A comically charming underfox tale.
A not-too-tough fox in a henhouse comes away with more than he bargained for.
With his small stature and unimpressive growl, the Big Bad Fox doesn’t quite live up to his moniker. His attempt to accost a chicken from the nearby farm is foiled—humiliatingly—and consequently, most of the barnyard denizens see him as an annoyance, not an actual threat. Desperate, he joins forces with a wily gray wolf and steals three eggs that eventually hatch; the chicks believe that the fox is their mother. In an amusing turn of events, when the chicks discover the fox is not a chicken, they then believe themselves to also be foxes and change from docile to fierce. When the wolf comes to collect on their bargain, will the fox let his adorable and adoring brood be eaten? In a departure from the traditional sequential-storytelling form, Renner’s earth-toned line-and-wash illustrations have no panel boundaries. His economic scenes offer little in the way of background, relying instead on the characters and their antics to propel the action. This clever offering plays with identity in an appealing and humorous way: the fox isn’t ferocious, while the chickens are positively—and hilariously—bloodthirsty. Although this concept of role reversal may be well-trod, Renner handles it deftly, making the predictable feel satisfying.
A comically charming underfox tale. (Graphic fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-331-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Silly and inventive fast-paced fun
A zippy graphic-novel series opener featuring two comically bumbling reptile detectives.
As agents of SUIT (Special Undercover Investigation Team) with customized VESTs (Very Exciting Spy Technology) boasting the latest gadgetry, the bright green InvestiGators Mango and Brash receive their newest assignment. The reptilian duo must go undercover at the Batter Down bakery to find missing mustachioed Chef Gustavo and his secret recipes. Before long, the pair find themselves embroiled in a strange and busy plot with a scientist chicken, a rabid were-helicopter, an escape-artist dinosaur, and radioactive cracker dough. Despite the great number of disparate threads, Green manages to tie up most neatly, leaving just enough intrigue for subsequent adventures. Nearly every panel has a joke, including puns (“gator done!”), poop jokes, and pop-culture references (eagle-eyed older readers will certainly pick up on the 1980s song references), promising to make even the most stone-faced readers dissolve into giggles. Green’s art is as vibrant as an overturned box of crayons and as highly spirited as a Saturday-morning cartoon. Fast pacing and imaginative plotting (smattered with an explosion here, a dance number there) propel the action through a whimsical world in which a diverse cast of humans live alongside anthropomorphized reptiles and dinosaurs. With its rampant good-natured goofiness and its unrelenting fizz and pep, this feels like a sugar rush manifested as a graphic novel.
Silly and inventive fast-paced fun . (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21995-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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