Julius Zebra: Rumble with the Romans!
by Gary Northfield
What happens when you mix the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome with a fast-talking creature who is DEFINITELY NOT A STRIPY HORSE?
From a smelly water hole on the African savanna, Julius Zebra is captured, along with Milus the scarred lion and Cornelius the clueless warthog. Transported to the ferocious clamor of the Colosseum, Julius Zebra and his motley menagerie of friends must gear up to be . . . gladiators! The only way they will gain their freedom is if they win the love of the Roman crowds. But do they have what it takes to succeed in a world where only the meanest and toughest survive? Follow the madcap adventures of Julius Zebra and his pals in short chapters with funny, irreverent text and zany cartoon-style illustrations, with an illustrated guide to Roman numerals and a handy glossary at the end.
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Julius Zebra: Rumble with the Romans! Press Release
Julius Zebra: Rumble with the Romans!
by Gary Northfield
What happens when you mix the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome with a fast-talking creature who is DEFINITELY NOT A STRIPY HORSE?
From a smelly water hole on the African savanna, Julius Zebra is captured, along with Milus the scarred lion and Cornelius the clueless warthog. Transported to the ferocious clamor of the Colosseum, Julius Zebra and his motley menagerie of friends must gear up to be . . . gladiators! The only way they will gain their freedom is if they win the love of the Roman crowds. But do they have what it takes to succeed in a world where only the meanest and toughest survive? Follow the madcap adventures of Julius Zebra and his pals in short chapters with funny, irreverent text and zany cartoon-style illustrations, with an illustrated guide to Roman numerals and a handy glossary at the end.
Julius Zebra: Rumble with the Romans!
by Gary Northfield
What happens when you mix the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome with a fast-talking creature who is DEFINITELY NOT A STRIPY HORSE?
From a smelly water hole on the African savanna, Julius Zebra is captured, along with Milus the scarred lion and Cornelius the clueless warthog. Transported to the ferocious clamor of the Colosseum, Julius Zebra and his motley menagerie of friends must gear up to be . . . gladiators! The only way they will gain their freedom is if they win the love of the Roman crowds. But do they have what it takes to succeed in a world where only the meanest and toughest survive? Follow the madcap adventures of Julius Zebra and his pals in short chapters with funny, irreverent text and zany cartoon-style illustrations, with an illustrated guide to Roman numerals and a handy glossary at the end.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE?
Candlewick Press announces a new middle-grade
series that cleverly mixes history with hilarity.
wr
PUMB
ROMAN Sy
by GARY NORTHFIELD
What happens when you combine the
jadiatorial combat of ancient Rome
with a fast-talking creature who is
definitely not a stripey horse?
From a smelly water hole on the African savanna,
h Milus the
scarted lion and Comelius the clueless warthog.
Julius Zebra is captured along wi
Transported to the ferocious clamor of the
Colosseum, Julius Zebra and his motley menagerie
of friends must gear up to be . .. gladiators! The
only way they will gain their freedom is if they
win the love of the Roman crowds. But can they
succeed in a world where only the meanest and
toughest survive?
Follow the madcap adventures of Julius Zebra and
his pals in a book that features short chapters with
funny, irreverent text and zany cartoon-style
illustrations, as well as an illustrated guide to
Roman numerals and a handy glossary at the end,
About the Author
.own for his Derek the Sh
Gary Northfield, best k
has been writing and drawing comics since 2002. He
lives in England,
ON SALE APRIL 12, 2016
S) + ISBN: 978.
7536-7853-1
CANDLEWICK PRESS
wn candlewickcomWhen did you first develop a love for comic:
ve had a love of comies since I was at least three or four
years old; I zemember enjoying a Pink Panther annual well
before I was able to properly read, figuring out the story
just by looking at the pictures. lapped up any comic I
\d — The Beano, Marvel, and Disney—and
my own comics and wrote many stories about funny
animals or monsters. My mum was particularly
supportive, encouraging me to write stories on rainy.
days during the summer holidays
could w
How did you get your professional start in the
industry?
