Michael Fry (2) (1959–)

This review originally posted at The Children's Book and Media Review

Bobbie used to love Christmas, but this year she’s certain that Christmas is bullying her so she decides to just ignore the bully. When her decision to ignore Christmas interferes to the point that her little brother is put on the Naughty List, Bobbie travels to the North Pole to talk to a half-lazy, half-Ninja Santa Claus, incontinent reindeer, rogue elves, and angry abandoned snow angels to save Christmas for her brother and the rest of the world. Because of her adventures, she learns that there is more to Christmas magic than she had previously supposed.

Similar to Wimpy Kid and other notebook books, this book helps engaged reluctant readers with comics and other illustrations. Sometimes the illustrations don’t seem to tie completely in with the text around them, making them feel unnecessary or confusing, while other times the illustrations are crucial to understanding what is going on in the story. The book’s audience has to be old enough to not be disturbed by the lazy Santa or the attacking elves, but still young enough to appreciate the book’s humor. The wild and wacky holiday adventure in this book will please readers looking for a fun Christmas story where nothing goes as expected.… (more)

Several weeks ago LW3 and I somehow got to talking about the comic strip Over the Hedge, and I lamented that I had never been able to find any collections of it. And lo! four volumes of it appeared under our Christmas tree! This was just as funny as I remembered (though I'm not sure I'd ever read any of these earliest strips before). RJ (the raccoon) and Verne (the turtle) are hilarious. I may now walk around saying, "What obtains, squirt?" to people, all of whom will have no notion what I'm on about.… (more)

Victor is supposed to be a supervillain. After all, his parents are but it seems like he is so good his parents cannot relate to him. So they hire The Smear to teach him to be bad and evil. But that doesn't work as planned.

I loved the characters in the book. They were a hoot. The story and drawings were wonderful. I liked the thought processes going on with Victor and The Smear and Victor's parents. I laughed out loud throughout the book.

I can't wait to get the next installment.… (more)