cover image Blue, Barry & Pancakes (Blue, Barry & Pancakes #1)

Blue, Barry & Pancakes (Blue, Barry & Pancakes #1)

Dan & Jason. First Second, $12.99 (96p) ISBN 978-1-250-25555-6

A friendly beach excursion turns into a fantastical adventure in this action-filled early reader graphic novel debut reminiscent of Nickelodeon cartoons. Within a three-story tree house reside three neighbors and best buds: Blue, a periwinkle worm who loves collecting; Barry, a square-shaped frog who enjoys drawing maps and diagrams; and Pancakes, a colossal yellow bunny with a pink tail. Bored during a trip to the beach, Barry and Pancakes—over Blue’s earnest objections—begin playing keep-away with Blue’s collectible beach ball. This straightforward conflict among friends grows comically dire when a whale rises from the sea and swallows the ball mid-throw, leading the trio on a madcap chase to recover it. The quest sends the threesome from the belly of the whale to an alien pool party to the center of a volcano, just in time for a bizarre birthday celebration. Creative team Dan & Jason write, draw, color, and letter together in their children’s book debut; they fill energetic and cinematic panels with sound effects and screwball comedy, resulting in an absurd tale of friendship that never stops moving. Ages 4–8. [em]Agent (for author and illustrator): Erica Rand Silverman, Stimola Literary Studio. (Mar.) [/em]