The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan

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.

November 1, 2011
Who says penguins are cute? The title tells readers everything they need to know. Or, as Ace puts it, "Hundreds of evil penguins!" Ace is a beaver who likes to surf. His brother Bub likes to nap. Together, they have the skills to save their island from a plan involving a gigantic refrigerator. (Eaton has clearly taken great delight in drawing a fridge the size of Graceland.) Children will know if this is their kind of humor when they hear that the story is about an evil refrigerator that threatens the planet. The pictures look, charmingly, like doodles readers might have sketched during a boring class. Some of the jokes are dumb. (BEAVER: "Something smells fishy…." SEABIRDS: "That's probably us.") Some are transcendentally dumb. A pun about blueprints is set up with the precision of a rocket launch or a Rube Goldberg device. Not every punch line works, but halfway through, everything clicks into place, and the plot achieves the sort of energy that would have made Goldberg proud. The second book in the series, The Fishy Business (releasing simultaneously), is funny from the first panel. The laws of probability suggest that volume three will be a real achievement. Some readers won't make it through the most painful jokes, but those who do will see something marvelous building itself in front of their eyes. (Graphic novel. 6-9)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2012
Grades 2-4 A group of evil penguins steals Ace's surfboard just before the big surfing competition. Together with his brother, Bub, the beaver must not only rescue his surfboard but also stop the penguins from hatching an evil plan and destroying the whole island. The first title in Eaton's new series makes excellent use of deceptively simple art and snappy sound effects; in the opening sequence, readers will almost be able to feel the wind whistling past. Young readers will love the cartoonish characters, rendered in a three-color palette that is popular in Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm's Babymouse and Squish graphic novels. They'll also enjoy the silly puns and the wacky visual humor, such as how the penguin's submarine resembles a refrigerator. With more action than dialogue, this is an especially good pick for reluctant readers. The environmental message is on the subtle side, but kids will be eager for more beaver action, so libraries should look for volume 2 (The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Fishy Business), being released at the same time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)