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RETURN TO PLANET TAD

Name: RETURN TO PLANET TAD
Author: Tim Carvell
ISBN: 978-0-06-226625-5

by Tim Carvell ; illustrated by Doug Holgate ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2014

A smile or two for those with severely short attention spans, not much more.

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More tidbits from Planet Tad, compiled from a fictional blog originally published in Mad Magazine (Planet Tad, 2012).

Tad’s faux blog comes complete with emoticons and line drawings and records the events of January through December as he finishes eighth grade and begins ninth. The nearly daily entries are sometimes silly and sometimes sarcastic. He tries to learn ice skating in January, gets a cellphone (a lame one) for his birthday in March and is blackmailed into starring in the school’s production of Our Town by his teacher in April. Many entries are just vaguely humorous observations: Toothpaste should be called “mouthscrub” so it doesn’t sound like glue for teeth. No event or topic lasts for more than a few entries. His mean grandmother visits in June, the family attends her wedding in August, and Tad starts high school in September. Part of the team that won six Emmys for The Daily Show, Carvell turns out a second Tad title that, like its predecessor, lacks a central story. It reads, not surprisingly, like something written by a sketch-comedy writer trying for the Wimpy Kid audience. Final art not seen, but Holgate’s preliminary illustrations are a highlight.

A smile or two for those with severely short attention spans, not much more. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-06-226625-5

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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THE BOOK THAT NO ONE WANTED TO READ

by Richard Ayoade ; illustrated by Tor Freeman ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 14, 2023

Lovingly crafted metafictive silliness both experimental and engaging.

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Comedian and actor Ayoade explores storytelling and books themselves.

Readers are quickly introduced to the premise: The narrator of this book…is the book itself. Directly addressing the audience, the narrator waxes philosophical about judging books by covers before plunging readers into a story told in second person about a child who finds “a particular Book That No One Wanted To Read” on a library shelf. Interspersed with imagined, telepathic dialogue between reader and book, this delightfully droll work casually covers everything from footnotes to story structure; information about excess unwanted books being “pulped” by publishers leads to a gag about the book not wanting to be recycled into toilet paper. The design is clean, with different fonts effectively used to maintain speaker clarity, and facts about books blend beautifully with wacky, tongue-in-cheek illustrations. The character “you” is a reader stand-in with a humorous composite depiction (and so lacks race, gender, or any other identity, though other people depicted throughout are diverse in skin tone). In many ways a spiritual successor to B.J. Novak’s The Book With No Pictures (2014), the book (and Book, the character) will encourage readers to approach literature with a sense of play.

Lovingly crafted metafictive silliness both experimental and engaging. (Illustrated fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: March 14, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-5362-2216-6

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick

Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FAIRY TALE FAN CLUB
by Richard Ayoade ; illustrated by David Roberts

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THE TERRIBLE TWO GET WORSE

From the Terrible Two series , Vol. 2

by Mac Barnett & Jory John ; illustrated by Kevin Cornell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 12, 2016

This revenger’s comedy, dotted with references to classic plays and philosophical concepts, will be a joy for pranksters and...

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When pranking perfection meets the seemingly unprankable foe, who gets the last laugh?

Terrible Two Niles and Miles have been merrily pranking their favorite targets, Principal Barkin and his dim, loathsome son Josh, at school and in town all autumn long. Fed up with the plague of pranks, former Principal Barkin (father of the current one) stages a coup d’état at a school board meeting and takes back his old job. This new-old Principal Barkin is draconian in his control of the school. He hangs a sign counting the days since the last prank…which, since he avows there is no prank if no one reacts (and he never reacts), means there have been no pranks. Miles and Niles despair as one after another of their complex, devious plots are ignored. School becomes unbearable until they seek help from a most unlikely source. Can three succeed where two have failed? John and Barnett’s sophomore effort is as much fun as series opener The Terrible Two (2015). The boys’ history as rivals and their home lives barely receive mention here, so the first volume is a must-read—no hardship. Cornell’s line drawings add to the goofy, deadpan experience.

This revenger’s comedy, dotted with references to classic plays and philosophical concepts, will be a joy for pranksters and seekers of a good-hearted laugh. (Fiction. 8-11)