DUCK AND CAT RIDE THE RIVERBOAT
From the I Like To Read Comics series
by Drew Panckeri ; illustrated by Drew Panckeri
In New Yorker cartoonist Panckeri’s children’s book debut, a high-seas dinner theater goes awry.
On a perfect day, when the sun is shining and the ice cream is sweet, friends Duck and Cat spot a riverboat in the harbor. At Duck’s urging, the reluctant Cat joins his pal for a dinner cruise with live music. Alas, due to illness, the cook and the performer both take off. This would be less of a problem were it not for the hungry crocodiles also aboard who are now eyeing Cat and Duck as dinner substitutes. Fortunately, creativity and quick thinking turn our intrepid heroes into the cook and theatrical entertainment everyone requires. Supremely simple art accompanies a beginner-level text that manages to get quite a bit of humor and whimsy in; both words and images have a strong James Marshall vibe. When requested to do something about the hungry crocs, the captain replies, “I am doing something. Steering this ship. This sounds more like a you problem than a me problem.” And while our heroes’ willingness to completely forgive the crocodiles is a bit implausible, as Duck points out to Cat, “You get hangry, too.”
Crackers, crocodiles, and cut-ups abound in this delightful launch of a new easy-reading series.
(Early reader/graphic fiction. 5-7)