A winner of a tale, well-constructed and, dare we say, cute.
Too adorable to be taken seriously, a team of talented kittens struggles to prove itself.
Kitten Marmalade is a trained architect, and she has perfect plans for the human mayor’s new mansion, but the city planner can’t see past the orange feline’s cuteness. She tries to drown her sorrows in a bowl of milk at the local diner, but the human server and customers fawn over her. She does meet Sampson, the kitty dishwasher, who’s a trained electrical engineer: “No one takes me seriously, either,” he says. The two decide to form an all-kitten construction firm and join forces with fluffy white cat Bubbles, who wants to be a plumber. Humans still think they are just endearing internet video fodder, so the trio, together with Siamese carpenter Professor von Wigglebottom and a pack of strays, take over an abandoned construction site to build Marmalade’s plans. The humans working with the city planner make a mess of their building; good thing Marmalade and her crew are there to save the day! Green’s graphic novel is…adorable. Big colorful panels, some filling the page, tell Marmalade’s tale as she proves she is more than just a pretty kitty. Plenty of cat humor in dialogue and illustrations will keep young readers giggling, and many will identify with Marmalade’s plight. Humans depicted are diverse.
A winner of a tale, well-constructed and, dare we say, cute. (Graphic fantasy. 6-11)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62672-830-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
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