After successfully delivering a pizza to himself in The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza (2014), the Glorkian Warrior and...
Silliness reigns supreme as the Glorkian Warrior finds himself on another goofy illustrated adventure that revolves around food and fart jokes.
After successfully delivering a pizza to himself in The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza (2014), the Glorkian Warrior and his trusty, sunshine-hued companion, Super Backpack, are back, battling a pie-factory–destroying, candy-colored space snake only to be beaten to the kill by a rival warrior, the daffily nefarious Buster Glark, who has a freeze-ray–shooting backpack. The Glorkian Warrior returns home to lick his wounds, rearrange his furniture and recharge Backpack. There, they are greeted by Gonk, a salmon-colored minidoppelganger of the Glorkian Warrior, and the lime-green Baby Alien. When the group finally realizes that the Baby Alien has been sucking out the Warrior's brains (readers will be way ahead of them, thanks to the “suck suck” sound effects), they must help revive him with energy crackers—which are promptly stolen by Buster Glark. Madcap whimsy runs rampant, and jokes about nothing, everything and flatulence abound against a vibrantly colored backdrop that would make even Willy Wonka's eyes hurt. Kochalka's intensely zippy and quirky humor never misses a beat and rolls fluidly from one wisecrack to another; maybe this isn't everyone's brand of comedy, but for those readers who enjoy silly for silly's sake, this will surely delight.Pub Date: March 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62672-133-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
Two delightfully dense heroes bring folk tales into the 21st century, and young readers are all the richer for it.
Two thickheaded macaroni noodles prove the old adage: a fool and his firewood are soon parted.
Fools have been called “noodleheads” for centuries, but until recently few have represented the term quite so literally. Mac and Mac aren’t the brightest pieces of pasta in the world, but their hearts are in the right place. Here, the two decide to help their mama out by gathering firewood in hopes that she’ll bake them a cake. As they are attempting to cut the very branch they’re sitting on, a passing meatball points out that they are mere minutes away from bruised bottoms. When his words come to pass, our heroes decide the meatball is clairvoyant and demand to know their future. Drawing on and smoothly weaving together a variety of folk tales, the brief graphic novel describes how its obtuse protagonists single-mindedly seek cake, even as they anticipate death, purchase “firewood seeds” (aka acorns), and accidentally dig their mother a garden. Emergent readers will appreciate the simple text, short chapters, and comics-inspired paneled illustrations. Adults will appreciate the authors’ note, which goes into some detail about each chapter’s folk origins.
Two delightfully dense heroes bring folk tales into the 21st century, and young readers are all the richer for it. (Graphic early reader. 5-9)Pub Date: March 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3673-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
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