Blue, Barry & Pancakes (Blue, Barry & Pancakes, 1)

Three friends live in a big three-floored treehouse together: Blue (a worm); Barry (a frog); and Pancakes (a rabbit). In this first volume of a graphic novel series, the trio visit a beach and play with an inflatable ball, which gets lost in a spectacular way, resulting in increasingly ridiculous situations from a spaceship pool party to an inner volcano birthday party.

This is a very silly book that will appeal to kids who like goofy and slapstick humor, like Looney Tunes cartoons or Dog Man comics. The language is relatively simple and fairly sparse so this is a good choice for reluctant or struggling readers or those who are just moving on from early readers.

The reason I didn't like the book better was the characters were a little show more obnoxious in the beginning and I didn't quite get over that. I thought for such supposedly good friends, Barry and Pancakes choosing to play Keep Away with Blue in the middle *after* Blue explicitly asked them not to play with his collectible beach ball was poor behavior, although they do eventually apologize for it at the conclusion of the book. Also, in a very bizarre illustration, when the ball first goes missing, the thought/speech bubble for Blue is that of a ticking bomb. Is that supposed to indicate Blue is that angry? Or is a "bleep" for a curse word? I don't know but either way, it was weird and makes me feel uncomfortable recommending this book to youngsters.

The illustrative style is very cartoony, which fits with the tone and intended audience for the book, but it is not my preferred style. Backmatter develops the characters a little further; a brief mention of "her" here illuminates that Pancakes is a female character. show less

This is a perfect beginning graphic novel. The story is so cute. My nephew will flip over it, and as a struggling reader, it is perfect for where he is at. Plus I think Pancake will be one of his new favorite characters. I love how Blue (the worm) is the studious one, Barry is the middle child, and Pancakes is the crazy friend who wants to do it all and take you with them.

Friends make mistakes, realize what's most important (people, not things), and forgive each other during a day at the beach.

See also: Pea, Bee, and Jay