Day: April 30, 2024

Love the humor. It’s like a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Charlie Brown, in my head. And the scrawly, very expressive artwork is great. Fun lively curling lines everywhere. So unique.

Amelia tries to start a food fight at school, the boys zombie out on video games, and Spud makes himself too welcome at Wallace’s house (when his friend isn’t home). Wallace demands attention from his mom at the beach- only the lady ignoring him is not his mom. The family waffles over what ice cream flavor to order, until the shop attendant gets annoyed. Wallace and his two friends go hunting for Sasquatch, eclipsing many pages. They find an old lava lamp in a box of giveaway junk. They are awed. Wallace is more concerned about the bee than his friend, when the latter steps on the former. He dares to get close to skunks, imagines sea monsters, and is enthralled by pinball machines. His mother borrows his comic book “to make sure it’s appropriate for children” and then laughingly threatens to give him spoilers! (This is so me and my kid). Wallace gets his head stuck in a pumpkin. The kids experience thrills on a tire swing. Wallace teases his dad for loving old records. The kids confront a giant snapping turtle, bike down the steepest hill in town, and imagine themselves in outer space. And more, so much more.

Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 4/8/24.

Found this by chance browsing the library shelves. Enjoyed it so much I immediately requested all five of the series. This one will be forever fixed in my memory because my kid and I read it side-by-side (waiting for the other to finish before turning the page) while watching the solar eclipse. So now you know how far behind I am on typing up my reviews. We’d set a three-minute timer to view the sun with awe, then turn onto our bellies to read a handful of pages while taking a break- and repeat. On a blanket in a field. Both got a lot of chuckles out of this book.

It’s comics about this kid and his precocious little brother (I think– he speaks in complete sentences but gets carried around in a snugli thing, so not sure of the age), his best friend Spud, and a new girl in town who impresses the boys when on her first day at school she loudly announces she will lob a rock at a hornet’s nest- and does! They live in a small fishing village. Wacky little adventures, odd and sometimes disgusting kid interests, funny quips by the parents trying to tolerate all the mayhem. Really enjoyable. These kids climb onto roofs to see the view, dare each other to stick arms down a hole with an unknown occupant, fish for coins in a storm drain, sneak toys to school in their lunchbox, gift each other dead insects, throw mushy apples at tourists on the ferry, rescue a snake from the school bathroom, take flying leaps off the swing, and so much more. I loved the parents’ characterization just as much. Like when the mom realizes she enjoys comic books too (discovered because she had to read a few to check for violence or other objective material, before letting her kid have them) and then embarrasses Wallace by going to the comic store with him. Ha ha.

Borrowed from the public library.