by James Kochalka ; illustrated by James Kochalka ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 5, 2021
Over-the-top goofiness guarantees abundant giggles.
A ditzy detective must stop a more-silly-than-sinister society.
Banana Fox, the world-renowned lemon-hued vulpine detective, now works at the Smoothie Shack making his favorite smoothies (banana, natch). One day, a girl Banana Fox nicknames Flashlight (for the cherry-red one she carries) convinces him to once again take up sleuthing. The two meet William, who happens to be the vice president of the Banana Fox Fan Club but more importantly is missing his beloved turtle, Tur-Tur. William loves to drink Super Sour Soda, which tips off Flashlight that the nefarious villains Sour Grapes Jr. (a green fox) and the Sour Apple Gang (you guessed it: green apples) may have infiltrated William’s club. As Flashlight tries to convince the oblivious Banana Fox of the mounting sour clues, Sour Grapes Jr.’s comically dastardly jiggery-pokery is revealed through rampantly zany escapades including flushing toilets, giant turtles, and banana bikes. Kochalka’s graphic series opener positively vibrates off the page with its large illustrations colored in an eye-popping spectrum of pinks, greens, and yellows coupled with ballooning visual gags. If this sounds like a lot of whimsical nonsense bordering on a fever dream, it is. However, those familiar with Kochalka’s trademark tomfoolery should certainly be at home here, where silliness eclipses plot. Flashlight and William are both human; she has brown skin and puffy orange hair, and he presents White.
Over-the-top goofiness guarantees abundant giggles. (Graphic humor. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-66049-4
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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by Gilbert Ford ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2020
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit.
Eleven-year-old Maria Russo helps her charlatan mother hoodwink customers, but Maria has a spirited secret.
Maria’s mother, the psychic Madame Destine, cons widows out of their valuables with the assistance of their apartment building’s super, Mr. Fox. Madame Destine home-schools Maria, and because Destine is afraid of unwanted attention, she forbids Maria from talking to others. Maria is allowed to go to the library, where new librarian Ms. Madigan takes an interest in Maria that may cause her trouble. Meanwhile, Sebastian, Maria’s new upstairs neighbor, would like to be friends. All this interaction makes it hard for Maria to keep her secret: that she is visited by Edward, a spirit who tells her the actual secrets of Madame Destine’s clients via spirit writing. When Edward urges Maria to help Mrs. Fisher, Madame Destine’s most recent mark, Maria must overcome her shyness and her fear of her mother—helping Mrs. Fisher may be the key to the mysterious past Maria uncovers and a brighter future. Alas, picture-book–creator Ford’s middle-grade debut is a muddled, melodramatic mystery with something of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feel: In addition to the premise, there’s a tragically dead father, a mysterious family tree, and the Beat poets. Sluggish pacing; stilted, unrealistic dialogue; cartoonishly stock characters; and unattractive, flat illustrations make this one to miss. Maria and Sebastian are both depicted with brown skin, hers lighter than his; the other principals appear to be white.
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit. (author’s note) (Paranormal mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20567-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
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by John Patrick Green ; illustrated by John Patrick Green ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 25, 2020
Silly and inventive fast-paced fun
Awards & Accolades
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New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
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
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