A lovely, gentle fantasy.
A young child accustomed to Tea Dragons discovers a real one in this companion story to The Tea Dragon Society (2017).
In the mountain village of Silverleaf, there is a festival dedicated to the Tea Dragons that live among the villagers. Everyone cares for the diminutive creatures and shares the tea they provide. One day Rinn comes across a real dragon asleep in the woods. Waking, Aedhan shifts into humanoid form and explains he was tasked with protecting Silverleaf but fell asleep for 80 years. Rinn decides to cheer up the chagrined Aedhan by introducing him to the villagers and the work they do. While visiting Silverleaf, Rinn’s uncle Erik and his antlered bounty-hunting partner, Hesekiel, seek out the mysterious mythical creature that caused Aedhan’s deep sleep. As preparations for the Tea Dragon Festival continue, Aedhan helps Rinn discover their role in the community while in return Rinn helps him make up for lost time. Erik and Hesekiel are familiar characters, reintroduced here at a different time of their lives. O’Neill has once again created a diverse set of characters of varying appearances, abilities, skin colors, orientations, and gender identities—Rinn is non-binary. Silverleaf embodies the word community: beings working together in harmony, using one another’s strengths to help and support one another. True to her characteristic style, the charming, full-color panels bring to life this feel-good middle-grade tale of community and purpose.
A lovely, gentle fantasy. (Graphic fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62010-655-6
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Oni Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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