A cornucopia of wholesome cuteness.
Lemon Bird has to save the day when she and her pal Pupkin get lost.
Lemon Bird, naturally, is a bird who is also a lemon. Pupkin is a puppy who is also a pumpkin. After some light mischief, they fall asleep in a truck full of produce and are transported to a strange new place. Now they must journey back to the farm where they live. On their adventure, Lemon Bird and Pupkin encounter and help a variety of flora-fauna hybrids and friendly people. They meet Keylime Bird, who bullies Lemon Bird but regrets her actions, while a kind old woman and her pet Boarnana set the two friends on the right path. Some of the animal hybrids are puns, and some are not, but all are adorable. The two humans who appear most, Pupkin’s owner and the old woman, have light skin, but other people appear in a rainbow of natural and unnatural skin tones. Many pages have minimal text, and it only gets a bit—comparatively—wordy on a few pages at the end, when Lemon Bird and Keylime take some time to explain the lessons they learned. Featuring endearingly rounded characters, this delightful, colorful graphic novel makes an excellent introduction to the format for adults to read with young children, though somewhat older children will also enjoy reading it on their own.
A cornucopia of wholesome cuteness. (how to draw Lemon Bird, concept art) (Graphic novel. 5-10)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-12267-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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