For devotees of Asterix and perhaps Tintin, but not for everyone.
Otto’s in Hollywood, but he doesn’t care about stardom; he wants his best friend, Georgie.
Otto the peanut-allergic elephant has traversed Africa and North America looking for his childhood friend Georgie the chimp with the help of Crackers the parrot. Animal talent agent Rupert Galloway has brought Otto and Crackers to California with the assurance that he will help them find their lost friend. What he actually does is try to get Otto a job making commercials. But Galloway’s agency isn’t the only animal agency in town; though he hasn’t been totally honest with naïve Otto, Galloway is nowhere near as bad as the competition. Nefarious forces at rival agency Furry Paws are set on kidnapping Otto and any other elephant they can find. Enter the Elephant Liberation Front; when E.L.F. springs Otto from a commercial shoot, it mostly serves to confuse him and delay his hunt for Georgie, who is in town. Will his simian search end in satisfaction? The visual high jinks and slapstick in Otto’s third adventure (Big Top Otto, 2013, etc.) are still enjoyable, but this tale’s a bit convoluted. Jokes about Hannibal Lecter, Graceland and jumping on Oprah’s couch, among others, will zoom over nearly all young readers. However, the conclusion of Otto’s devoted search for his friend will please his fans.
For devotees of Asterix and perhaps Tintin, but not for everyone. (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-894786-96-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
This humorous and heartwarming glimpse into an immigrant family’s experiences entertains and educates.
Being a first-generation American makes school more challenging for a plucky tween boy.
Ming Lee faces middle school with his usual bowl haircut (administered by his mom), the embarrassment of thrift store shopping for back-to-school clothing, and a fervent wish to just get through it all unnoticed. His other deep desire is a pair of Air Elevates sneakers—much too costly for his extremely frugal Chinese-immigrant parents to ever buy him. After initially being assigned to an ESL class (even though English is his first and only language), Ming is placed in Honors English. He makes two new friends, Vikrum (who’s cued Indian) and Marcus (who’s Black). The trio support each other through Halloween hilarity, Ming’s crush, basketball mishaps, and school candy sales turf wars. But the real test of friendship comes when Ming, in a desperate move after his sneaker fund is stolen, involves his buddies in a bungled shoplifting attempt. In the aftermath, Ming learns about the power of family, religion, friends, and self-acceptance. His parents, grappling with their own tribulations around finances, racism, and familial duty, gain insight into Ming’s situation, improving their family bonds. In this graphic novel inspired by the author’s life, Chung inserts humor and love beside moments of pain and frustration in a way that meshes stylistically with the straightforward dialogue and clean, simple drawings.
This humorous and heartwarming glimpse into an immigrant family’s experiences entertains and educates. (author’s note, how to make a graphic novel) (Graphic fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781250887306
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
A gently illustrated text that will appeal to die-hard completists.
The World’s Finest answer emails from middle schoolers.
Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Aquaman, and more correspond with their fans in this middle-grade graphic novel, multiple vignettes hanging on the throughline of heroes answering fan mail. Some are silly while others are a bit more weighty; all are illustrated amicably by Duarte. There’s a hazy, muted quality to the colors that ground the Justice League and their foes in an approximation of the real world. This grounding compliments the novel well: The transition from Arthur “Aquaman” Curry’s thwarting Black Manta to chatting with his fish and typing away at a laptop would be jarring without this unified color palette. Unfortunately, the coloring’s flatness chips away at the book’s pacing, and the text gets a bit repetitive after a while. It’s all well and good for kids to see bits of themselves in their favorite heroes, but when that’s the book’s only move it gets old quickly. Even at a slim 132 pages, the novel feels overlong. Young fans of the DC characters will be attracted to the cover, but there’s little here to keep them engaged, and few will rank this as a favorite. There’s little exposition regarding the heroes’ background, so those unfamiliar with the characters will feel as though they’re on the outside looking in.
A gently illustrated text that will appeal to die-hard completists. (Graphic fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8413-8
Page Count: 136
Publisher: DC Zoom
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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