A gloriously funny and feel-good take on Halloween from a wildly popular series.
The power of friendship helps Jelly manage Halloween anxiety.
In this eighth volume of the radiantly upbeat buddy series, Narwhal is excited about Halloween and happily ponders what costume to choose. Best friend Jelly is more apprehensive, telling Narwhal, “I don’t like all the scary stuff.” Despite Jelly’s plainly vocalized fears, Narwhal charges ahead, eager to find the perfect look. Having had enough, Jelly decides to lie low until Halloween is over. When Turtle and Shelly swim up frantically, announcing that a hungry monster is close, Jelly worries about Narwhal’s safety and rallies a group for a search. With friends close, Jelly channels Narwhal’s positive energy and can-do optimism in hopes of saving the day. Clanton’s latest is abundantly fun and sweet, reminding readers that Halloween scares may not suit everyone but that everyone has the capacity for bravery. Those who may not embrace all the spooktacular scares of Halloween will appreciate Jelly’s worries and subsequent coping strategies. Like earlier series titles, which contained facts and stories between chapters, this offering features tidbits about real-life creepy undersea life and a further installment of Super Waffle and Strawberry Sidekick. Clanton’s energetic, childlike art is delightful as always. Narwhal and Jelly’s adventure is an easy crowd pleaser that will keep pages turning to a satisfying conclusion.
A gloriously funny and feel-good take on Halloween from a wildly popular series. (Graphic fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780735266742
Page Count: 76
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
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