The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Fishy Business

March 1, 2012

K-Gr 3-Ace and Bub are distinguishable from one another only by their shorts; they both have a yen for adventure and a tendency to get caught up in major animal kingdom conspiracies. Their primary nemesis is Bruce, a larger beaver with a commensurate ego, but they also end up battling the evil plans of penguins and mackerel. The art is simplistic, using a single spot color to add some variety to the background and to highlight the narrow line work. The visual design limits the expressions of the characters to a precious few primitive reactions. Despite this, the books are fun reads, exhibiting a glib sense of the absurd as well as solid comic timing. Something is always happening, a wonderfully terrible pun is being set up, or someone will regularly make an aside to readers. Much of the charm of the books comes from the particularly offbeat humor-Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.