School Library Journal
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Gr 3-6-Based on a LEGO set introduced in January 2011, this title follows the adventures of four young ninjas, Jay, Cole, Zane, and Kai, under the tutelage of Sensei Wu. In this first book in the series, they battle the two lords of the Underworld, Samukai and Garmadon. These villains have a wager on-if Samukai defeats the young ninjas and their sensei, he will rule Ninjago and the Underworld. In addition to protecting the four golden weapons (special collectors items in the LEGO set), the ninjas have another reason to defeat Samukai and Garmadon-Samukai's skeleton army holds Kai's sister hostage. The illustrations in this marketing tie-in are cartoon worthy, but the dialogue feels halting and the content is gimmicky-the ninjas must learn "Spinjitzu." Still, younger readers and LEGO fans could enjoy this new addition to the graphic-novel world.-Sarah Knutson, American Canyon Middle School, CA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

If you do not own any of LEGO's Ninjago toys, it will perhaps not mean much to you that the evil Samukai makes a wager with evil Lord Garmadon, hinging on the defeat of Sensei Yu and his four brave ninja, Cole, Zane, Jay, and Kai. You will probably be likewise in the dark as the four ninja use the secrets of Spinjitzu to handily defeat Samukai and his bumbling skeleton army. But that's the point, after all. As with comic-toy tie-ins, from He-Man to Papercutz's own Bionicle series, the job here is to explicate a mythology for toy owners to build their own narratives upon. Farshtey does an efficient job of creating relationships, grudges, and nominal personalities for the toy characters, while Henrique turns in pleasingly lively and polished art that reproduces the figural forms of LEGO bodies with great accuracy, even as it imbues their plastic faces with emotional expressiveness. It's not for the uninitiated, but collectors and those looking for lightweight ninja goofiness will find a quick, amusing read.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2010 Booklist