COSMOE'S WIENER GETAWAY

This highly illustrated story has something for every demographic, offering robots, zombies, hot dogs, a princess, video games and wrestlers. This is not a complete list.

Even people who hate princesses might enjoy the book, thanks to snarky dialogue. Hero Cosmoe gasps, “What the butt?! What are you doing here??” “Stealing your ship, silly. I’m an evil princess. Y’know?” Princess Dagger knowingly responds. Cosmoe just wants to serve up hot dogs (his food truck is called the Neon Wiener), but he’s being chased around the galaxy by Evil Queen Dagger and her Royal Armada, who are after the princess. Within a few chapters, he’s fighting zombie space pirates. The fight scenes are the weakest parts of the book. They read like transcripts of video games: “He swings! I duck AND—WHOOSH!—The Boss Worm’s fist flies over my head. NOW! YES!” It’s hard to engage emotionally when most of the nouns and verbs are missing. But there are some terrific jokes. When Cosmoe is getting tossed around by a robot, he muses, “Now I know what underwear in a dryer feels like….” The overall effect is a little like flipping through every channel on cable TV.

The book is so frenetic that some readers will need caffeine to get through it, but in the end, that turns out to be an advantage: If a joke doesn't work, or if readers get bored, all they have to do is turn the page.