Illustrated in a mix of cartoon panels and illustrated pages of hand-lettered text, this woodsy tale is just the ticket for budding graphic-novel fans. Despite the hostility of bad seed Scurvy Burr, Sticky Burr earns the adulation of his spine-covered but gregarious community after he and his best buddy Draffle the dragonfly escape a quick succession of hazards to rescue lightning-bug Princess Oralee from the twisting tunnels of the swamp’s legendary Maze Tree. Then they save the burr village from a pack of wild dogs. Small, green, covered with prickles and usually found painting or playing his ukulele when he’s not telling stories or editing the Burrwood Gazette (an issue of which occupies the final spread), Sticky Burr makes a decidedly uncommon hero. Aside from occasional excursions into the forest’s only half-fanciful natural history, the pace never falters. Will Sticky Burr stick around for more adventures? Very possibly. (Graphic fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: June 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3054-6
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A crowd pleaser in an otherwise crowded oeuvre.
The ubiquitous rodent journalist returns in a new iteration.
Geronimo Stilton, publisher extraordinaire of the Rodent’s Gazette, has a new story to investigate: New Mouse City is plagued by a deeply malodorous stink. As the stench intensifies, the residents flee, selling their homes. Stilton, flanked by his banana-loving friend Hercule Poirat, forays into the sewers to locate the fount of the funk. There, the duo encounters rat queen Trashfur Sparkles XIII and her Grand Council. Trashfur, the mastermind behind the nefariously noxious plan, has set her sights on wedding Hercule and marrying Geronimo off to one of her council members; how will Geronimo escape this time? This new graphic-novel series published by Graphix/Scholastic (not to be confused with Papercutz’s ongoing Geronimo Stilton, Reporter graphic-novel series) and illustrated by Angleberger (of Origami Yoda fame) utilizes a decidedly more cartoonish style than the Papercutz version, more along the Dav Pilkey aesthetic. Funny and fast-paced, this offering is infused with a generous amount of over-the-top silliness, with occasional breaks to explain jokes to readers (explaining that gorgonzola is a type of cheese, for example). With easy-to-read and varied typefaces and oversized, full-color panels, this should effortlessly appeal to the younger set, making it an obvious choice for those deciding what to read next after Dog Man.
A crowd pleaser in an otherwise crowded oeuvre. (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-58730-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A bubble-gum crowd pleaser with wide audience appeal.
A young girl who prefers science to people discovers an adorable and smelly little creature.
With an inquisitive mind and a dark teardrop-shaped swoop of hair, Olga may not have many friends, but she loves animals and thinks even their "farts are cute." She studies them and carefully transcribes her observations; she hopes someday to hang out with Jane Goodall. When she hears a scary rumble in her trash can, Olga discovers Meh, a pudgy, smelly creature that she describes as a "cross between an inflated hamster and a potato drawn by a three-year-old." Like any good scientist-in-training, she observes Meh, trying to discern his habits and his diet. When Meh goes missing, Olga must recruit actual people to help her find him—including two pop-star–obsessed girls she calls "The Lalas," a friendly boy with a tall scribble of hair and an incontinent dog, a punk-rock librarian, and a goofy but helpful shopkeeper. Gravel's tale is a visually interesting mix of illustration and story, punctuated by numerous lists, comic panels, and cartoon diagrams and led by a smart female protagonist. Covering everything from zoology to poop jokes, Gravel has painted her tale with a broad brush that should render this an easy sell to most young readers. The human characters all have paper-white skin, and there is no other cueing of racial difference.
A bubble-gum crowd pleaser with wide audience appeal. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-235126-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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