Juicy, joyful, and just right for reading aloud, too.
A new gathering of hazards and cautions in rollicking verse from the author of Hatful of Dragons (2020).
A dragon smart enough to see through a knight’s “I DO NOT seek your gold!” might seem fearful enough. But Madan’s collection of poetry, presented in comics format, features plenty of formidable characters, from the boneless “Squishosaurs” (“We glide across the countryside / And in our viscous wake, / The T. Rexes trudge terrified, / Velociraptors quake!”) to a young witch with a lucrative line of ghost pets. Perhaps worst of all is the Nozzlewock, which writhes its way into several poems to suck up the unwary with its prodigious proboscis: “Beware the Nozzlewock, my child! / The nose with super-vacuum strength!” Sharp-eyed readers will find further visual links between various poems, as when a janitor’s “Little Oopsie” in a secret laboratory that “messed up time and space” goes on to turn a young explorer into a flaming “super-gal.” In varied but consistently tight verses accompanying expressive cartoon images depicting a diverse cast, Madan also trots in other memorable fancies, from a theatrical chorus line of grown-ups singing away a beleaguered child’s “Bad-Luck Bogeys” to a mummy happily joining a zombie rock band called the Rolling Moans, on the way to a gloriously glutinous finale in which a group of intrepid children tickle the Nozzlewock into a mighty sneeze of its own.
Juicy, joyful, and just right for reading aloud, too. (Graphic poetry. 6-10)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781635928174
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Wordsong/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 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
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Two delightfully dense heroes bring folk tales into the 21st century, and young readers are all the richer for it.
Two thickheaded macaroni noodles prove the old adage: a fool and his firewood are soon parted.
Fools have been called “noodleheads” for centuries, but until recently few have represented the term quite so literally. Mac and Mac aren’t the brightest pieces of pasta in the world, but their hearts are in the right place. Here, the two decide to help their mama out by gathering firewood in hopes that she’ll bake them a cake. As they are attempting to cut the very branch they’re sitting on, a passing meatball points out that they are mere minutes away from bruised bottoms. When his words come to pass, our heroes decide the meatball is clairvoyant and demand to know their future. Drawing on and smoothly weaving together a variety of folk tales, the brief graphic novel describes how its obtuse protagonists single-mindedly seek cake, even as they anticipate death, purchase “firewood seeds” (aka acorns), and accidentally dig their mother a garden. Emergent readers will appreciate the simple text, short chapters, and comics-inspired paneled illustrations. Adults will appreciate the authors’ note, which goes into some detail about each chapter’s folk origins.
Two delightfully dense heroes bring folk tales into the 21st century, and young readers are all the richer for it. (Graphic early reader. 5-9)Pub Date: March 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3673-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
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