A silly, sweet bedtime tale brought to life.
A dad recalls a childhood adventure.
While preparing for bed, young Estella jumps on Dad’s head, toy sword in hand. This introduction foreshadows an equally dramatic, goofy bedtime story drawn from her father Andy’s broad imagination. In this reimagined fairy tale, young Andy is walking through Central Park on a field trip when he stumbles upon a man cloaked in wizard gear. Skeptical about the so-called wizard’s abilities, Andy teases him and, to his surprise, is swiftly transformed into a frog. The wizard then tasks Frog Andy with a quest to regain human form, and that’s where things rev up—the wizard demands a particular basketball player’s signature, a lion’s tail hair, and homemade matzo ball soup. Accompanied by a fox whom the wizard has turned into a pug, the amphibious boy must scour the city, from Madison Square Garden to the Bronx Zoo, to a pale-skinned young girl’s apartment hallway, and finally back to a classic city hot dog cart. Though the human re-transformation doesn’t demand a kiss, as in the original, Andy does learn an important lesson about being well mannered. Like the previous volume, the narrative is speckled with digressions and gags, and the result is an adorable amble in the park. Crandall’s illustrations hit many bright, happy notes, reveling in a classically cartoonish Big Apple. Andy and Estella are olive-skinned and dark-haired; other players are diverse.
A silly, sweet bedtime tale brought to life. (Graphic fiction. 5-10)Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9780316592932
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Little, Brown Ink
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
An adventure in giggles for feline fantasy aficionados.
On the Islands of Pawdor monsters haven’t been a problem for years, but that could be changing.
Kitties Perigold and Woolfrik are just starting out as monster hunters, and things are kind of slow. A little old lady’s monster-in-the-cellar problem seems a perfect first quest, however—her house is pretty creepy and full of some questionable objects. They venture into her dark cellar, but, alas, the monster turns out to be a faulty pipe. They fix it, and she insists on paying for the service with a giant pink gem. At the broccito stand (a portmanteau for a broccoli-filled burrito) they not only find out the gem is worthless, but they accidentally step on a broccito belonging to the evil, mustachioed kitty Dagzobad. When Perigold tosses the useless gem away, a tower abruptly sprouts from it, bonking Dagzobad’s pet monster in the kisser. Then the ghost of Earl Mortimore rises to tell them the history of Kitquaroo, an ancient kitty monster slayer. It seems their adventures are just beginning; can they revive the Guild of Kitquaroo? (And is it really necessary?) Corbett’s graphic-novel debut, a series opener, will entertain fans of Dog Man and Zita the Spacegirl. Bright cartoon panels full of slapstick and sarcasm (with a soupçon of gross) zip across the pages like stills from the best Saturday-morning cartoons.
An adventure in giggles for feline fantasy aficionados. (Graphic fantasy. 5-10)Pub Date: June 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-20544-0
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweetly encouraging look at the way friendship can mend heart and soul.
Reggie’s summer job as housesitter for a family away on travels turns out to be unexpectedly happy.
At a time that would normally be filled with exciting pursuits, Reggie is instead spending a quiet, solitary summer near the ocean. Reggie’s slightly unhappy and fearful vibe hints that all has not been going well in the monster’s life. There’s a pile of unanswered correspondence to deal with and an unsettling dream on the first night in the big house. Reggie is befriended by purple-spotted Emily, one of five sisters in a family of multihued, rabbitlike creatures. Emily is affable and talkative, ready to help Reggie overcome loneliness. Emily has her own misery at being dismissed by one sister who is scornful of her more whimsical sensibilities. Reggie and Emily find support in each other during a slightly scary adventure in a sea serpent’s lair. Reggie, who looks like an unprepossessing one-eyed, small blob with pointed ears, can, as demonstrated in the opening pages, stretch like rubber to reach a high shelf—and has other, even more impressive, abilities that make appearances later. Vandorn’s sunny, not-quite-pastel palette transforms the shadows that accompany Reggie’s arrival into a landscape of green fields, colorful gardens, and warm blue sea. Her rounded monster/animal characters are creatively varied and intriguing, and her storytelling simple but nuanced.
A sweetly encouraging look at the way friendship can mend heart and soul. (Graphic fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984896-82-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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