Great graphic tales for young readers and animal lovers; long may Sasspants detect! (Graphic mystery. 7-11)
Will the Help Wanted sign in the window of Mr. Venezi’s Pets & Stuff Shop bring good or ill?
Befuddled but lovable Mr. Venezi’s still advertising for an assistant to help him in his pet shop. With questions like “on a scale of 1 to 10, have you ever ridden a llama?” interviews are not going well. When ninth-grader Viola arrives, she seems the perfect employee. She turns a light on the lizards. She gives the ferrets tons of toys and tubes. She even puts the correct animal names on the cages; Mr. Venezi had labeled the chinchillas, “gorillas,” among other misnomers. She does so well that guinea pig detective Sasspants becomes suspicious, and Mr. Venezi feels unneeded. When Mr. Venezi turns up missing and Viola, without supervision, starts slacking, Detective Sasspants is on the case. With careful deduction and a cunning plan, Sasspants and her junior partner Hamisher the hamster save the day again! Venable and Yue’s Pet Shop Private Eye graphic series continues to charm. Yue’s adorable pet-shop fur (and scale) people are just as expressive as their human counterparts, and Venable’s gentle mystery and delightful, dry humor will extend Sasspant’s fanbase. Includes information on goldfish and plecos, as well as a list of animal-related jobs at the back.
Great graphic tales for young readers and animal lovers; long may Sasspants detect! (Graphic mystery. 7-11)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7613-5224-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
File under “laugh riot.”
A rogue spell-check program’s bid to transform all life-forms into that eminently useful office item, the paper clip, touches off a fresh round of lunar lunacy.
Predicated on the entirely reasonable premise that eliminating all spelling and grammar errors everywhere would logically lead to the necessity of exterminating carbon-based life in the universe, this third series entry combines high stakes with daffy banter and daring exploits. CheckMate—a chipper, jumped-up editing program—has invented the Transmogratron, a giant laser that will fulfill its ultimate goals in both the cyber world and “meatspace.” Facing challenges as random as prankster lunar unicorns and a disarmingly motherly Motherboard, scowling First Cat joins a motley crew of diversely carbon- and silicon-based allies, led by the pearlescent Queen of the Moon. They’re in a race to the finish—diverted occasionally by, for instance, a relentlessly punny comic-book interlude featuring a pair of literal and figurative Pool Sharks. They ultimately triumph thanks to teamwork and moxie. Following a celebratory party and toasts to “new friends…and steadfast comrades” (and, of course, “MEOW”), the story’s energetic, brightly colored panels close with a reveal of the next volume. (“I always hate it when comics end by announcing a sequel. SO CRINGE!” declares an authorial stand-in.) It can’t come too soon.
File under “laugh riot.” (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063315280
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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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
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