MUNGO AND THE SPIDERS FROM SPACE
by Timothy Knapman and illustrated by Adam Stower
Mungo is obsessed with outer space. His bedspread’s covered with spaceships, and even his teddy bear looks ready for blast-off. His mom knows her son will love the tattered comic book she found at a garage sale—Galacticus and Gizmo Save the Universe!—and she’s right. Oversized, colorful, action-packed pages reveal Captain Galacticus and his cute she-robot Gizmo “taking the GNASHING, SLASHING GOBBLEBEAST to space prison for eating two galaxies and a Mars.” Just as a gigantic robot spider begins tickling the Captain, Mungo and his mother discover the book’s last page is missing! Fortunately, a rocket ship transports the boy into the adventure and predictably, Mungo saves the day. Stower’s wild, comical illustrations are fun and artfully rendered, but the various hard-to-read typefaces are more dizzying than playfully chaotic. Indeed, the ingredients of an outrageous space fantasy are all here in this lively British import, along with a Captain Underpants sensibility (think ass-teroid jokes), but the superficially zesty story and dialogue seem stale. Ardent fans of gigantic robot spiders may not mind. (Picture book. 5-8)