An emotionally and spiritually warming visit to the Arctic.
A contemporary story of sibling rivalry set north of the Arctic Circle in a First Nations community.
The eponymous characters are a First Nations brother and sister pair who live in a small Inuit community on Arviq Bay, rendered in a detailed map on frontmatter pages. After the children get into a minor squabble fueled by some airborne snowballs, their grandfather encounters them on the tundra and talks with them about inuksuit, rock formations with practical and spiritual importance to their ancestors and to the Tuniit people, who predated the Inuit. Putuguq and Kublu listen to his words, adding in their own comments and questions, and then Putuguq ends up making his own inuksuk to hide behind in order to take playful revenge on his sister. This turn of events contradicts the message embedded in their grandfather’s earlier praise for Putuguq when the little boy resisted chasing after Kublu for laughing at him because his pants split to reveal heart-dappled underpants. At the same time, it also humanizes the contemporary First Nations characters, making them accessible to readers. Further enhancing this sense of accessibility is the layout of the book, which adopts comic-book conventions such as panels and speech balloons to deliver the story and employs a brightly colored cartoon style that seems influenced by a Japanese manga style. Endnotes provide more information about inuksuit and the Tuniit people.
An emotionally and spiritually warming visit to the Arctic. (Early reader. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-77227-143-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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
Models attention to detail and deductive reasoning in a fun beach setting, complete with interesting facts.
Beachcombers and shell seekers, gather ’round and meet Shelby and Watts, Planetary Investigators.
When Fred the hermit crab can’t find a new, larger shell to move into, he seeks out the “brilliant brains” of Shelby and Watts. Shelby, a fox, is the detective in the duo, and Watts, a badger, loves facts, adding simple fun ones—about hermit crabs, tides, tide-pool dwellers, how shells are used, etc.—throughout the story. Watts also loves to catalog clues in his notebook. In fact, the first mystery that Shelby solves is that of Watts’ lost notebook. Young readers can watch Shelby investigate, solve, and explain her deductive process, all while learning to carefully examine all the details in each graphic panel. Once the missing shells are found, it’s “time for the hermit crab shuffle,” in which the members of a colony of hermit crabs all line up and trade up to larger homes. Final pages include “Earth-Saving Tips from Shelby & Watts,” such as taking pictures of shells instead of collecting them, eating seafood from sustainable sources, and cleaning up the beach. The seven chapters are of varying length, but with several one-panel pages and many pages with low word count, the book is shorter than it appears, which should be a confidence boost for young readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Models attention to detail and deductive reasoning in a fun beach setting, complete with interesting facts. (Graphic early reader/mystery. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-20531-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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