STICKY BURR

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)