Fun, easy fare to help graphic-novel readers build their skills en route to more exciting fare.
Two anthropomorphic cupcakes participate in a talent show.
In their third outing—following A Fun Day at Fun Park (2021) and A Cool Day at the Pool (2022)—Sprinkles and Swirls take the bus from their bakery to a talent show at the park. Swirls signs up right away, but Sprinkles insists they don’t have a talent. Swirls encourages Sprinkles to try a few things—the two of them even help build the stage—but Sprinkles repeats that they don’t have a talent. Swirls advises, “You have talent. Just follow your heart.” Sprinkles agrees to help Swirls practice dancing and then signs up to be their dance partner. The first spread is a helpful guide on reading a graphic novel, in which Sprinkles and Swirls explain speech and thought bubbles and how panels flow. There are only one or two panels per page, and the language is simple, with short sentences and no contractions. Cutesy and high-energy and featuring simple illustrations with bright colors and lots of stars and hearts in the background, this story of one friend encouraging another is more sugar than substance, though it’s just the thing for those new to the format. Sprinkles’ body is brown, with darker brown hair/frosting resembling Afro puffs; Swirls’ body is pinkish-tan, with brighter pink hair/frosting with a cherry on top.
Fun, easy fare to help graphic-novel readers build their skills en route to more exciting fare. (Graphic early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66591-795-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
Fast and furious action guaranteed to keep new readers laughing and turning pages.
Never underestimate the chaotic fun that magic and an angry bouncing ball can create.
When Frog goes to the library, he borrows a book on magic. He then heads to a nearby park to read up on the skills necessary to becoming “a great magician.” Suddenly, a deflated yellow ball lands with a “Thud!” at his feet. Although he flexes his new magician muscles, Frog’s spells fall as flat as the ball. But when Frog shouts “Phooey!” and kicks the ball away, it inflates to become a big, angry ball. The ball begins to chase Frog, so he seeks shelter in the library—and Frog and ball turn the library’s usual calm into chaos. The cartoon chase crescendos. The ball bounces into the middle of a game of chess, interrupts a puppet show, and crashes into walls and bookcases. Staying just one bounce ahead, Frog runs, hides, grabs a ride on a book cart, and scatters books and papers as he slides across the library furniture before an alligator patron catches the ball and kicks it out the library door. But that’s not the end of the ball….Caple’s tidy panels and pastel-hued cartoons make a surprisingly effective setting for the slapstick, which should have young readers giggling. Simple sentences—often just subject and verb—with lots of repetition propel the action. Frog’s nonsense-word spells (“Poof Wiffle, Bop Bip!”) are both funny and excellent practice in phonetics. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Fast and furious action guaranteed to keep new readers laughing and turning pages. (Graphic early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4341-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
This tater trio, and worm, will keep readers laughing, singing, and cheering from the first page to the last.
One grumbly day, two mutant tater brothers vie to determine who is the greatest in the world.
It’s goofy-looking Rot Poe Tater, with an awesome unibrow and “surprisingly sturdy stick legs,” versus big brother Snot, a sleepy, upset couch potato with bedhead. Tot, their “usually super chipper” little sister, acts as the judge. The first challenge, a potato sack race with shades of “The Tortoise and the Hare,” ends in a tie. The second contest is Hot Potato Hill, where the brothers must roll down a hill after Tot. No one wins, and the third contest is a laugh-off. Rot declares he’s laughing so hard that he needs to pee his pants but then remembers he doesn’t wear pants. When Rot and Snot are laughed out, Tot is still giggling. That’s when the plot twists and twists again. The text, primarily boastful speech-bubble banter between Rot and Snot, also contains songs, cheers from an enthusiastic worm, and fun wordplay, including alliterative places names like Barrel Bottom Bog and the Moldy Mounds. Text in a smaller typeface alternates with graphic panels, keeping the action moving. Expressive potato faces make the action and emotions clear. Fans of the picture book Rot: The Cutest in the World (2016) will enjoy seeing the protagonist again; Clanton relies on the same simple yet expressive cartoon illustrations and humor.
This tater trio, and worm, will keep readers laughing, singing, and cheering from the first page to the last. (pictures of other taters who have excelled in the Hot Potato Hill challenge, facts about potatoes, lesson on how to draw Rot) (Graphic novel. 5-7)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-9318-6
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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