Funny Kid for President

September 1, 2017

Gr 3-5-Max Walburt decides to run for class president. Since he's not the best athlete, the smartest, the tallest, or the most handsome, his platform will be that he is the funniest. And funny he proves to be in this hilarious combination of text, drawings, and comics. Max has a lot to deal with: he's being stalked by a duck who thinks he's its mother, his teacher absolutely loathes him, and somebody pooped on the classroom floor (Max is blamed for this transgression even though he's innocent). And classmate Abby Purcell, who, like every villain, has one magical eyebrow that can be raised cynically at will, vows to beat him in the election. Poop, vomit, and snot jokes abound as each candidate is taken out of the competition by someone's evilly successful plan. But who is the culprit behind the election sabotage? Max and his friend Hugo are on the case. Max's droll observations are made even more comical by the simple but highly expressive line drawings, which enhance the humor and plot immensely. This book is guaranteed to be very popular with reluctant readers. Australian spellings will be easily understood. VERDICT Fans of "Captain Underpants" will love this new kid in town. Highly recommended for middle grade collections.-B. Allison Gray, Goleta Public Library, CA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2017
Run for class president? Now that's a funny idea. Eleven-year-old Max Walburt is not the most popular kid at Redhill Middle School, but he is Mr. Armstrong's favorite person to blame when things go wrong. When a dollop of poop appears in the class storeroom and an incensed Mr. Armstrong blames Max without evidence, Max plots revenge with his fat, dim buddy, Hugo. The plot's exposed by too-short (and very evil) Abby Purcell, and the ensuing chaos causes principal Mrs. Sniggles to order a class election. Max throws his hat in the ring, but something's up. Handsome (and lactose-intolerant) opponent Kevin experiences a vomit event in the library, and he's out. Tall Ryan has a disastrous gym class, and he's out. Can Max, using his sense of humor, join with unlikely allies and discover what's going on (while escaping a psycho-stalker duck)? Stanton kicks off a series of illustrated misadventures with a more-than-slightly scatological mystery. The kids are not a lot more than their central quirks, but the straightforward if mean-spirited story does have moments of good comic timing. The poop-centered mystery won't be to everyone's taste, but Wimpy Kid fans may seek the sequel. Max, Hugo, and the teachers are white; Kevin and Abby have brown skin, and Ryan may be Asian. Funny kid's far from LOL-funny...but he'll elicit some giggles. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)

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October 23, 2017
Kids who get a kick out of scatological humor and doomed-to-backfire scenarios will find plenty of both in this heavily illustrated series opener from Stanton (This Is a Ball). At its center is a deluded but quick-witted boy named Max and his sidekick, Hugo. The opening line, “Someone has pooped in the storeroom,” sets the stage; Mr. Armstrong, a teacher who has it in for Max, blames the mess on him (and forces him to clean it up), despite Max’s claims of innocence. When the no-nonsense new principal, Mrs. Sniggles, decides that a class president is the solution to Mr. Armstrong’s disorderly classroom, Max vows to win the election, hoping to best his teacher and become the most popular kid in his class “in one simple move.” Outlined in thick strokes of black, Stanton’s chunky cartoons are integrated throughout the story, with digital drop shadows adding to the paper-doll quality of his flattened characters. It’s a love-it-or-hate-it type of story, one that should hit the spot for fans of projectile vomit gags and the like. Ages 8–12.

November 15, 2017
Grades 3-5 A middle-schooler locks horns with a genuinely awful teacher in a heavily illustrated farce that opens with a mysterious pile of poop and goes on to a classroom electoral race, punctuated with farts, belching, projectile vomit, and, oh yes, a butt-biting duck. After several clashes with choleric, muscle-bound instructor Mr. Armstrong, including being unjustly blamed for said poop, Max angrily enters the race for class president. Though two opponents are felled by, respectively, food poisoning and a hurtling basketball to the head, and Max's campaign gets a huge boost when a duck follows him into school and proceeds to chase him around the room, Armstrong's open opposition and a series of humiliating setbacks leave the issue in doubt. Suspecting that Armstrong is trying to fix the election, Max and archrival Abby band togetherwith the duckin an elaborate scheme to expose Armstrong before the principal. Interspersing the narrative with South Park-style line drawings, Stanton sticks closely enough to the Wimpy Kid formula to ensure a broad and gleeful audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Middle schooler Max, a frequent target of his brutish teacher's scorn, finds himself running for class president against his nemesis, Abby, and teacher's pet Layla. While campaigning, Max accidentally discovers humor's power to distract his classmates from his nonexistent platform. Though mainly comprised of two-dimensional characters, this slapstick-filled story may appeal to Wimpy Kid fans thanks to its ample black-and-white cartoon illustrations.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)