Budding authors may be tempted to weigh in, but the cheap yuks and the overall design seem less funny than overcaffeinated.
Despite loudly colored cartoon art, ornate poster-style text and a rewrite option, this introduction to a pipsqueak with superhero dreams just spins its wheels.
Looking particularly vacant in cape and tighty whities worn outside his pants, popeyed Timmy fantasizes about pummeling bad guys “until they resemble a rather old and rotten aubergine” and saving damsels in distress. At the very least, he’d like to shake bullies at school until they puke. In the end, though, just fetching his mum’s keys from under the sofa gives him that proper heroic feeling and earns a hug. As possible evidence that this perfunctory storyline has been made deliberately bland, a mouse spectator at the end professes to find it nauseating. Readers who agree can add their own, presumably superior, narratives to subsequent go-rounds with the same art and place their versions on a digital bookshelf next to—surprise!—links to other free and for-purchase tales from this provider. As further intellectual stimulus for budding authors, a cross-dressing elf puts in an early cameo, and later views present bullies subjected to wedgies or other humiliations.
Budding authors may be tempted to weigh in, but the cheap yuks and the overall design seem less funny than overcaffeinated. (iPad storybook app. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Storypanda
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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