The son of a traveling merchant, Marco Polo spent his early years among the ports of Venice, Italy. As a young man, he headed eastward with his father and his uncle toward the lands of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. Their journey from Europe into Asia, marked by risks, setbacks, and discoveries, transformed every person involved. It also led to one of the world's most studied and most debated travelogues. Marco Tabilio, an emerging talent of Italian cartooning, creates a graphic novel in the form of a puzzle and finds the coming-of-age tale within the legend of Marco Polo. Gr 7 Up—Framed by the story of how Marco Polo and Rustichello da Pisa wrote the famed travelogue while they were imprisoned in Genoa, this title is the latest take on the oft-adapted Il Milione, or The Travels of Marco Polo. A teenage Marco joins his merchant father and uncle, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, as they traverse the Silk Road on a three-year journey to Khanbaliq (known today as Beijing). Once there, Marco befriends Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan) and serves a variety of roles at the Great Khan's court for nearly 20 years before returning to a much-changed Europe. This book is a historical record, a coming-of-age tale, and a musing on storytelling and storytellers. Rustichello's writing process is an apt vehicle for that commentary; he considers Marco his protagonist and is shown adding a three-headed dragon to the narrative while Marco is feverish, as that is what the European audience would expect from a work about the Far East. Tabilio's dynamic illustrations have a distinctly medieval style and include the occasional grotesque image, e.g., skeletal monsters or a detailed map of the divisions of the Mongol empire in the shape of Genghis Khan's dismantled body. However, these painstakingly intricate visuals, though attractive, may be hard on the eye. Many readers will find it difficult to become immersed in this volume, but it's an effective introduction to the explorer, especially compared with more typical biographies. Back matter includes a straightforward account of Marco Polo's life and a glossary of terms. VERDICT Useful as a supplemental text in art, history, geography, or literature classrooms, and recommended as an additional purchase for large graphic novel collections.—Kacy Helwick, New Orleans Public Library "In this lush graphic novel import, Tabilio makes a virtue of uncertainty. . . . [G]raphic novel readers accustomed to nonlinear, image-dependent storytelling will be right at home puzzling out the boundaries between imagination and reality and reveling in Tabilio's intricate faux-antique maps . . ."―starred, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "[C]aptures the excitement and spirit of exploration that have kept Polo's name and stories relevant, even as the world seems to get smaller."―starred, Foreword Reviews "Tabilio distills the essence of the story, capturing all of its wonder and exoticism without losing its grand sweeping nature."― The Horn Book Magazine "[T]he resulting epic casts a spell; readers won't soon forget Marco's kaleidoscopic journey―or the miracle that he survived to tell his story."― Publishers Weekly "[A]n effective introduction to the explorer. . . Useful as a supplemental text in art, history, geography, or literature classrooms, and recommended as an additional purchase for large graphic novel collections."― School Library Journal "Italian cartoonist Tabilio and translator Schwandt breathe some new life into Marco Polo and his travels. . . . [M]erits a second read."― Kirkus Reviews Marco Tabilio is an Italian comic author. He spent the past few years in Hamburg and Lake Garda. His comics have appeared in magazines and exhibitions in Italy and Germany. Marco Polo: Dangers and Visions is his first graphic novel and has been published in three different languages.