PREACHER CREATURE STRIKES ON SUNDAY
by Mike Thaler and illustrated by Jared Lee
The creators of the Black Lagoon stories team up again for a new series called Tales from the Back Pew, focusing on introducing basic Christian concepts in a lighthearted (and often irreverent) way. A nine-year-old boy goes to church for the first time, one with a monster minister and mixed human-monster congregation. The young narrator offers humorous commentary on aspects of the traditional church service, recaps a few well-known Bible stories and offers a brief survey of his own ideas about God and heaven. He concludes that he likes church and wants to return with his friends. Lee’s loose, cartoon-style illustrations in watercolor and ink add considerable appeal, including plenty of speech balloons with pithy comments as well as spot illustrations of characters offering side comments within the short text. Some adults may be taken aback by some of the humor (the Bible is “full of stories about weird people”); most children will find it entirely appealing. Other titles in the series are Church Summer Cramp, Easter Egg Haunt and Mission Trip Impossible (ISBNs: 978-0-310-71592-4; 978-0-310-71591-7; 978-0-310-71590-0). (Picture book/religion. 5-9)