Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey

Starred review from May 28, 2012
In Traction Man’s third outing, the chiseled plastic hero spends a peril-filled day at the Wide Ocean with his doglike sidekick, Scrubbing Brush. In comic book–style sequences paired with prose that channels superhero pulp, Traction Man is buried by Granny’s drooling dog and then swept out to sea, only to be rescued by a girl who is happy to have Traction Man join her vacant-looking (but actually quite resourceful) Beach Time Brenda dolls in her sandcastle. Grey expertly skewers toy marketing (an endpaper spread showcasing Beach Time Brenda’s many accessories is especially wonderful) while creating comedic, large-scale dramas in a child-sized world. Ages 5–8.

Starred review from March 1, 2012
The intrepid, square-jawed action figure Traction Man is back, but is he ready for the likes of Beach-Time Brendaa"[? The endpapers alone are worth the price of admission to the third comic-book-style picture book in Grey's award-winning Traction Man series, thanks to the commercial glory of Beach-Time Brendaa"[. She is "fully accessorized with lots and lots of stuff," including "teeny tottery microshoes," a "pinkly patterned towel" and "unrealistic Vital Statistics." Traction Man collides with Beach-Time Brendaa"[ when he and Scrubbing Brush head off for a beach holiday, or more grandly, "odyssey." Granny comes, too, with her new pet dog Truffles. Once at the beach, it soon becomes Traction Man's charge to defend the picnic--especially the quiche--against Truffles. Truffles buries him, literally. The ever-loyal Scrubbing Brush digs him up, but watch out! Both hero and sidekick end up adrift in the ocean, then seaweed-compromised in a Beach-Time Brendaa"[ Bucket that belongs to another kid. Every vivacious spread teems with delicious details in a world where both the tide-pool creatures and the quiche have eyes. The spare, dryly funny text on bits of torn graph paper is perfectly choreographed with the colorful, boldly designed spreads. A wonderfully satirical, action-packed romp that echoes the grand tradition of comic books as it ingeniously communicates the complete absorption of imaginative play. (Picture book. 6-9)

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Starred review from April 15, 2012
Preschool-G *Starred Review* Here's another standout from a popular franchise. Traction Man Is Here! (2005) was great and Traction Man Meets Turbodog (2008) was even better. Here, just the endpapers in Traction Man's third picture book would immediately make this purchase worthy. Just as every Ken needs a Barbie, the action-figure star meets his match in Beach Time Brenda ( Fully Accessorized with Lots and Lots of Stuff and Available in Light Pink, Mid Pink, or Sick Pink ). In this adventure, Traction Man and his trusty sidekick, Scrubbing Brush, are brought to the beach by their boy owner. They explore an underwater world of crabs and cockles, defend their picnic lunch from a hungry dog, and get swept out to sea by a vigorous wave. They're rescued by a girl and squirreled away in a sand castle, where they meet two towering sirens called the Dollies ( You can stay in our castle FOR EVER! ). All ends well when, in a nice reversal, the Dollies show as much pluck as Traction Man in escaping as the castle crumbles. Grey supplies equal doses of humor and heroics in the zippy illustrations that play out the dual dramas on both human and miniature scales. The adventures that toys have apart from their owners is a surefire theme worth revisiting, and even more so when done with this much panache.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)