OGRES AWAKE!

The Knight and Edward find their kingdom besieged by sleeping ogres—what should they do?

On a day seemingly like any other, the Knight and steed Edward (who’s shaped like a kidney bean) discover that giant, sleeping ogres are right outside their castle (and using sheep as pillows!). The Knight immediately alerts the king, who sends the headstrong protagonist on a noble quest: to help the garden gnomes pick and transport vegetables, then to peel a veritable mountain of potatoes and carrots. The Knight, ready for battle, quickly learns that the king has another, gentler tactic to deal with the cranky giants. This third installment in the Adventures in Cartooning Jr. series keeps a lively pace with its predecessors, missing nary a step and employing the same clean lines, oversized panels, and deceptively simple plotting. The Knight is always ready to act first and think later, but as ever, is slowed down by an outside force and made to re-examine the situation at hand. Endpapers provide instructions to draw the Knight and Edward as well as the newly introduced characters of the gnomes and the ogres, including such tongue-in-cheek flourishes as an Elvis ogre or “struttin’ ” gnome. The Knight’s helmet never comes off, allowing readers to imagine the character however they choose; all the other humanoid characters are depicted with a diverse variety of skin tones.

Guaranteed to make readers feel like they’ve woken up on the right side of the bed.