Killer Koalas from Outer Space and Lots of Other Very Bad Stuff that Will Make Your Brain Explode!

August 29, 2011
Readers of Griffiths and Denton’s previous collaborations—The Cat on the Mat Is Flat and The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapow—won’t be surprised by the abundant scatological humor (“poo” is a recurring motif), gruesome demises, and all-around absurdity that fill the pages of this collection of poems, comics, jokes, and short stories. Griffiths and Denton, who contributes sketchy line art that ranges from piles of guts to Mad magazine parodies, work together in discordant harmony to land one playfully vile punch after another. In the opening sequence, a newscaster announces that extraterrestrial killer koalas have arrived and are “running around ripping everybody’s faces off,” a mock apocalyptic scenario documented in panel cartoons (the newscaster’s fate is hardly pretty). Among the collaborators’ creations are “Little Bad Riding Hood,” (who refuses to bring medicine to her grandmother); “Bad Macdonald,” whose “stinky farm” is filled with dead animals; and a family of dog poo. It’s lowest-common-denominator fun, and while parents may turn up their noses, there are plenty of kids who will laugh their heads off (if not literally). Ages 8–12.

Starred review from September 1, 2011

Sometimes bad can be very, very good indeed.

Griffiths proves this time and again in this hilarious collection of rude, lewd and crude poems, jokes and cautionary tales. Deliciously revolting characters in stories like "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Poo" and "Mud Brown and the Seven Slobs" are sure to leave young, potty-humor–loving readers in stitches. Denton's edgy, stick-figure illustrations only add to the fun, upping the gross-out ante and giving the collection a frenetic energy that makes the book nearly impossible to put down. Readers will cringe as "Bad Mommy and Daddy" allow their son to jump into a volcano. They'll wince each time a killer koala rips somebody's face off. And here's the best part, they'll do it with gigantic smiles on their faces. The genius of this subversive little tome lies in its perfect combination of zany subject matter that will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers and a format that make it easily accessible to beginning and struggling readers. With plenty of white space on each page and hilarious comic-strip–style illustrations that reinforce story matter, this book would make a great, though certainly untraditional, easy read.

As promised, this book is filled with loads of "Very Bad Stuff that Will Make Your Brain Explode!"—what could be better than that? (Poetry/graphic short stories. 7-12)

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

October 1, 2011

Gr 4-6-Fans of Captain Underpants will delight in this collection of short-and quite sick-stories and cartoons. They are filled with "Very Bad" characters, such as The Very Bad Dentist, who tries to extract a patient's tooth but pulls his head off instead. The Very Bad Fish replaces the bait on a fishing line with a lighted stick of TNT, and when the fisherman feels a tug and pulls up the line, he is blown to pieces. The Very Bad Giraffe devours a small boy when his parents' backs are turned, after having told their son that "giraffes are completely harmless." It's doubtful that these micro-stories, or the goofy but sometimes gory cartoon illustrations accompanying them, will upset the readers at whom they're aimed. This book is a hoot.-Walter Minkel, Austin Public Library, TX

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2011
Grades 4-7 From the author of The Day My Butt Went Psycho! (2003), this m'lange of brief verse, short and short-short stories, jokes, and comics-style illustrations offers outlandish silliness, grossology, and plenty of riffs on familiar scenarios and tales. Readers will encounter Bad Macdonald and his farm of dead, stinky animals (ee-i-ee-i pee-uw! is the refrain); a Very Bad Ant, who recklessly commandeers a rocket into the sun for a fieryand fatalfinish; failed inventions, such as Non-elastic Underpants; and lots of potty humor (The Old Woman Who lived in a Poo). There are also lots of untimely, often explosive ends for the badly behaved animal and human characters, from a sneaky child-eating giraffe to oblivious parents who permit their son to jump into a volcano, along with evidence of very bad ideas, as when a kid tries to stop a bus with his bare hands. With a tone that veers between crass and cautionary, the nonstop absurdities and blatant hyperbole will easily find an audience with middle-graders.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2012
Not for the squeamish, this silly book includes a variety of gross and amusingly bad ideas, presented through comics, short stories, jokes, and nursery-rhyme parodies (e.g., "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Poo"). Fans of Captain Underpants and the Wimpy Kid will enjoy the exaggerated illustrations and body-centered humor, including a boy who literally loses his head.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)