Zany overload with a quiet message.
A goofy warrior and his crew learn a lesson about prejudging when they land on a new planet.
The Glorkian Warrior, a bumbling blue-jumpsuited, bubble-gum–pink, three-eyed space traveler, crash-lands on a new planet after trying to steer his ship with his tongue. With his companions, Baby Gonk and Super Backpack, the doughty adventurer explores their surroundings. When the Glorkian Warrior spies a rock he believes to be wrongly colored, he deems the entire planet “bad.” Soon, Baby Gonk is separated from the Glorkian Warrior and meets baby Gloo Gloo, who has wandered away from mother Gloonda. When everyone is reunited, they happen upon a humungous egg, and once again, the Glorkian Warrior foolhardily decides it’s “evil” when it hatches. Though short and seemingly unceasingly daffy, Kochalka’s fourth Glorkian tale offers a subtle message about acceptance and how rash judgments can hurt everyone, as the Glorkian Warrior’s impulsive choices leave him with a broken ship and many bruises. With oversized panels, whimsically styled characters, and an eye-catching palette, the book should dissolve readers into giggles as they watch the wacky warrior make one comically bad decision after another. Readers are given virtually no backstory; however, the experience is much like jumping into the middle of a season of an animated show, and most readers should be able to follow the action and silliness without too many quibbles.
Zany overload with a quiet message. (Graphic fantasy/humor. 7-11)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-60309-475-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A classic sibling rivalry tale that still satisfies to the last drop.
In this graphic novel adaptation of Davies’ 2007 book, hurt feelings propel an intense business battle.
Fourth grader Evan can’t stand the thought of his brainy younger sister, Jessie, skipping a grade and joining his class this fall. Intelligent but emotionally immature, Jessie sometimes misses social cues and wishes she could be more like the gregarious Evan. These insecurities set the stage for a contest to see who can raise the most money selling lemonade this summer. Will Jessie’s book smarts beat Evan’s people skills? The beauty of this story lies in how each sibling’s strengths rub off on the other: Evan brushes up on his math, while Jessie tentatively makes a new friend. De la Vega’s polished cartoon artwork creatively translates Davies’ metaphors to a visual medium. When the author compares the “mean words inside Evan…fighting to get out” to bats, illustrations depict the furry animals emerging from beneath his shirt; Jessie’s negative thoughts take the form of a tiny purple creature irritatingly tapping her shoulder. Tender scenes depict flashbacks of the siblings supporting each other through their parents’ divorce. The book has business savvy to match the emotional beats (each chapter opens with an entrepreneurial definition that relates to the plot), and several scenes feature math problems that readers can solve for themselves. Evan and Jessie appear white; both have friends of color.
A classic sibling rivalry tale that still satisfies to the last drop. (business tips) (Graphic fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9780063310407
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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