Kittenpie Reads KidLit

by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Another one a coworker told me about - it's great having someone else in the children's department to share thoughts with! This short graphic novel/easy to read book uses a lot of the devices of plot and setting that are familiar to readers of this level, but melds them with comic book superheroes for a ridiculous but really fun take on an early graphic novel. Imagine if the cartoon-y sections of Captain Underpants took over the whole book... there you go. You've got it now. It is similarly funny and irreverent, though parents should like it better for the fact that its humour is very slightly more sophisticated and far less toilet-based!

I really liked the clever way the author inserted spy tools into the lunch lady's standard arsenal of tools like lunch trays that become laptop, hairnets that become net to bind bad guys, and so on. The plot is simplistic, but well-suited to ER readers, and the evil plot not so evil as to create nightmares, especially as the images are simply drawn and printed in black line and yellow colouring only.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and now obviously need to get my hands on the second installment, which involves evil librarians...

Labels: 2009, action/adventure, early chapters, graphic novel, humour