Showing posts with label peanut allergy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peanut allergy. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Graphic Novel Week: Big City Otto


Big City Otto
by Bill Slavin
Kids Can Press, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

Otto, the elephant, can't forget his childhood friend, Georgie, the chimp, who was stolen from the jungle by The Man With the Wooden Nose. Crackers, the parrot, and Otto set out to find Georgie. They manage to get on a plane as excess baggage, get to A Big City in America, and begin to search for Georgie. They wind up involved with some shady 'gators in the underground (literally) of the big city. They bust up the mob, get some clues about Georgie, and set off for the Bayou to find him.

There are a lot of sight gags and puns in this story that are likely to go right over younger readers' heads, but young readers are also more likely to accept the impossibility of...well, of the entire storyline. The talking animals, an elephant who can disguise himself in a jacket and hat and go undetected in a crowd...it's all crazy enough to be on Saturday morning TV. Which is why it might work better for kids than logic-minded adults.

This is the second graphic novel this summer (see my review of Sidekicks) that has featured a character with a peanut allergy! Otto is allergic to peanuts, and the mobster 'gators use his explosive sneezes to their advantage.

This is book one of a series that might need to be read sequentially. It's interesting that the story line is the same basic story line as the THREE THIEVES series that I reviewed yesterday: the are chased, separated, helped, reunited, swindled, separated again, helped again, reunited, and the book ends as they set off on in a new direction to find the missing character.

Recommended for readers in 4th-6th grades.


Thursday, July 14, 2011

SIDEKICKS

Sidekicks

Sidekicks by Dan Santant
Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

Here's another great stand-alone graphic novel that will be a welcome addition to my classroom library.

This is the story of an aging superhero, Captain Amazing, who's going to audition for a new sidekick. (Captain Amazing lives in Metro City, where he belongs to the Society of Superheroes. It's a little like the Imagine Nation in THE ACCIDENTAL HERO.)

This is also the story of the faithfulness of pets. Captain Amazing's dog (Roscoe), hamster (Fluffy), chameleon (Shifty), and his cat (Manny), all have super powers of their own and all are all willing to do whatever it takes to help/cover for Captain Amazing.

The contrasting background in this graphic novel is used mostly for nighttime scenes, but there is one sequence in sepia that is a flashback. It will be interesting to introduce my fourth graders to another way color change in the background is used (most often it denotes dream sequences).

Peanut allergies have an important part in this story. I'm thinking that there are plenty of kids out there who will be heartened by the fact that even a superhero can have a peanut allergy. (Think kryptonite...)