More fun—and silliness—than a barrel of monkeys.
A gentle rabbit and his forest friends are thrown into upheaval when a mischievous monkey moves into their home.
Affable Bunny lives in a peaceful wood with his kind-but-not-too-bright friends Weenie the squirrel and Pig. One fateful day, a megalomaniacal monkey is launched Muttnik-style from a science lab to land not in space, but in Bunny's forest. Monkey, determined to take over the area and make it Monkey-topia, befriends Skunky, a brilliant skunk with a knack for creating diabolical machines. The pair employs various methods to rid the forest of its residents, including Caterpillarzilla, which eats everything in sight, a robot crocodile named Metal Steve, a plot involving a fake mustache and some dubious legal-looking documents, a terrifically spooky bat costume, and the robot cockroach. Much like many other cartoon heroes, the ever patient Bunny seems to somehow outfox all of Monkey's harebrained schemes, saving his home for yet another day. A number of small, episodic vignettes captures their antics, framing them around calendar months to add a cohesive feel to the frenetically paced narrative. Small, busy, action-filled panels deliver a nearly ceaseless barrage of high jinks, cuteness, and giggle-worthy sight gags; it all has an easy feel, similar to network cartoons. Recommend this to fans of James Kolchalka's quirky brand of humor.
More fun—and silliness—than a barrel of monkeys. (Graphic fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-86184-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Any day there’s a new Squish (or Babymouse, for that matter) is Pizza Day.
The single-celled everylad who oozed from the Babymouse series to start one of his own in Squish #1: Super Amoeba (2011) tries hanging with the cool crowd.
Squish’s efforts to turn over a new pseudopod on the first day of school look futile—until an invitation to sit at the lunch table with the six hyper-cool Algae brothers offers escape from both his nerdy moocher buddy Pod’s obsession with asteroid disaster and classmate Peggy Paramecium’s relentless optimism. He discovers the price, though, when one brother relieves him of his prized baseball cap and then orders him to dump nacho cheese all over Pod. Fortunately, Squish has beloved comic-book hero Super Amoeba to provide a moral compass. Mixing framed and unframed panels, the Holms alternate between Squish’s dilemma, illustrated with green highlights, and black and white pages from Squish’s comic, in which Super Amoeba has to make a parallel choice. In the end, both amoebae make the heroic decision. The authors tuck in some morsels of biology, end with instructions for making green slime and provide another sort-of closure for the main plot—as Peggy puts it: “Oh no! The algae just got wiped out by an Asteroid!! That’s so sad!!! Gee, I wonder if tomorrow is pizza day!”
Any day there’s a new Squish (or Babymouse, for that matter) is Pizza Day. (Graphic novel. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-375-84390-7
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Folktale purists will be driven looney tunes, but so what if the tone isn’t completely authentic—who doesn’t like to see a...
Not every folktale collection includes the words “BONK BONK BONK,” but they fit perfectly here.
This is the 21st century, and there’s a demographic sampling of readers who’ve grown up watching Warner Brothers cartoons and listening to Native American trickster tales. This book is for them. Looney Tunes fans will appreciate that Coyote falls off a cliff early in the story. Or, if the readers make a different choice, he’s attacked by wasps or eaten by a giant. The choose-your-own-adventure format allows readers to flip a few pages and sample generations’ worth of Coyote tales. (Thomas’ illustrations are somehow both slapstick and archetypal.) The problem, strangely enough, is that there aren’t enough stories here to fill the book. A segment might end with an inspired trick and an escape from Hill Monsters, or it might just peter out. One segment concludes with Coyote joining a pair of beavers for soup. Still, these 64 pages give readers an entertaining and even well-rounded look at Coyote’s personality: the trickster, fool and occasional wise man of tradition. Later books in the series have a more satisfying range of choices: Tricky Rabbit Tales, Tricky Monkey Tales and Tricky Raven Tales.
Folktale purists will be driven looney tunes, but so what if the tone isn’t completely authentic—who doesn’t like to see a coyote fall off a cliff? (Graphic novel. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7613-7859-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
