Another “jawsome” combination of small adventures and clear, worthy messaging.
Finny friends leap into a third round of adventures and attitude adjustments.
Mako shark Mack is proud of his surfing prowess—until slender, graceful sawshark Telo beats him out at the first Surfin’ Shark Competition, and he grumpily announces that if he can’t be the best, he’s done. Whale shark Kitana, his canny fellow “princess,” thereupon leads him to a “shark spa,” or undersea geothermal vent where the dark water’s too hot for all but other sharks. By the time Mack has used his “sharkle”—the shark sparkles that emanate from his crown—to help reunite a lost baby shark with its mama, he’s mellowed out enough to realize that surfing is too much fun to worry about being best or not (which the other sharks have been telling him all along). So, in a “fintastic” finish, he joins the whole cartilaginous cohort of contestants and spectators in acrobatically riding a collective “party wave,” before going back to chillax in the smoky “spa.” As in the previous installments, lessons on being true to oneself and supporting one’s friends are deftly layered into the humorous, lighthearted narrative. Chanani’s two leads sport crowns but, like all the species of sea life in the cartoon panels here, are otherwise drawn with reasonable fidelity to nature.
Another “jawsome” combination of small adventures and clear, worthy messaging. (“hide and sea” game, facts about sharks and geothermal vents, drawing lesson) (Graphic fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593464687
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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