CAVEBOY DAVE

A 12-year-old is named the ruler of his prehistoric village.

Following Caveboy Dave: More Scrawny than Brawny (2016), caveboy Dave Unga-Bunga returns after surviving losing an ear. When a tall rock formation near his village crashes, he spies suspicious-looking smoke billowing on the horizon. Dave immediately runs to inform the sage Shaman Faboo but discovers him missing. Due to his knack for cooking up inventions and assertive decision-making, Dave is named Faboo’s successor and is assigned his best friend, Rockie, and his father as advisers. However, Dave is less than thrilled at having to share his newfound authority; will he be able to listen to others and work as a team? McAndrew’s illustrations are comical although stylized to the point of oddness. Many of the characters are rendered with oversized features and perilously thin appendages; Dave, for example, has a disproportionate, elliptically shaped head precariously balanced on a pencil-thin neck. Such easily accessible themes as the importance of teamwork, dealing with loss, and the power of friendship wind through a tale distinguished by fast pacing and an abundance of knee-slapping middle-grade humor. Even though this is a second volume, plotting is self-contained enough to make this fine as a stand-alone. Main character Dave is white; he has only one ear (lost in the previous installment) but has seemingly no hearing impairment. Best friend Rockie has dark skin.

Silly