Guaranteed to make readers feel like they’ve woken up on the right side of the bed.
The Knight and Edward find their kingdom besieged by sleeping ogres—what should they do?
On a day seemingly like any other, the Knight and steed Edward (who’s shaped like a kidney bean) discover that giant, sleeping ogres are right outside their castle (and using sheep as pillows!). The Knight immediately alerts the king, who sends the headstrong protagonist on a noble quest: to help the garden gnomes pick and transport vegetables, then to peel a veritable mountain of potatoes and carrots. The Knight, ready for battle, quickly learns that the king has another, gentler tactic to deal with the cranky giants. This third installment in the Adventures in Cartooning Jr. series keeps a lively pace with its predecessors, missing nary a step and employing the same clean lines, oversized panels, and deceptively simple plotting. The Knight is always ready to act first and think later, but as ever, is slowed down by an outside force and made to re-examine the situation at hand. Endpapers provide instructions to draw the Knight and Edward as well as the newly introduced characters of the gnomes and the ogres, including such tongue-in-cheek flourishes as an Elvis ogre or “struttin’ ” gnome. The Knight’s helmet never comes off, allowing readers to imagine the character however they choose; all the other humanoid characters are depicted with a diverse variety of skin tones.
Guaranteed to make readers feel like they’ve woken up on the right side of the bed. (Graphic early reader. 4-7)Pub Date: July 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59643-653-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Comprehension sacrificed in the name of goofiness.
An epic quest to save the day begins with an unlikely hero.
A folded paper fortune teller game discovers that she’s been abandoned on the school playground before anyone got a chance to use her. After she meets up with a partially eaten chip named (you guessed it) Chip, the two set off to return an errant bolt to a slide’s ladder. Along the way, they encounter various foes—a squirrel, a basketball, a cloud—each of whom is defeated as Forty tells them a ridiculous fortune (“Your bottom will turn into balloons and you will float away!”) that inexplicably becomes true. By the end, it’s clear that “Forty” doesn’t stand for “Fortune Teller” but for “Fortitude,” and the tale concludes with a tacked-on message about how everyone can write their own fortunes. Frankly, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Throughout, Daywalt throws a wide variety of ideas onto the page with only the most tenuous strings of connection keeping the story together. Thematically, the book resembles his The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors (2017), illustrated by Adam Rex, yet it lacks that work’s cohesive and comprehensible storytelling, raising more questions than it answers. Cornell’s lively, comic book–style art tries in vain to wrestle Daywalt’s writing into some semblance of order.
Comprehension sacrificed in the name of goofiness. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780593691465
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Powered by whimsy and nostalgia, a doggone adorable tale of superheroes transforming the world for the better.
Can flying puppies, fueled by people’s hugs, save the world from gloom?
Light-skinned Snarly McBummerpants is busy sending out Mopey Smokes (evil-looking dark brown clouds) from his volcano on the Island of Woe to create a sad state of affairs. But the caped puppies, each equipped with a rocket and hailing from “the outer reaches of NOT-FROM-HERE,” use their abilities to conquer the morose McBummerpants and bring happiness back to everyone’s lives. The meticulously detailed illustrations carry the story, dark colors turning to rainbow hues and frowns turning to smiles. From Big Brad to Tiny Brad, the smallest, most powerful puppy, who “[licks] a kiss right on the tip of Snarly McBummerpants’s nose,” these absolutely endearing pooches elicit a universal “AWWWWWWWWWW!” from all who encounter them. Joyce’s witty illustrations depict diverse children and adults who appear to hail from different decades. Two teenagers wear the bobby socks and saddle shoes of the 1940s and ’50s and sit atop a retro soda cooler. Other kids ride the skateboards of a later era. Laurel and Hardy, classic movie performers who may need introduction, are amusingly pictured as bullies turned florists (a little odd, since only Hardy bullied Laurel). Even McBummerpants seems reminiscent of an old-time movie villain. The text is less inventive than the pictures, but the message of good over evil is always timely.
Powered by whimsy and nostalgia, a doggone adorable tale of superheroes transforming the world for the better. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781665961332
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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