Totally coo! (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 8-12)
When crime rears its ugly head, who better than pigeons to have on your side?
Rock Pigeon loves nature and dressing up—as other birds, animals, even vegetation. He’s a master of disguise, and that’s why Grandpouter Pigeon flies from the city to the farm where Rock lives to recruit him to join a crime-fighting pigeon team. Rock Pigeon joins Tumbler, Homing, and Frillback, pigeons who each have their own special talent to apply to their first case: Where have all the breadcrumbs in the park gone?! The crime fighters stage a stakeout. Rock disguises himself as a bag of chips. Frillback uses super strength to create a pile of acorns to hide in. Tumbler’s ultraflexibility makes hiding in a crack easy, and Homing…well, Homing takes a nap. Eventually they realize there are no animals or, more importantly from the breadcrumb standpoint, humans in the park. Though the humans are still buying bread at a nearby bakery, both humans and animals think the park may be haunted. What haunts the park? It’s terrifying (and foolish). This series opener from an Australian author-and-illustrator team (three others are already out Down Under) is a goofball farce, Wood’s line drawings visually amping up the slapstick. Following the breadcrumbs mystery, this episodic volume offers two other cases for the crime-busting birdies, and young readers will make quick work of them all.
Totally coo! (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11942-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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
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