Only the very specific audience Clark has in mind will care, and even they may not care very much.
In a series opener heavily sprinkled with references to butts, boogers and farting, a fourth-grader discovers that frozen treats give him superpowers.
Irwin Snackcracker makes this discovery when chomping into a Fudgsicle results in superspeed and a conversation with a squirrel. Hot on the heels of this incident, he comes home to the revelation that such abilities run in the family—in fact, his Grandpa Gus and flatulent canine sidekick are actually renowned heroes Mighty Super Gus and Capt. Corgi. Both the amateurish cartoon illustrations, which look like they were digitally crafted in the 1980s, and Irwin’s accompanying narrative are so redolent with booger-waving and other heavy-handed juvenile crudités (“Butt…now that’s a funny word. Classic”) that the plot comes off as an afterthought. No sooner does Irwin get a cool costume of his very own (with ICK, for “Ice Cream Kid” across the chest) than he’s off with his elder relative to corral Sweaty Crocker, a school lunch lady jailed for “excessive toenails in the meatloaf” and other crimes but now on the loose. Can she be stopped before she releases the monstrous repurposed school kitchen oven Choptimus Grime upon the unsuspecting citizens of Mock City?
Only the very specific audience Clark has in mind will care, and even they may not care very much. (“fun facts and activities,” not seen) (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: June 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4494-4424-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
“By March 5, 1770, it was dangerous to be a soldier in Boston.” In a few lines of terse prose illustrated with densely hatched black-and-white pictures, Decker lays out the causes of the tension between Bostonians and British troops, and then delivers a blow-by-blow account of events on that March night and the ensuing trials. Along with casting a grim tone over all, his dark, crowded illustrations capture the incident’s confusion and also add details to the narrative. Despite some questionable choices—he names most of the soldiers but none of the casualties, and except for a row of coffins in one picture, never mentions how many actually died—the author leaves readers with a general understanding of what happened, and with a final scene of John Adams (who defended the soldiers in court) pondering the necessity of protecting true Liberty from the “lawless mob,” some food for thought as well. (Informational picture book. 9-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59078-608-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2009
A high-energy consciousness raiser, if not a practical guide to environmental issues and action. (Graphic novel. 8-10)
A young eco-activist spreads the word in this message-driven webcomic spinoff.
Showing a realistic 12-year-old’s reluctance to change her ways and expectations, Luz at last sees the environmental light thanks to repeated large-scale power failures and her mother’s continued complaints about the prices of gas ($7.01 Canadian, which puts this story in a very near future) and of groceries that aren’t locally made. With help from friends like her comically high-strung new buddy Robert, a vegetarian and computer geek, and other neighbors, Luz goes on to convert a littered empty lot into a tidy, well-tended pocket garden/playground. Though the dialogue is anything but natural-sounding (“Good-bye, trash-infested lot, hello plant paradise! This is going to change the face of our street forever!”), Luz’s infectious energy comes through strongly both in her tendency to utter grand pronouncements and in the exuberantly exaggerated body language she and the other figures display in the author’s two-color cartoon scenes. Analytical readers may wonder where Luz gets all the free planters and playground equipment, or how she kept her mother in the dark until the park was a fait accompli—but internal logic takes a back seat here to inspirational rhetoric and the rewards of community organizing.
A high-energy consciousness raiser, if not a practical guide to environmental issues and action. (Graphic novel. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55453-581-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
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