Mal and Chad--Food Fight!

January 1, 2012
There are some literary characters you wish were real, so that you could be friends with them, and Mal and Chad may belong on that list. Talking dogs are the subject of a lot of jokes, but they have feelings, too. Chad, for example, has two shameful secrets: He's frightened by his dreams, and he's afraid of cats. Every night, he dreams he's being chased by a cat of monstrous size. Luckily, his best friend is Mal, who's invented a machine that lets them walk into dreams, and the two of them can face the monster together. Dream sequences are a gold mine for a cartoonist. McCranie has seized the chance to fit every item in his sketchbook into the story. The high point is a forest made out of snack food. Mal immediately starts making snow angels in the chocolate-chip ice cream. The inventions and talking animals may remind some readers of Calvin and Hobbes, but surprisingly, the graphic novel doesn't suffer much from the comparison. The timing isn't quite as sharp as Bill Watterson's, but some panels achieve a poignancy that makes this its own kind of story. Some readers will come for the heartbreak, others will come for the forest of cupcake trees, but everyone will be cheered by the happy ending, which involves the "biggest, bestest bark ever!" (Graphic novel. 8-11)

(COPYRIGHT (2012) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2012

Gr 2-5-Mal is a secret genius inventor in a lab coat and Chad is his pooch companion and best friend. In this volume, which lacks sufficient background for new readers, Mal is jealous of the secret codes that the neighborhood girls use to communicate, and in response he tries to start a club of his own with limited success. Also, he tries to help Chad banish his nightmarish fear of cats but inadvertently lets a monster feline into the real world. Drawn with a clear, lively line redolent-but not imitative-of Jeff Smith or Chris Eliopoulos, the visuals are fun and engaging and allow for a loose, unhurried humor. The story takes a few interesting twists and has some nicely observed details to go along with the punch lines. The characters lack any real depth or humanity, though, and fall down on the side of more obvious, surface characterizations. Mal's crush on Megan is particularly flummoxing, as it takes Megan the lion's share of the book to do anything that isn't cold or even vicious. Well paced, with a good variety of both stakes and scale, and rendered with effective and emotive line work, the story will find broad appeal among its target audience; it's too bad that the lack of character depth will prevent it from finding a crossover or all-ages audience that the art might merit.-Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2012
Grades 2-5 When not struggling with the petulance of other kids, Mala cross between Charlie Brown and a mad scientistinvents a dream-entering machine so that he can help his dog, Chad, with recurring nightmares of a giant cat. When the monstrous beast escapes the dreamworld, McCranie depicts a sense of menace that will thrill and chill his readers. He also exemplifies details of the human figure to bring out the huggability of his charming characters. As with the first book, The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever! (2011), this graphic novel delivers fast-paced fun that still captures the emotional trials of childhood with empathy and respect.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)