot of fun figuring out how it works with him. I'd give it 5 stars but I was quickly frustrated with having to go through the whole story repeatedly in order to make different choice combinations (time travel issues). It didn't phase him at all, though.

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In this choose-your-own adventure graphic novel, a boy stumbles on the laboratory of a mad scientist who asks him to choose between testing a mind-reading device, a time machine, and a doomsday machine.

A "Choose your own path" in comic format with over 3,000 possibilities--however, some are very hard to follow and only for the truly dedicated (obsessive) reader. A time machine and a doomsday machine are among the choices in this quirky story that starts off with the simple question: chocolate or

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vanilla?

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Chocolate or Vanilla? This simple choice is all it takes to get started with Meanwhile, the wildly inventive creation of comics mastermind Jason Shiga, of whom Scott McCloud said “Crazy Genius = Shiga.” Jimmy, whose every move is under your control, finds himself in a mad scientist’s lab,

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where he’s given a choice between three amazing objects: a mind-reading device, a time-travel machine, or the Killitron 3000 (which is as ominous as it sounds). Down each of these paths there are puzzles, mysterious clues, and shocking revelations. It’s up to the reader to lead Jimmy to success or disaster.

Meanwhile is a wholly original story of invention, discovery, and saving the world, told through a system of tabs that take you forward, backward, upside down, and right side up again. Each read creates a new adventure!

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My first graphic novel choose your own adventure. Instead of "go to page" there's a tube/tab system that allows this time-loopable story to fully takes advantage of the format.

Great fun!

Choose your own adventure, comic edition.