With marvelously economical narration and line drawings, Agee (The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau) conjures a formidable tale of a struggling magician. Continue reading »
WHO ORDERED THE JUMBO SHRIMP?: And Other Oxymorons
Jon Agee
"Palindrome collector Agee turns his attention to oxymorons in this witty compendium" said PW. "He pairs 60 illogical sayings like 'Near Continue reading »
Agee (Milo's Hat Trick) serves up a witty, stylish abecedary that is deceptive in its simplicity. Edging slyly into the proceedings with a pair of Continue reading »
Eugene Crumb, the balding and paunchy protagonist of this desert-island send-up, views every lucky break with pessimism. When he wins a cruise to Bermuda, he sighs, "Terrific... I'll Continue reading »
With its unmannerly title in red capital letters, this book hails spoonerisms as a puckish delight. It also dares upstanding adults to put it on display, and invites giggling and cringing Continue reading »
Fourteen picture book creators try their hands on an age-old question in this intermittently funny compendium. Each participant faces the challenge in a full-bleed spread. Some take a wordless Continue reading »
Money for nothing? Certainly—that’s the premise of Agee’s (Terrific
) wry story of desire and excess. Antiques dealer Otis has sold all his Continue reading »
“It's been a wonderful eight years... but I need a break,” says Brian, exhausted from school, soccer and broccoli-eating. Toting golf clubs, he boards a plane to Florida. At the Continue reading »
Mr. Putney has the bald pate, brushy mustache, and unsmiling stare of a stereotypical schoolteacher—the better to cast deadpan expressions at his oddball collection of animals, from an industrious Continue reading »
In this droll, sophisticated tale, an unknown artist enters a Paris contest with a painting of a duck; the repercussions are mighty when the painting begins to quack. Ages 3-up. Continue reading »
Lurid colors combine with the dense black in Agee's illustrations of a strange tale about louring Ludlow. Born with his mouth in a downward curve, Ludlow never smiles. When he becomes an adult, he Continue reading »
At first glance, a story of a boy and an empty cardboard box would seem devoid of potential, but an elephant, a giraffe, a monkey and a host of assorted other jungle animals enliven the situation Continue reading »
Like Agee's (The Return of Freddy LeGrande; The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau) previous protagonists, his latest lead character accomplishes what should be a loudly heralded feat: Dmitri has Continue reading »
Palindrome collector Agee (Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!) turns his attention to oxymorons in this witty compendium. He pairs 60 illogical sayings like ""Near Miss"" and ""Sharp Curves"" with Continue reading »
Even the price is a palindrome in Jon Agee's latest witty collection, Palindromania!, the fourth title in a series that started with Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog! The oblong edition runneth Continue reading »
Who paints the most fantastic pictures in France? Is it Gaston du Stroganoff? Felicien CaffayOllay? Alphonse LeCamembair? Only when an unknown painter by the name of Clousseau paints a portrait of a Continue reading »
Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!: And Other Palindromes
Jon Agee
Agee's lighthearted black-and-white cartoons illustrate a roundup of clever palindromes--words and phrases that can be read from left to right and in reverse. Among the 60-odd entries are those Continue reading »
``Curses!'' cries the famous French aviator Freddy LeGrand, parachuting out of his beloved early-20th-century biplane as it hurtles towards earth. Luckily, he has already made it across the Atlantic, Continue reading »
Palindromic pundit Agee follows up his Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog! with another volume of black-and-white cartoons and punchy captions that can be read forward or backward. Some of the Continue reading »
PW's starred review praised the ``dramatic flair'' and ``effervescent spirit'' of this inventive tale about a French aviator with nine lives. Ages 3-up. Continue reading »
Agee, whose previous palindromic volumes include Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog! and So Many Dynamos!, makes another dizzying effort to exhaust the English-language palindrome supply. He Continue reading »
With characteristic glee, oxymoron and palindrome fiend Agee (Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp?; Sit on a Potato Pan, Otis!) here presents a set of anagrams--some of them borrowed from other wordplay Continue reading »
Adopting a rhinoceros, in and of itself, would be absurd enough for most storytellers. For Agee (Milo's Hat Trick), it is simply the first in a series of weird narrative curveballs. The young Continue reading »
After picking up a rotund mustachioed man in a head-to-toe green jumpsuit and pink briefcase, a seen-it-all New York City cabbie takes his fare to “the other side of town.” There, amid the hustle and Continue reading »
How did Santa become Santa? Agee’s inspired account of the jolly man’s boyhood offers some clues. Though Santa’s miserable parents and six older siblings want to trade their tough North Pole life for Continue reading »
Stanley the beagle is a diehard fixer-upper, and for some reason he likes doing noisy chores in the middle of the night. One by one, he wakes up every member of the alliteratively named Wimbledon Continue reading »
Bypassing storefronts that advertise karate, tutoring, and violin lessons, this book’s young narrator walks into a shop offering “Lion Lessons” and chooses a tawny, maned costume. His instructor, an Continue reading »
Dramatic irony rules this expedition to Mars, in which a young human roams the rocky environment, unaware that he is not alone. The sky is black, the landscape the color of dust. The frowning boy Continue reading »
In this sly fable by Agee (Life on Mars), a tall brick wall runs along the book’s gutter, and the action takes place on either side. On the verso, a short, perky knight approaches the wall Continue reading »
Since his 1981 debut, Jon Agee has published more than 30 picture books; we spoke with the author-illustrator about his newest, 'The Wall in the Middle of the Book,' which plays Continue reading »
In Jon Agee's graphic novel fantasy adventure, 'Otto: A Palindrama,' a boy eating wonton soup falls into a daydream about pursuing his runaway dog Pip, and enters a weird world Continue reading »
Among the titles Milo reads one night, one is “about a monster under the bed. Milo should not have read that book.” Frightened, he uses a flashlight to signal Mel, his best Continue reading »
In this engaging novel by Kelly (The First State of Being), eminently likable, curious eight-year-old Felix, who cues as white, is inexplicably drawn to a seemingly nondescript Continue reading »
Dynamic spreads by Zhang pulse with energy as they capture the casual grace of Japan’s demae—cycling food deliverers—who, from the 1930s to the 1970s, per an end note, balanced Continue reading »
Barrio Rising: The Protest That Built Chicano Park
María Dolores Águila
In this activist picture book, a child living in San Diego’s Barrio Logan vividly narrates, in English and Spanish, a story of individual and collective strength. In their Continue reading »