A popcorn bucket of a book, full of flavor if not substance.
A spooky summer fueled by popsicle pancakes.
Wendell, ironically nicknamed Waffles by his mom for his love of pancakes, shares the tale of a summer spent at his grandfather’s house in Shriekport, Maine. Grandpa worked doing special effects on all kinds of horror movies back in the day, leading to a bond with his fanboy grandson. Waffles is helping Grandpa clean out his memorabilia-filled basement along with Tanya, a girl his age who is working to repay a window she broke. Beasties from Grandpa’s movie career, including zombie squirrels; Glaarg, a rampaging giant lizard; and their ringleader, a vampire clown named Count Wackula, come to life and antagonize the three of them. A resurrected mummy who dubs himself Mummy Man and a turtle sidekick named Frank arrive to help. The story, propelled by one narrow, lighthearted escape from danger after another, has frequent illustrations as well as pop-up boxes with trivia about the movies Grandpa worked on. Mummy Man does most of the fighting, though Frank the turtle participates and even steals the show a number of times. The invented movie trivia and menagerie of horror-inspired creatures are the rewards for following Waffles and Tanya’s wacky adventures; character development comes second to spectacle and humor. The human cast appears to be White. Final art not seen.
A popcorn bucket of a book, full of flavor if not substance. (recipe, movie list) (Humor. 8-11)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780063254848
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Epic lunacy.
Will extragalactic rats eat the moon?
Can a cybernetic toenail clipper find a worthy purpose in the vast universe? Will the first feline astronaut ever get a slice of pizza? Read on. Reworked from the Live Cartoon series of homespun video shorts released on Instagram in 2020 but retaining that “we’re making this up as we go” quality, the episodic tale begins with the electrifying discovery that our moon is being nibbled away. Off blast one strong, silent, furry hero—“Meow”—and a stowaway robot to our nearest celestial neighbor to hook up with the imperious Queen of the Moon and head toward the dark side, past challenges from pirates on the Sea of Tranquility and a sphinx with a riddle (“It weighs a ton, but floats on air. / It’s bald but has a lot of hair.” The answer? “Meow”). They endure multiple close but frustratingly glancing encounters with pizza and finally deliver the malign, multiheaded Rat King and its toothy armies to a suitable fate. Cue the massive pizza party! Aside from one pirate captain and a general back on Earth, the human and humanoid cast in Harris’ loosely drawn cartoon panels, from the appropriately moon-faced queen on, is light skinned. Merch, music, and the original episodes are available on an associated website.
Epic lunacy. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308408-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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