Sound detective work, unexpected twists, and plenty of fun for the young mystery fan ready for longer and more chapters.
This book is dedicated to “curious Fact Collectors everywhere.”
When 8-year-old Paige moves onto Evergreen Street, she begins collecting information in her Fact Diary—facts like the “street has exactly seventy-three windows,” and an 8-year-old boy named Penn lives next door. A talkative Penn introduces Paige to the “puddle that’s shaped like Texas,” “a kid with a pet rock,” and the undiscovered neighborhood monster. That’s when Paige kicks into gear. It’s a Fact Collector’s “responsibility to tell people when they are wrong. ‘Fact: Monsters are NOT real.’ ” After Paige records what Penn knows about the monster (“leaves behind footprints…hides in bushes…scary screeches”), the two kids prowl the neighborhood in search of evidence. Through careful observation and deduction, Paige proves there is no monster…until a loud “AROOOO” and a strange shadow make Paige and Penn rethink their conclusion. The text is carried in a combination of Paige’s first-person narration and dialogue bubbles. Paige’s notebook pages and random fun facts—“wombat’s poop is cube-shaped”; the “original name for Uranus was…George”; the “Earth is struck by lightning 100 times per second”—add to the kid appeal. They are interspersed throughout the nine chapters, which are nine to 15 pages in length. Paige has purple hair, blue eyes, and beige skin; Penn has light-brown skin and eyes and a pouf of curly, blue-green hair. Their neighborhood is minimally diverse.
Sound detective work, unexpected twists, and plenty of fun for the young mystery fan ready for longer and more chapters. (Graphic mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: June 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5161-2
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
What a wag.
What do you get from sewing the head of a smart dog onto the body of a tough police officer? A new superhero from the incorrigible creator of Captain Underpants.
Finding a stack of old Dog Mancomics that got them in trouble back in first grade, George and Harold decide to craft a set of new(ish) adventures with (more or less) improved art and spelling. These begin with an origin tale (“A Hero Is Unleashed”), go on to a fiendish attempt to replace the chief of police with a “Robo Chief” and then a temporarily successful scheme to make everyone stupid by erasing all the words from every book (“Book ’Em, Dog Man”), and finish off with a sort of attempted alien invasion evocatively titled “Weenie Wars: The Franks Awaken.” In each, Dog Man squares off against baddies (including superinventor/archnemesis Petey the cat) and saves the day with a clever notion. With occasional pauses for Flip-O-Rama featurettes, the tales are all framed in brightly colored sequential panels with hand-lettered dialogue (“How do you feel, old friend?” “Ruff!”) and narrative. The figures are studiously diverse, with police officers of both genders on view and George, the chief, and several other members of the supporting cast colored in various shades of brown. Pilkey closes as customary with drawing exercises, plus a promise that the canine crusader will be further unleashed in a sequel.
What a wag. (Graphic fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-58160-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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