This whodunit is terribly entertaining, guaranteed to engage readers till the very end.
“Wait!” the story starts, as the unnamed narrator/protagonist—personified as a kid in a bow tie and shorts—explains that someone has stolen the book’s Chapter Two.
Willing to pay any price to get the chapter back—because the book would not be complete otherwise—the narrator/protagonist enlists readers’ help, asking them to contact Detective McGarrigan. True to the narrator/protagonist’s word, the second chapter of the book is missing; readers get a glimpse of faded black type, as if the chapter has been wiped off the page. Turning the page reveals the beginning of Chapter 3, where Milo, the book’s janitor, is in the middle of a diatribe, asking the narrator/protagonist to apologize to him. When the narrator/protagonist refuses, Milo plays with the punctuation on the page and then leaves, grumbling about how no one respects a book’s janitor even though he’s the one who keeps the book clean so it can be read. Enter Detective McGarrigan, an extremely clueless middle-aged woman who tends to misunderstand information and miss clues that are right under her nose. Cue the hilarity as the narrator/protagonist and Detective McGarrigan bumble through wordplay and metatextual references as they try to solve the mystery of the missing chapter. Lieb’s capricious storytelling combines with Cornell’s bold, minimalist cartoons, done in black, white, and saffron, to result in a tale that is at once clever and uproariously funny.
This whodunit is terribly entertaining, guaranteed to engage readers till the very end. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3548-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Most children will agree the book is “smafunderful (smart + fun + wonderful).” (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)
In this entertaining chapter book, the first in a series, readers meet kind Sir Sidney and the gentle performers and hands in his circus. But Sir Sidney is tired and leaves the circus under the management of new-hire Barnabas Brambles for a week.
That Sir Sidney is beloved by all is quickly established, presenting a sharp contrast to the bully Brambles. The scoundrel immediately comes up with a “to do” list that includes selling the animals and eliminating the mice Bert and Gert. (Gert is almost more distressed by Brambles’ ill-fitting suit and vows to tailor it.) Revealed almost entirely through dialogue, the put-upon animals’ solidarity is endearing. The story, like the circus train now driven by the Famous Flying Banana Brothers, takes absurd loops and turns. The art is fully integrated, illustrating the action and supplementing the text with speech bubbles, facsimile letters and posters, Brambles’ profit-and-loss notes, examples of Gert’s invented vocabulary and more. Brambles’ plans go awry, of course, and he gets his comeuppance. With Bert and Gert acting as his conscience, along with a suit from Gert that finally fits and a dose of forgiveness, Brambles makes a turnaround. Sensitive children may doubt Sir Sidney’s wisdom in leaving his animals with an unscrupulous man, and the closing message is a tad didactic, but that doesn’t blunt the fun too much.
Most children will agree the book is “smafunderful (smart + fun + wonderful).” (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-61620-244-6
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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