This story is funny enough to get away with being utterly adorable.
The characters in this graphic novel are so exhausting that it’s endearing.
Melly the dog looks exactly the way a cartoon character is supposed to. Small, scruffy, and black, she has bright eyes and a head the same size as her body. She wants to play every game—wrestling, fetch, tug of war—even when everybody else is trying to take a nap. The cats in her house are not fond of her. They’re almost relieved when she falls through a hole, Wonderland-style, into another world. The land is ruled by one of the few people with as much energy as Melly, a king who’s constantly posing for statues and competing for trophies. Anyone who beats him risks being sent to the dungeon—either the “nicer dungeon,” where “you can smell cinnamon buns but not eat them,” or the “worst dungeon,” with “sad clown paintings.” Fortunately for readers, another key character is less frenetic, a jaded monster named Narra who’s lost faith in the human race—with good reason. If Eeyore were a gigantic yellow Pokemon, he’d be Narra. The artwork, with its bold colors, actually resembles the Pokemon cartoons, but the characters are even cuddlier. They’re defiant enough, though, to appeal to cynical readers, and the story ends with a revolution. (The king is White, but the rebels and the other human characters are racially diverse.) And the jokes are both subversive and hilarious.
This story is funny enough to get away with being utterly adorable. (Graphic fantasy. 6-11)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-20254-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
More charged up than daunted by encounters in previous episodes with vampire squid, ninja frogs and a fearsome were-wiener, irrepressible dragonling Danny charges off into the Mexican jungle to visit Cousin Steve, a feathered lizard and bat scientist. Delivering her punch lines as usual in green-tinted cartoons strewn liberally through the narrative, Vernon dials up reader interest with, first, a visit to a bat cave (“The smell was eye-watering and pungent, and it crawled up inside your nose and your mouth and burned your eyes and your tear ducts and the roof of your mouth. It was like old cheese soaked in cat urine wrapped in gym socks dipped in boiled cabbage. ‘You get used to it…’ said Steve unconvincingly”). Then Danny’s suddenly kidnapped by Camazotz, a not–(as it turns out)–so-legendary monster bat with unsatisfied maternal instincts. A night of narrow squeaks ensues, capped by the discovery of a golden treasure guarded by Camazotz’s larger and much more hostile mate. Thanks largely to the efforts of Danny’s nerdy sidekick Wendell, the scaly buddies do get home by morning—but not before readers get plenty of reasons to echo Danny’s trademark: “That. Is. So. Cool!” (Graphic hybrid fantasy. 8-11)
Pub Date: March 17, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3525-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
Freddy will be the first to say he screws things up…well, not the first—that would be Babette, his evil older sister. She delights in comparing her perfect report cards to Freddy’s less-than-perfect ones by doing dramatic readings at dinner. In order to get to the newest report cards first, Freddy prepares a terrifying belch-symphony for Babette. Unbeknownst to any of the family, this draws extraterrestrial attention. One night they are abducted from their beds and zipped away to the planet Flurb, where retiring King Wormola has appointed Freddy his successor…much to royal wizard Wizbad’s (not to mention Babette’s) chagrin. Can Freddy survive the worshipful adoration of the bizarre Flurbians—not to mention a planet where the buildings are alive, his second-in-command wants him dead and laughter is prized above even Yootleturds? Hannan, author of the Super Goofballs series and creator of Nickelodeon’s animated series CatDog, kicks off a new series of absurdly snarky and gross middle-grade novels aimed at those who don’t like to read but love a good burp joke. Useful, if not for every reader. (Science fiction/humor. 6-10)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-128466-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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