The sources may be old, but the drollery is timeless.
Empty-headed (literally) sibs Mac and Mac fulfill the title’s promise with their grandest, daftest quest yet.
Inspired by their uncle Ziti’s “impossible” yarn about a snake and a frog that swallowed each other, the tubular twins decide to become famous for an impossible feat of their own. But what? Walking around the world? Counting all the stars above? Or all the grains of sand below? Each turns out to present certain difficulties—after counting a “bazillion” stars, for instance, Mac and Mac find more that have fallen into their mom’s washtub and need to be rescued. “Are they heavy?” asks Mac. Mac responds: “No, they’re light.” (Ha, ha.) Adults, particularly those of a scholarly bent, will appreciate the fantastically detailed, tiny-type notes at the end about folktale motifs, variations drawn from diverse traditions, modern versions, idioms, and even the notion of “infinity.” Readers younger of age and/or heart will chortle at the Macs’ general cluelessness, then cheer them on as they do get “around the world” just in time for lunch—thanks to the intervention of frenemy Meatball, the only nonpasta player in Arnold’s foodcentric cartoon frames, who turns their shoes around while they’re napping. The little jokes embedded within the large ones are just as delightful, as when Mac and Mac try to figure out how to “always [put] your best foot forward.” It’s not as easy as grown-ups say it is.
The sources may be old, but the drollery is timeless. (Graphic early reader. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4003-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Two delightfully dense heroes bring folk tales into the 21st century, and young readers are all the richer for it.
Two thickheaded macaroni noodles prove the old adage: a fool and his firewood are soon parted.
Fools have been called “noodleheads” for centuries, but until recently few have represented the term quite so literally. Mac and Mac aren’t the brightest pieces of pasta in the world, but their hearts are in the right place. Here, the two decide to help their mama out by gathering firewood in hopes that she’ll bake them a cake. As they are attempting to cut the very branch they’re sitting on, a passing meatball points out that they are mere minutes away from bruised bottoms. When his words come to pass, our heroes decide the meatball is clairvoyant and demand to know their future. Drawing on and smoothly weaving together a variety of folk tales, the brief graphic novel describes how its obtuse protagonists single-mindedly seek cake, even as they anticipate death, purchase “firewood seeds” (aka acorns), and accidentally dig their mother a garden. Emergent readers will appreciate the simple text, short chapters, and comics-inspired paneled illustrations. Adults will appreciate the authors’ note, which goes into some detail about each chapter’s folk origins.
Two delightfully dense heroes bring folk tales into the 21st century, and young readers are all the richer for it. (Graphic early reader. 5-9)Pub Date: March 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3673-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests.
A lonely prince gains a friend for a quest to find a missing jewel.
Prince Lucas of Wrenly has everything a boy could possibly want—except a friend. His father has forbidden him to play with the village children for reasons of propriety. Adventure-seeking Lucas acquires peasant clothes to masquerade as a commoner and make friends, but he is caught out. His mother, the queen, persuades the king to allow him one friend: Clara, the daughter of her personal dressmaker. When the queen’s prized emerald pendant goes missing, Lucas and Clara set off to find it. They follow the jewel as it changes hands, interviewing each temporary owner. Their adventure cleverly introduces the series’ world and peoples, taking the children to the fairy island of Primlox, the trolls’ home of Burth, the wizard island of Hobsgrove and finally Mermaid’s Cove. By befriending the mermaids, Lucas and Clara finally recover the jewel. In thanks, the king gives Clara a horse of her own so that she may ride with Lucas on their future adventures. The third-person narration is generally unobtrusive, allowing the characters to take center stage. The charming, medieval-flavored illustrations set the fairy-tale scene and take up enough page space that new and reluctant readers won’t be overwhelmed by text.
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9691-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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