One piece vol 1 by eiichiro oda

On a remote island, young Luffy D. Monkey yearns to become a pirate and sail the known seas. His heroes are a band of pirates who come through his tiny village, but the mayor and other villagers think Luffy’s dream would only bring disgrace to their town. On one fateful visit from Luffy’s favorite pirate gang, Luffy accidentally eats the Devil’s Fruit, which makes him incredibly rubbery but will make him sink to the bottom of the ocean. In some skirmishes between mountain bandits and the pirates, Luffy learns that physical strength is not the only tool for a pirate. In reaching adulthood, Luffy sets off from his village to gather a crew and become the best pirate. However, he doesn’t know how to navigate, and he mostly sails along in a tiny dinghy and gets into trouble. In his first adventures, he meets Koby, who was forced to become a cabin boy for a lady pirate, and the pirate hunter Zolo who was captured by the Navy. Over and over, Luffy’s rubbery power and dumb luck gets him out of sticky situations.

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This is a great adventure title that is punctuated with moments of serious violence or sacrifice. Oda has some powerful timing and knows how to capitalize on page turns, and there are also some well-placed panels that capture poignant moments between characters that were being comical just panels before. But, it's clear from the first volume that most of the character and plot development are going to happen around Luffy -- readers probably shouldn't expect him to change too much throughout his travels. The illustrations are over the top and folks’ mouths are comically large most of the time. Luffy is basically a couple of half-circles with fists and shoes. There are many panels where the word bubbles take over most of the real estate, so this sometimes makes the page and illustrations feel very crowded.

There are a few moments of violence in this first volume where some folks are killed on page, and the pirates often talk about "grog", which can be inferred to be alcohol.

For libraries just starting to collect this series, there are some 3-in-1 omnibus volumes being published of this series that night make collecting a bit easier.
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Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12

Publisher: VIZ Media
Publication Date: June 23, 2003
ISBN: 9781569319017 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Action Adventure, Humor, ​VIZ Media