COMICS SQUAD

An all-star comics anthology tackles everyone’s favorite subject: recess.

Comics veterans and masters celebrate recess with favorite characters from Babymouse to Lunch Lady as well as stories from such acclaimed creators as Printz winner Gene Luen Yang and Eisner winner Raina Telgemeier. In Yang’s ebullient “The Super-Secret Ninja Club,” nerdy Daryl turns the tables on his friends when he immerses himself in the way of the ninja. In Eric Wight’s imaginative “Freeze Tag,” a lovable cupcake named Jiminy Sprinkles takes on the Mean Green Gang (consisting of a cucumber, broccoli, a green bean, a green pepper and their leader, a brussels sprout) for a game of freeze tag aided by some superpowers and a peppermint candy. Captain Underpants’ creator Dav Pilkey amuses with his “Book ’Em, Dog Man,” a story within a story about an evil cat determined to dumb down the world by destroying all books. Fans of Krosoczka’s Lunch Lady series will delight in seeing Betty as the star of her own story, in which she must take down a perilous pizza monster. Anthologies can sometimes suffer from unevenness, when some pieces seem to be more filler than substance; this lively, upbeat and all-around-awesome offering is consistently convivial and laugh-out-loud funny from cover to cover.

More fun than the playground at recess! (Graphic anthology. 7-12)