Under Your Skin: True Tales of Forensic Science
From the Set Graphic Short Stories
Although controversial, true crime is more popular than ever. Experts believe this is because people enjoy the opportunity to face their deepest fears without actually putting themselves in danger. This compelling volume features more than a dozen true crime stories involving dead bodies, skeletons, and innovative crime-solving techniques. Readers will feel like they are part of the action of solving each crime with elaborate illustrations and a layout inspired by graphic novels. Each story also features realistic dialogue. Explanatory text describing key ideas about forensics, including crime scene investigation (CSI), make this engaging title one that will inspire a lasting appreciation for this important role of science in criminal and civil law.
Graphic Short Stories - School Library Journal
Students who savor harrowing tales will appreciate this tense, well-written collection. In the first title, stories set in different historical periods tell terrifying accounts of survival under impossible-to-imagine situations. Readers will be amazed survivors overcame incredibly desperate, sometimes quite gory, circumstances and marvel they emerged victorious. The second book focuses on true-crime tales, also from varied periods in time, and emphasize police procedure and crime detection. These tales are graphic in more ways than one, yet deliver interesting scientific information and will especially appeal to budding criminologists, forensic pathologists, and scene-of-crime officers. Some racial and ethnic diversity is represented; women are shown involved in investigations—and also as criminals. Stories in both volumes open with brief descriptions of leading characters, dates, and places; new vocabulary is boldfaced and defined in glossaries. The writing is terse and clipped. The tales are essentially told through characters and dialogue, which arouses empathy and heightens suspense. Graphic panels are easy to navigate, enabling readers to focus on the action; the artwork is crisp, with easy-to-distinguish details, and clearly evokes characters’ expressions. Each volume’s back matter includes a glossary (no pronunciation guides), further resources, and an index. VERDICT These spellbinding tales are not for the squeamish, as some are quite gruesome, but they’ll hopefully arouse sympathy, too. Recommended for school and public collections where graphic stories are popular.