Odd yet charming; young fantasy fans with a taste for the absurd will find plenty to enjoy.
A resourceful girl forms an unlikely alliance with an orc.
Aurora is quick-witted and not easily rattled—which is fortunate, since she’s been tasked with showing the new kid around school. The new student is a club-carrying orc who has devoted his life to slaying 1,000 elves. Doors become portals between Aurora’s human world and the orc-and-elf realm beyond—a device that feels both low-tech and oddly effective. Humor runs throughout, ranging from physical comedy to jokes that skew more adult. The sections set in the secondary world, populated by wizards, elves, and orcs, are where the book truly comes alive. The battles in the book are surprisingly bloody (think Lord of the Rings with cartoon slapstick). Readers may wonder why Aurora’s mother seems so unbothered by the arrows that Aurora keeps bringing home—a small mystery that pays off in ways that reframe the whole story. Trondheim’s linework suits both characterizations: Aurora rendered as loose and expressive, the Orc hulking and hapless in equal measure. The muted palette gives the whole thing a pleasantly scruffy texture. The storyline holds together cohesively, though the mostly consistent panel size and layout give this French import more the sensibility of a comic strip compilation than a traditional graphic novel. Most humanoid characters are pale-skinned.
Odd yet charming; young fantasy fans with a taste for the absurd will find plenty to enjoy. (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: June 23, 2026
ISBN: 9781250379702
Page Count: 192
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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
What a wag.
What do you get from sewing the head of a smart dog onto the body of a tough police officer? A new superhero from the incorrigible creator of Captain Underpants.
Finding a stack of old Dog Mancomics that got them in trouble back in first grade, George and Harold decide to craft a set of new(ish) adventures with (more or less) improved art and spelling. These begin with an origin tale (“A Hero Is Unleashed”), go on to a fiendish attempt to replace the chief of police with a “Robo Chief” and then a temporarily successful scheme to make everyone stupid by erasing all the words from every book (“Book ’Em, Dog Man”), and finish off with a sort of attempted alien invasion evocatively titled “Weenie Wars: The Franks Awaken.” In each, Dog Man squares off against baddies (including superinventor/archnemesis Petey the cat) and saves the day with a clever notion. With occasional pauses for Flip-O-Rama featurettes, the tales are all framed in brightly colored sequential panels with hand-lettered dialogue (“How do you feel, old friend?” “Ruff!”) and narrative. The figures are studiously diverse, with police officers of both genders on view and George, the chief, and several other members of the supporting cast colored in various shades of brown. Pilkey closes as customary with drawing exercises, plus a promise that the canine crusader will be further unleashed in a sequel.
What a wag. (Graphic fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-58160-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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