If ever there was a god of fun, here he is…no mythtake. .
The goat-footed god of “noise and confusion” (also herds and herders) offers up giddy versions of his best known pranks and exploits.
Starting from ancient sources but embellishing them considerably, Gerstein sends his irrepressible narrator bounding through cartoon scenes of his own birth to Hermes and an unnamed mother—both golden-haired—and early stay atop Mount Olympus. Quickly wearing out his welcome there, Pan settles in rustic Arcadia, where, in a rare moment of irritation sparked by an ant’s sneeze, he invents “panic” with a bellow that extends in electric colors over three full pages. He then goes on to marry Echo after several false starts, help Zeus settle the monster Typhon, lose a music battle to Apollo, help the Greeks win at Marathon, and fake everyone by announcing his own death. Along with making Typhon female, lining up the retired gods in modern dress for a family photo “somewhere in Greece—or is it Canada?” and other tweaks, the author tucks in the story of how Apollo changed King Midas’ ears to those of a jackass (“a mean trick, but it sure was funny”) and closes with a final frazzling “YEEEAAAHOOOO!” from the hairy trickster in an unidentified city park.
If ever there was a god of fun, here he is…no mythtake. . (afterword, bibliography) (Picture book/mythology. 7-11)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62672-035-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that...
Antics both instructive and embarrassing ensue after a mysterious package left on their doorstep brings a Founding Father into the lives of two modern children.
Summoned somehow by what looks for all the world like an old-time crystal radio set, Ben Franklin turns out to be an amiable sort. He is immediately taken in hand by 7-year-old Olive for a tour of modern wonders—early versions of which many, from electrical appliances in the kitchen to the Illinois town’s public library and fire department, he justly lays claim to inventing. Meanwhile big brother Nolan, 10, tags along, frantic to return him to his own era before either their divorced mom or snoopy classmate Tommy Tuttle sees him. Fleming, author of Ben Franklin’s Almanac (2003) (and also, not uncoincidentally considering the final scene of this outing, Our Eleanor, 2005), mixes history with humor as the great man dispenses aphorisms and reminiscences through diverse misadventures, all of which end well, before vanishing at last. Following a closing, sequel-cueing kicker (see above) she then separates facts from fancies in closing notes, with print and online leads to more of the former. To go with spot illustrations of the evidently all-white cast throughout the narrative, Fearing incorporates change-of-pace sets of sequential panels for Franklin’s biographical and scientific anecdotes. Final illustrations not seen.
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that adds flavor without weight. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93406-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
Fantasy training wheels for chapter-book readers.
Elliot’s first day of school turns out to be more than he bargained for.
Elliot Eisner—skinny and pale with curly brown hair—is a bit nervous about being the new kid. Thankfully, he hits it off with fellow new student, “punk rock”–looking Uchenna Devereaux, a black girl with twists (though they actually look like dreads in Aly’s illustrations). On a first-day field trip to New Jersey’s Pine Barrens, the pair investigates a noise in the trees. The cause? A Jersey Devil: a blue-furred, red-bellied and -winged mythical creature that looks like “a tiny dragon” with cloven hooves, like a deer’s, on its hind feet. Unwittingly, the duo bonds with the creature by feeding it, and it later follows them back to the bus. Unsurprisingly, they lose the creature (which they alternately nickname Jersey and Bonechewer), which forces them to go to their intimidating, decidedly odd teacher, Peruvian Professor Fauna, for help in recovering it. The book closes with Professor Fauna revealing the truth—he heads a secret organization committed to protecting mythical creatures—and inviting the children to join, a neat setup for what is obviously intended to be a series. The predictable plot is geared to newly independent readers who are not yet ready for the usual heft of contemporary fantasies. A brief history lesson given by a mixed-race associate of Fauna’s in which she compares herself to the American “melting pot” manages to come across as simultaneously corrective and appropriative.
Fantasy training wheels for chapter-book readers. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-3170-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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