Stephan Pastis

I received this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers Program.

I've been a big fan of Pastis's strip Pearls Before Swine for many years now, so when he began to release his Timmy Failure books for middle graders, I had to buy them for my son. He loves them. I haven't read any of the earlier books all the way through--I've just opened them up, laughed at a few pages, that kind of thing.

Therefore, I started reading this final book in the series without knowing much about the full show more story arc or the previous events. That gave me no problems whatsoever. There are several mentions of previous events, but the book can stand completely on its own.

Timmy Failure is nine and a wee bit precocious for his age. He runs a detective agency along with his dear polar bear friend Total, and has driven at least one of his past teachers to a total nervous breakdown. In this book, his class must create their own film, and Timmy is designated the writer. He decides his memoirs should be filmed, complete with a birth scene featuring 600 flying elephants. Things, of course, don't go well. His classmates resist, and a new kid who is even more precocious and annoying takes over things. Plus, Timmy is coping with his retirement from detecting (as so was decreed by the gods), trying to help Total find his long-missing brother, and contending with the reappearance of his absentee father.

Here's the thing I loved about this book: the wacky humor is balanced with genuine heart and some serious topics. It doesn't shy away from the heartbreak that family can sometimes cause. Really, the book had a real life feel to it (maybe not including the polar bear best friend--maybe) because the real life drama stuff is softened by humor and escapes of imagination.

On a more technical note, this is a smartly-written book that will likely cause kids to look up some words and phrases in the dictionary. Some more 'adult' aspects are incorporated in very kid-like ways, too, like Timmy's insistence upon ordered a whiskey neat--though it becomes clear later that he has no idea what that actually means.

I highly recommend this series. show less

I do just love Timmy Failure. Though for a while in this book #3 in the series, I was starting to become impatient with his antics and delusions, by the end I was totally back on his side. These books are among the funniest middle grade books I have ever read (though I do wonder if kids would find them quite as funny as I do). The good news is that Timmy is slowly but surely developing, into what I'm not sure, but he is developing. Also, shocker involving Corrina Corrina, and maybe more show more clarity regarding Total the polar bear. If you liked the first two, you'll like this one, and if you didn't read the first two, you should. I don't care who you are. show less

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---

Always remember—even the smallest thing you do can have big consequences.

WHAT'S SQUIRREL DO BAD ABOUT?
Wendy the Wanderer is a little girl who desperately wants to travel the world, but her over-protective father has other ideas. He's so focused on safety and caution, he carries an umbrella at all times (for example). But when Dad has to leave town for a while on business, Wendy just might get to do a little exploring, if she can get show more around her babysitter.

This isn't a challenge, as the sitter is too focused on her phone to notice pretty much anything. So, Wendy heads out to explore her hometown, Trubble Town. A fitting name, for her at least.

She tries to befriend a squirrel, Squirrely McSquirrel, but is out of nuts. So gives him a little bit of a Mooshy. A Mooshy is a dangerous concoction for a human, much less a squirrel, it's a "steaming cup o'hot chocolate shoved chock-full with forty marshmallows." The levels of hyperactivity that this induces in Squirrely can't really be described, it can only be depicted in graphic terms, really. He also becomes pretty addicted to them—but the destruction wreaked was so great that no one is permitted to give him any.

It's at this point that things get out of control. The chaos that ensues features a police officer driven by hatred of squirrels, a mayor who refuses to work, a strange town obsession with statues, a would-be nut-themed superhero, a vegetarian squid, civic-minded moles, a lot of dynamite, and too many other things to enumerate. It's the kind of mad-cap pandemonium that appeals to the little kid in us all (especially the middle-grade target audience).

The big questions addressed are: will Squirrely stay out of trouble? Will Wendy be able to keep all this from her father? Will anyone learn anything?

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE-VERSE
On page 56, Larry the Crocodile appears as Squirrely's lawyer. Planting this firmly in the same world as Pastis's comic strip, Pearls Before Swine. But Larry's the only character that I recognized, it's not Pearls. The humor's different than the comic—it's suited for kids, with a different tone, and a different aim.

ART STYLE
If you've read Pearls, you'll have noticed the slightly sloppier style, with bolder lines that Pastis uses when one of his characters is drawing—the art's a lot like that (except for a panel or two at the end). But essentially, it looks a lot like Pearls without Pig and Rat, etc.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT SQUIRREL DO BAD?
Wendy learns a little about chaos theory and begins to see herself as the butterfly that starts the storm. Which is helpful and maybe a little unhealthy, too. Still, she learns the meaning of her father's words before he left (see the opening quotation).

The storytelling reminds me of the kind of stories my kids would write/tell when they were little—something that starts off kind of fun and then gets stranger and stranger and stranger. This is both an observation and a warning for people who want structure and logic to their stories—that's not going to be around.

It's silly. There is some real sweetness to it. It's weird. It's a lot of fun. Pretty much what you'd expect. Give it a shot, or let your kid give it a shot. show less

This is truly one of the funniest cartoon books I have ever read! And since my LibraryThing files indicate that I've read over 150, that comes as high praise. I'd not heard of Stephan Pastis or his "Pearls Before Swine" series, and picked this one up for a dollar at a place that sells used books. It's the best dollar I've spent in a very long time.

The cartoon series features slow-witted hapless Pig (who has a love of bacon :-) ), plus the arrogant know-it-all Rat, and their colleagues Zebra show more and Goat. The dialogue drives the stories; and Pastis' sense of humor is witty, smart, with frequent elements of dark humor. The cartoon stories are presented in 3-box sequences (as in daily newspapers) with periodic 6-box features (Sunday papers).

From this pleasurable experience, I plan to get more of the Pearls Before Swine series. I highly recommend the comics for their offbeat humor and the bizarre genius of their creator. Pastis' Wikipedia page reveals that he began his career as an attorney, hated it, and quit, to become a full-time cartoonist (with the help of tips picked up by Scott Adams, the inventor of "Dilbert" cartoons). show less