The Dunderheads, by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by David Roberts - review

The Dunderheads, by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by David Roberts
Do you want to live in David Roberts's world? I want to live in David Roberts's world. In David Roberts's world, no trip to the thrift store does NOT yield a polyester caftan in a trippy geometric pattern. Or at least a pair of green Chucks. In David Roberts's world, every surface is there to be customized with gaffer's tape in lots of colors. In David Roberts's world, it is impossible to pass by a jacket with a circle zipper pull and not want to put it on. (The circle zipper pull being, of course, the sexiest item ever to appear in the notions aisle.) In David Roberts's world, even a lawn chair with yellow and gray webbing is the coolest webbed lawn chair I have ever seen. That part's actually a bit frustrating. I'm never going to find a lawn chair that looks that good.

But what makes Dunderheads the perfect storm of quirky greatness is that David Roberts's world has somehow overlaid and merged with Paul Fleischman's world. Paul Fleischman, whose previous world, Weslandia, was also a world I wanted to live in. Not least because it's just a darn clever name.

In Paul Fleischman's world, every child feels free to express his or her individuality in every way possible - through the acquisition and deployment of bizarrely abstruse knowledge; by discovering and practicing (and in some cases, inventing) an unique talent; or? by filing one's fingernails into handy tools. In Paul Fleischman's world, Pluck Conquers All.

The Dunderheads are a group of kids so labeled by their villainous teacher, a towering bully who despises children and loves things with pointy teeth and/or spikes. Miss Breakbone keeps an electric chair in her classroom and awards herself a gold star whenever she makes a child cry. In other words, she is a Miss Trunchbull in dire need of a Matilda to scare her off. But this is Paul Fleischman's world, remember?

What follows is not a Use of Underage Magic story - what follows is a classic American Kids Get Even tall tale. Didn't you hear those stories when you were growing up? The story about how those kids, a few years older than you, finally got back at Coach Wolf by putting a potato in his tailpipe? Or how Miss Park lost her eyebrows one time because somebody doctored her makeup? Those kids in those stories were HEROES. Like Paul Fleischman's heroes. Everyday, funny, underdog heroes.

Man, I am really babbling along here, aren't I? It's because I just keep paging through the book and finding more to love. I am pretty darn sure David Roberts has quoted a couple of his own characters from Iggy Peck, Architect and Dumpster Diver, but I can't be fussed to go get those books to check, because they're in the room where my sons are (supposedly) sleeping.

So, one day, Miss Breakbone goes too far. She confiscates an item that the smallest kid, a boy called Junkyard, who wears a rainbow on his sweater and a Quadrophenia patch on his jeans, had been planning to give to his mom for her birthday. She makes him cry. The kids embark upon a daring plan that will humiliate Miss Breakbone and restore Junkyard's pride, not to mention his property.



It's worth mentioning that Dunderheads is a long-form picture book, almost a graphic novel, really. My rising third grader read it to me and to his younger brother with no trouble (their faces shining - they love it when the bad guy gets his due). In the picture above, 5th grader Rabbit is reading it to rapt 3rd graders Legolas, Zee, & Mao, plus my 1st grade Zhou. Although not a chapter book, it falls into that short-long space that is so hard to keep populated when the second graders come around. Thanks, Mr. Fleischman!

It is also worth mentioning that while David Roberts is a master of stylized, expressive characters sporting fearless fashion choices ("from the sixties, seventies, AND eighties" as the classic rock station trumpets), there are many many illustration and design elements quoted from various sources and executed in different styles, all of which he does well. It gives his world a lot of depth. As Laurie Anderson said, "You know? I think we should put some mountains here. Otherwise, what are all the characters going to fall off of?"

And I'm out. Go find this one.

Baron von Baddie and the Ice Ray Incident by George McClements - review

Battling the giant flying fish in 3D
Originally uploaded by your neighborhood librarian

In my house, after dinner, there is frequently a game called Dad Dad Mister Mad.

You may have a game like this in your house too.

My husband is Dad Dad Mister Mad, who takes on different identities every night: The Evil X, The Flying Velociraptor, Larry Jenkins, to name but a few. My boys (the two on the right in this picture) are the good guys, naturally. The one in the middle is frequently a double agent of some kind. One night he was an arms dealer who intentionally sold a defective weapon to The Evil X, so that his brother would have an advantage in the final battle.

It's good imaginative fun, although now that they've been watching the Olympics and have been exposed to Greco-Roman wrestling, I have suggested that my husband buy himself a cup. Those kids are getting bigger.

The part I love the most is prior to the action. The three of them sit together and plot out the night's adventure in some detail before they begin. My husband has found that it's better to be pro-active than reactive when it comes to superheroic misunderstandings.

The same can be said for Baron von Baddie and his arch-enemy, Captain Kapow. No matter how nefarious the plans of evil genius Baron von Baddie, Captain Kapow always thwarts them, saves the day, and puts Baron von Baddie in the clink.



Until one day, when, completely by accident, Baron von Baddie - wins. Captain Kapow is out of the action! The Baron can eat all the doughnuts he wants!

But, just as my heroes would be bored without the evil Dad Dad Mister Mad to thwart, Baron von Baddie becomes sick of doughnuts, uses his genius to restore Captain Kapow, and, after a brief jail term contemplating his evil ways, resumes them with gusto.

I probably do not need to add that George McClements's toothy, tactile collage illustrations are inventive and engaging - you know that already. But I will say that I just love the Baron. With his shiny black rubber gloves, dark goggles, necktie, and shock of black hair, he is a tiny little baddie for the ages. Like a little Victor von Frankenstein, or Dr. Lizardo in Buckaroo Banzai.

Hooray!

Walk on! A guide for babies of all ages by Marla Frazee - review

Marla Frazee could draw a book about folding laundry and I would read it. She reminds me of Jan Ormerod, whose 101 Things to Do with a Baby is out of print, but which I find used copies of for all my friends who get babied-up (and which does contain an illustration of folding laundry, come to think of it).

Anyway, Walk on! is So Much Fun. From the typography to the expressions on the baby's face, it is clean and funny and sly. The fact that it would also work for anyone embarking on a life change, like a college graduate or a person just getting divorced, is a mind-blowing bonus.

The Amazing Spider-Man Pop-Up - review

Spider-Man pop-up, originally uploaded by your neighborhood librarian.

I got two words for you, and for my little boys, and for every little boy everywhere: "The Amazing Spider-Man Pop-Up: Marvel True Believers Retro Collection". Well, obviously, that's about 40 words - trust Marvel to never call something "Spider-Man Pop-Up" when it could be called The Amazing Spider-Man Pop-Up: Marvel True Believers Retro Collection. Sheesh. There's never been a comic book reader born that has not cursed Marvel at one time or another.

The book is not that fantastic, as pop-ups go, but it is packed with (recycled) content and mini stories. Plus, the subject matter alone has made it an object of worship in my house.

And it's not my sloppy camera work - the thing really is a trapezoid and not a rectangle.