A wonderfully wacky series of unpredictable events.
Break-dancing wildlife take a talking sandwich hostage.
Pursued by “psycho squirrels,” Marco and his older sister, Julia (both brown-skinned), barely make it inside their house. Marco decides to make one of his “best in the world” sandwiches for his skeptical sister (“A sandwich is a sandwich”), who goes to the backyard to read. As his dog, Poofypants, looks on, Marco makes “sandwich magic” from standard ingredients and secret sauce. Just then, the squirrels come in through the window in an attempt to steal the sandwich. Poofy chases them away, and suddenly Marco discovers that the sandwich talks, thanks, it seems to Marco’s even greater-than-boasted-of culinary prowess. Sandwich is also a bit boastful, rattling off a string of vaguely sandwich-related vocabulary words (“Charcuterie. That’s like wood with meat and cheese on it”). Sandwich can also sing and, it turns out, understand squirrel-speak. A sandwichnapping soon ensues, followed by the promised “battle”—a dance-off between the boombox-toting squirrels and Marco and Poofy. Wiseman conveys some impressive dance moves in the frenetic cartoon illustrations. The book balances randomness, like a squirrel guard sporting a Viking helmet, with realism, like Julia’s exasperation at Marco, adding to this comic’s absurd charm.
. A wonderfully wacky series of unpredictable events. (Graphic fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780063236233
Page Count: 64
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
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
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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