A likable protagonist and fantasy elements make this well-trod ground feel fairly fresh
A fledgling Latina fairy learns she must use her magic responsibly.
Quintessential preteen Cici is trying to make sense of a turbulent time in her life: her dad has moved out, she's lost her best friend to the popular clique, and she's learning to control her nascent fairy powers. She has the "fairy sight," which means she sees people with a sort of enhanced vision that helps her understand them (for example, she sees her harried mother as a multitasking octopus). One day at school she finds popular white classmate Kendra's beloved princess doll (fairy sight reveals Kendra to be something of a princess as well). Cici, seizing the opportunity to use her powers, chooses to wield them in an unkind way. When Abuela, also a fairy, finds out what she has done, Cici must own up to her wrongdoings. The plot—a friendship-tinged riff on the "with great power comes great responsibility" theme—is instantly familiar, even with the fantasy elements. Doused liberally with a comely array of warm pinks and purples, the panels have a keen focus on facial elements and hold a high visual appeal. Though this series outing doesn’t explore its issues with much real depth, the pleasing style and familiar subject matter help to compensate, leaving this with a very episodic, sitcomlike feel.
A likable protagonist and fantasy elements make this well-trod ground feel fairly fresh . (Graphic fantasy. 7-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4677-6153-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
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