Comics Part 2

Last month our Comics Part 1 post introduced some comic contenders. This month I’m happy to bring you three more! 

Book covers for Noodleheads Lucky Day by Tedd Arnold, Martha Hamilton, & Mitch Weiss, illustrated by Tedd Arnold, 
A Pig, a Fox and a Fox by Jonathan Fenske and Pizza & Taco: Who's the Best? by Stephen Shaskan 

Noodleheads Lucky Day by Tedd Arnold, Martha Hamilton, & Mitch Weiss, illustrated by Tedd Arnold 

In 2018 Noodleheads See the Future was named a Geisel Honor. This year brings us the fifth title in the series, all about the many ways the Noodleheads accidentally change bad luck into good. Ever gullible, the brothers fall for every single one of Meatball’s tricks as they run errands for their mother and look for a kitten to adopt. All the stellar hallmarks of the series are present in this book: speech bubbled text, word repetition, clever ways of defining idioms, and humor galore. While much of the book is supportive for developing readers, there’s one section in particular that could present some challenges. When the brothers brainstorm names for their new kitten, they come up with increasingly ridiculously monikers. More familiar words like “Sky” and Cloudy” build up to “Hippopotamus”, “Blippopotamus”, “Gobbledygook”, and “Nincompoop.” That said, there’s an undeniable page-turning dynamic to this silly romp full of wordplay that certainly speaks to the award’s criteria. 

A Pig, a Fox and a Fox by Jonathan Fenske 

Pig and Fox are back for their third misadventure. Fox has a fox doll, perfect for playing tricks on Pig. As always, Pig manages to step away from each prank unscathed, while Fox is smooshed and bandaged by the end of the book. As with Geisel honor title, A Pig, a Fox and a Box (2016), Fenske brings such a wonderful sense of Seussian rhythm to the rhyming text, which helps readers predict final words in sentences. Speech bubbles are color coded and word repetition builds in the same way chapters build to the inevitable climax. The slapstick humor is augmented by fun illustrations, especially those showing pig’s porcine-inspired abode. Could Fenske snag another Geisel nod? We’ll have to wait and see! 

Pizza & Taco: Who's the Best? by Stephen Shaskan 

A new pair of friends joins the ranks of beginning reader dynamic duos in this humorous series starter. Pizza and Taco’s best friendship is threatened when their competition to be the best escalates. They extol their own virtues, give campaign speeches, and count votes, only to realize that while each one is best at different things, the one thing they are both best at is being best friends. The cartoonish illustrations use a combination of photographs of real food and digital techniques. The rest of the book seems to be a bit of a mash up as well. For instance, the font is supportive for developing readers, but the slangy language and vocabulary used might well fly over the heads of young readers. For example, Hamburger claims he’s a “write-in candidate” and later Pizza gripes, “Popular vote doesn’t count!” Personally, I have reservations about recommending a book that includes an election rife with dishonest candidates, name-calling, and outright cheating given the real-life election season we’re living through currently. But I have to say, I’ve had my fair share of conversations with K-2nd graders who absolutely love pizza and tacos, so perhaps the main characters alone will draw readers in.

Have we missed any stellar comics for beginning readers published this year? Let us know in the comments.