A cute ode to pizza and human ingenuity.
Alien Nate’s mission to bring pizza to the Vegans is threatened by men in beige suits.
Alien Nate hails from planet Vega, where everyone is named Nate because the planet’s technological advances have dulled all the Nates’ imaginations. This hasn’t proven to be a problem until the Vegans intercept Voyager I, sent from Earth with information about our civilization and…a pizza. Without the tools or the creativity to make their own pies, the Vegans send Nate on an expedition to Earth, his mission to gain more of the delicious food. When Nate is shipwrecked on arrival in a snowy region of North America, he encounters Fazel, a brown-skinned immigrant boy who protects him from the men in beige suits and teaches him the ways of Earth and pizza. While tasting all the food he can get and experiencing different toppings on pizza—the pineapple-on-pizza debate is tackled—Nate enlists the help of Fazel and friends to fix his spaceship and bring the secret of the ’za back to Vega. Whamond fills the book’s pages with expressive illustrations and absurd and comical questions and observations about the human experience as seen through the eyes of an alien—one who loves not just pizza, but also the humans who create the pizza, including all the noises (both voluntary and un-) that leak from them.
A cute ode to pizza and human ingenuity. (Graphic science fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0209-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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