Glides along on a warm current of affirmation that princesses, despite their differences, are united in a love of adventure.
When sharks gather for a party, two finny princesses put on the “sharkle.”
Actually, extroverted mako shark Mack has to drag his reluctant larger friend, krill-eating whale shark Kitana, to the big bash, as crowds make her nervous. But the roles switch when delivering a tardy invitation to a certain deep-sea shark means diving into strange, dark waters: “We’re princesses,” she reminds her timorous bestie with a wink, “and we love adventure!” Down they go, to discover and exclaim over the sea bottom’s bioluminescent residents and meet Adrina, a friendly but solitary ninja lanternshark who turns out to be even less of a party animal than Kitana. Keeping things buoyant, Chanani tucks jokes about peeing in the ocean into this sequel to Shark Princess (2022) along with meaningful exchanges about different preferences when it comes to being alone or with others. She also positively packs many of her neatly drawn and colored panels and full-page scenes with different species of sharks (collectively called a shiver, she notes in a closing set of shark facts and activities), all named and accurately depicted.
Glides along on a warm current of affirmation that princesses, despite their differences, are united in a love of adventure. (Graphic fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780593464649
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Taking a seat in first class aboard the graphic-novels-for-preteens train, this import features a carrot-topped lass who travels the starways with her piratical uncle Yellow Shoulders, foiling the plots of Supermuscleman, nefarious Chief Executive Dictator of the Universe. Presented in small sequential panels of brightly hued cartoon art and spacious dialogue balloons, Sardine’s adventures take her from the space prison Azkatraz to Planet Discoball (for a dance contest presided over by Empress Laser Diskette and her offspring, Prince Beejeez), from encounters with deadly, as well as thoroughly nerve-wracking, Honkfish to a deliciously violent round of “No-Child-Left-Behind-School II,” a virtual game. With nonstop action, humor geared to multiple levels of cultural awareness and the promise of more episodes to come, even readers stubbornly resisting the trendy format’s lure will find that, as Supermuscleman sneers shortly before gorily blasting his own foot, “Resistance is futile.” (Graphic novel. 7-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-59643-126-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: First Second/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2006
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