When left school, I studied illustration, learning
printmaking among other things. However, it was tough,
to find any wor
in an art shop and my dad's furniture factory for a few
Twas never despondent, and in my spare time
Iwould then photocopy and sell
to comic shops in London and at comic fairs aroun
nded
cartoonists who also created homemade comics, and
such a crowded market, so worked
country. Itwas at these fairs that I met like-n
through that talented network became connected with,
many magazines where I worked for several years:
Was it difficult making the transition from writing
comic strips to the long-form narrative of books?
y stories in comics until now had been short
stories, so the narrative structure had to be an entirely
different approach, Thad to make sure there were
definite story points along the way, holding everything
in place, and around those I could then have my usual
fun, Keeping all the different story threads heading in
the right direction was a little bit like herding eats, but
iy brilliant editor was on top of it all and
ade sure I
kept on the straight and narrow.
actual writing was great fun! I hadn't written
¢ Iwas at school, but
hing of great
creative writing used to be one of my favorite subjects
side ar
score, [have a philosophy of keeping things simple and
clear, in my art and my dialogue, and this fed neatly
my writing style
alos so [didn’t have too much fear on that
Why did you decide to base this story in ancient
Rome?
write
nd draw a regular comic for National Geographic
Kids UK, and in one particular strip, [wrote about the
history of the Colosseum in Rome. In one panel I talked
about the various weird and wonderful animals from,
around the empire that the Romans used to show ol
citizens in the arena, Then they would kill them all
showing off their prowess as hunters. In my panel
back, which I thought was great
fun, and this directly inspired Julius Zebra. [really
wanted an unusual underdog to be at
the animals fightin
center of the
story, as opposed to a lion of tiger, and I thought a lowly
zebra would be the perfect choice!What is your favorite thing about writing the title
character, Julius Zebra?
He's very f
and naive, and I enjoy exploring ch
journeys of self-discovery and figuring out their place in
the crazy world they live in, Life isn't black and white
and there isn’t always an obvious right or wrong way of
doing things, so I enjoy steering him down those rough.
paths we all have to navigate in our lives.
le, yet still quite bullheaded. He's young
acters who go on.
What has been your favorite response to the book
so far from a young reader?
The response from young readers has been phenomenal!
Lots of reviews say how they've read it in one sitting
because i's so exciting, One young reader even said,
abit like Diary of a Wimpy Zebral,® which made
What books did you read when you were a child?
Comics, such as Asterix, Peanuts, and Marvel. ! also
enjoyed plenty of nonfiction fzor the library, especially
dinosaur encyclopedias or books about mysteries like
UROs or ghosts.
Ifyou could be a storybook character, who would
you be?
Tove the idea of time travel, so Td like to be the
time traveler in H.G. Wells's The Time Machine. Ud go
backward in time, though, and check out eighteenth-
century London and stalk my ancestors
What is the best thing about reading?
Being lost in a new world and being excited by the
unknown, Wondering where the n:
take you and how the author is going to resolve story,
threads.
ative is going to
How do you know when a particular joke (visual
or text) is a keeper?
fit makes me laugh when I'm w
od indication that I'm
ing it, that's normally
a winner. The stupider
absurd the better, [always say!
What is your all-time favorite book?
Tolkien's The Hobbit,
beautifully realized wo:
by a master of the English language.
is a great example of a
, perfectly and simply narrated“This book is a very funny, page-turning
adventure. ... Simply pop it in your bag and take
it anywhere... you won’t want to put it down.”
—The Guardian (U.K.)
“Have you ever imagined what the story of
Spartacus would have been like if retold with a
cast of talking animals? .. . Told in a mixture of
prose and cartoon, the book has a very Horrible
Histories sense of humor and grounds its silliness
with facts about gladiatorial combat.”
— Financial Times (U.K.)
“Cartoonist Gary Northfield gives a fresh take
on all things Roman in this riotous romp.
Witty, ridiculous, and just plain good fun!”
—Lovereadingakids.co.uk
“J loved it because I am doing the Romans
at school at the moment, ... [liked all
the funny bits, especially when the
zebra was being chased by a lion.”
—Emily Lonsdale, age 9
This book is about a zebra called Julius,
who gets caught by some Romans.
Talso liked the illustrations and the way
you have to read the speech bubbles to
read the story.”
—Alex Hall, age 9
“J like how the comic-style illustrations
carry on the story rather than just being
a ‘picture on a page.’.. . Itisa bit like
Diary of a Wimpy Zebra
—Bethany, age 8
‘Ten out of ten for Julius and his friends
This is the best book I have been sent so
far! ... This book was so full of excitement
and suspense I could not put it down.” canpuswick Piss
—Isaac East, age 8