An absolutely hilarious caper bogged down by excess detail.
Scaling Mount Choco is just the tip of the ice cream—ahem iceberg—in Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson’s latest adventure featuring a trio of unlikely friends.
In this outing in the Blue, Barry & Pancakes series, Barry the frog is dead set on winning a trophy to relieve the shame of his empty trophy room, so his friends Pancakes the bunny and Blue the worm vow to help him win a grand sundae-making contest. Realizing they need something special to carry the day, the pals set off on a dangerous journey to get the best chocolate ice cream from a yeti. To do so, they must cross the Sea of Seasickness and trek up Mount Choco. Challenges and mistakes along the way test the strength of their friendship. There are obvious morals about living in the moment and appreciating the people you meet on life’s path, and some scenes are genuinely moving. The adventurers, amusingly, don’t look anything like your typical worm, frog, and rabbit; Pancakes looks like a huge potato with a pink tufted tail, and Barry is square-shaped. The pictures are both funny and spectacularly bright. Unfortunately, the plot almost feels like an afterthought in this overwrought graphic novel. There are multiple dance sequences, some with instructions, and too many supporting characters vying for the limelight; on one double-page spread, there are 19 different animals, including a bright pink pig with a Dalí-esque mustache, suggesting a whole life history.
An absolutely hilarious caper bogged down by excess detail. (game and activity section) (Graphic novel. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-25557-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
Fast and furious action guaranteed to keep new readers laughing and turning pages.
Never underestimate the chaotic fun that magic and an angry bouncing ball can create.
When Frog goes to the library, he borrows a book on magic. He then heads to a nearby park to read up on the skills necessary to becoming “a great magician.” Suddenly, a deflated yellow ball lands with a “Thud!” at his feet. Although he flexes his new magician muscles, Frog’s spells fall as flat as the ball. But when Frog shouts “Phooey!” and kicks the ball away, it inflates to become a big, angry ball. The ball begins to chase Frog, so he seeks shelter in the library—and Frog and ball turn the library’s usual calm into chaos. The cartoon chase crescendos. The ball bounces into the middle of a game of chess, interrupts a puppet show, and crashes into walls and bookcases. Staying just one bounce ahead, Frog runs, hides, grabs a ride on a book cart, and scatters books and papers as he slides across the library furniture before an alligator patron catches the ball and kicks it out the library door. But that’s not the end of the ball….Caple’s tidy panels and pastel-hued cartoons make a surprisingly effective setting for the slapstick, which should have young readers giggling. Simple sentences—often just subject and verb—with lots of repetition propel the action. Frog’s nonsense-word spells (“Poof Wiffle, Bop Bip!”) are both funny and excellent practice in phonetics. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Fast and furious action guaranteed to keep new readers laughing and turning pages. (Graphic early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4341-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
A visual and emotional symphony.
A tiger, with some unusual help, fights off a nightmare.
Tiger’s parents don’t quite believe that the reason she carries extra curry or tacos from the supper table to her bedroom is because she has a monster under her bed, but it’s true. Monster was supposed to scare her long ago, but instead they play together nightly. Then, while Tiger sleeps, Monster scares away Tiger’s horned, multieyed, centipedelike nightmares—until a nightmare with a long-jawed white skull and a changeable, smoky body arrives. It conquers Monster and reaches Tiger. From now on, Tiger and Monster must work together. The plans they implement are brilliant and brave, and their hard-won victory (it takes a few tries) couldn’t be more triumphant, relieving, or empowering. Compositions range from full-bleed spreads to pages holding multiple sequential panels. Using watercolors and pencils, Tetri creates one color-world of inky blues (Monster; nighttime) and another of oranges and yellows (Tiger; daytime). The meanings of each color-world hold nuance and complexity: The nightmares are of the blue world, but so are coziness and small, dear Monster; Tiger’s victory explodes with warm colors like dawn, but she could only achieve it at night. Rich details enhance the setting inconspicuously: Tiger’s parents, also tigers, run a repair shop for flying cars; one parent is Dad while the other is of undesignated gender.
A visual and emotional symphony. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62672-535-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
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