Nate Evans

his is a complete, out of the park hit with my 4 year old, combining dinosaurs and construction equipment, which he loves, with an alphabet plot (which I'm interested in). A group of construction-worker dinosaurs is called in to build a mysterious thing, which turns out-- on the last 2 page spread-- to be a sort of adventure park. It reads well, and has some catchy lines; while not every word in the page for a letter begins with it-- or where would the plot be?-- the text emphasizes the show more letter of the page both at the beginning of words and within words. X and Q, with their E words, might be confusing to a child; but the rest is great alphabet fun. The silly dinosaurs are on every page doing different things (my son especially likes the various dinos in A-shirts jigglingly running jackhammers, and the creation of the volcano, followed by vamoosing!) Compare with B is for Bulldozer or Dinosaurs Dig! show less

Another average boy makes big in this wacky, Captain Underpants-like adventure. On his way home from school, Ralph is attacked by a bully who threatens him with a "honk-kazoo" or tuba. But he's got bigger problems when a tyrannosaurus rex shows up and squashes him! Ralph wakes up in the secret lab of weird, tattooed Professor Overdrive (the junkman from down the street) and his stereotypical Igor-like assistant, Lugnut. Turns out an even bigger bully, the alien Clobberus Crunch, is show more threatening to destroy Earth unless they send a representative to fight in his arena. Overdrive couldn't get anyone to listen, so he fired up his time machine and grabbed a dinosaur from the past...which stomped Ralph. So he put Ralph's brain in the dinosaur.

Ralph is not thrilled at being suddenly expected to fight all sorts of terrifying aliens, especially when he realizes he's up against even bigger bullies than he was on earth. But to save earth, his new friend Joona, and himself, he's going to have to find some courage somewhere and fight back.

Splashy color and wild hijinks abound on every page. There's plenty of cartoon violence, but no real gore, even if there's a lot of serious issues going on. The wacky aliens and Ralph's horror at being forced into a sort of Luchador fighting suit are played for laughs while Joona is sexually harassed and threatened by the evil alien general and admits to having been outcast and abandoned by her people because of her differences. Although Ralph wins out in the end, the story isn't over - he might get pulled back to fight at any time - and he has some pangs of conscience about scaring off his bullies on earth by being a bigger bully.

Overall, however, everything is played for laughs and it's the kind of adventure that Captain Underpants fans are sure to love. As an adult, I find the "average or wimpy boy saves the day" trope to be annoying and overused, but at least Ralph is not white. The humor is mostly pretty childish and while the threats against Joona and earth are definitely mature, they're likely to go right over the heads of the target audience for this, which is definitely below the Pilkey Line.

Verdict: Add where you have lots of fans of Captain Underpants and other gross and silly comics.

ISBN: 9781449472085; Published 2017 by AMP!; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

A hardboiled detective series for the chapter book set is a welcome addition to the... wait. Aren't most chapter book series mysteries of one sort or another?

Yes, and with good reason. The mystery story has the opportunity to instantly engage a reader. It makes them feel smart as they puzzle through the clues and watch the hero attempt to solve the mystery before falling in the clutches of the evil villain. In this case, responding to a distress call HD finds Miss Patty Cake has been show more kidnapped, her secret recipes stolen. But before our hero can get on the case he is accosted by by a street urchin named Rat who thinks HD has kidnapped his morning meal ticket. They join an uneasy alliance, collect clues, and hit the case hard. With the Humpty Dumpty Jr series we have the added benefit of puns. Our hero is a good egg who can be counted on to crack the case and leave no yolk untouched.

There's a lot packed into this series, perhaps just a bit too much. Giving us characters straight from nursery rhymes is fine, if familiar (c.f. Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy for an adult version of this same sort of theme), and blending it with the hardboiled noir stories of Raymond Chandler set loose in New Yolk is fine, but when blended with mythological and other anthropomorphic animals surrounded by humans, well, it feels like one element too far. Does the precinct captain need to be a minotaur, and does the police chief need to be a rhino? And how do they fit in with the rest of the fairy tale characters like Little Jack Horner and the Queen of Hearts?

And while I can appreciated replacing guns of traditional detective stories with a magic egg beater and a magic pinwheel, the introduction of this element gives the book a fantasy turn that turns the whole mess runny. Kids who can appreciate the humor of the genre would just as easily understand water pistols filled different liquids that could have destructive effects to various characters. In fact, HD does resort to milk-filled balloons to fell a cake dragon into a soggy mess. But having the egg beater change things uncontrollably, or to have the pinwheel freeze people with the coolness of peppermint candy dilutes the hardboiled atmosphere. Some genres and settings just can't be blended successfully. Moonraker, anyone? Was there anything more ridiculous than Bond in space?

Recently the question was raised about introducing satire or parodies of genres that younger readers wouldn't likely to be familiar with. The argument was that without understanding the point of reference the point of the humor was lost. The counter argument is that the satire plants the seeds, that when readers are older they'll get the joke. Sort of like watching Bugs Bunny cartoons and not getting what Humphrey Bogart is doing begging for spare change until you see Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I would have to say that in order for the humor to be appreciated down the road the satire must be impeccably faithful. The goal is for the reader to one day have an "a ha!" moment that ties them back to their original experience with a fondness and a newer appreciation. If the derivative material is weak, when the reader comes to experience the source they come to feel betrayed.

Watch a kid's reaction when they encounter Lord of the Rings after Harry Potter and learn the subtle difference between homage and borrowing.

All of this to say that I think kids at the chapter book stage would truly enjoy a clever series that mirrors Phillip Marlowe or Sam Spade a little more closely. Kids love mysteries and that includes trying to solve them, unlike with HD Jr. where Rat withholds evidence until it's expedient for him to "suddenly remember" something new. The reader should be able to connect dots and make guesses beyond vague recollection of villains in the first few pages who might have escape prison but have to do extensive monologuing toward the end in order to explain their motives.

For readers sharp enough to catch the puns, and like a little more humor than an A to Z Mystery can deliver, but find The Time Warp Trio intimidating this just might do the trick. show less

Did you ever think a cookie would sass you? This cookie does. It’s decorating time and he gets to be a nice dino green. But then he sees the others getting gumdrop noses, sparkly stars, and wants to be more special than each of them. He demands a change, but his artist starts playing with how these changes take place. This is a tongue in cheek book that will have kids and adults alike laughing.