Poignant affirmation that friendships can blossom when we are brave enough to reveal our true selves.
A sheep learns that he is not alone in his fears.
Bellwether Riggweller dreams about flowers, but he lives, dances, and crafts alone, his dark cabin’s curtains closed and the door firmly shut. Although he puts on a brave face, Bellwether is terrified of the forest and its wolves. When he enters the forest to pick blackberries, his imagination runs wild, but later, in a series of ominous, nearly wordless pages, he actually faces off with a wolf before racing home safely. Still, Bellwether longs to pick berries, smell flowers, and listen to birds without becoming a wolf’s supper, so he uses his crafting skills to create a realistic wolf costume—he’ll be a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Although he does blend in with local wolves, his costume dulls the sounds of birdsong and blocks the scents of flowers, and the costume rips at the seams, is torn when he gets it caught on brambles, and provides a feast for moths just as he is preparing to join a late-night wolf gathering. Filled with anxiety, Bellwether nevertheless attends the meet-up, where his costume completely unravels, and is greeted with a few surprises, including several new friends. Illustrations in dark, rich jewel-tone colors, often set against a black background, create a folkloric look fitting for this well-written, if perhaps overly optimistic, allegory about being yourself. The last image, rendered in a lighter, softer palette, offers a promising glimpse of the future.
Poignant affirmation that friendships can blossom when we are brave enough to reveal our true selves. (Graphic novel. 6-10)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77321-720-8
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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