Benjamin Bear in Brain Storms!

August 1, 2015

K-Gr 2-Benjamin Bear is back for more gags and jokes that will make kids think and laugh out loud. Whether Benjamin Bear is teaching math or logic, waiting for a date, or navigating across mountains, he is always hilarious, and each one-page comic delivers a fun and sometimes-whimsical payoff. Kids will enjoy revisiting each page over and over and sharing the jokes with their friends. The zany humor paired with single page comics makes this an imaginative read. VERDICT A must-have for early readers who would like to try a graphic novel or comic.-Krishna Grady, Darien Library, CT

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2015
Grades K-2 The inscrutable Benjamin Bear returns with another couple dozen or so single-page gag comics that fit right in line with his previous antics in Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking (2011) and Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas! (2013). Coudray's particular skill in crafting subtle, clever, and well-timed jokes makes them nearly impossible to describe. But, just to get an idea, in one strip Benjamin's rabbit pal asks if he can break a hulking tree in two. Of course! Benjamin says, easily snapping the end off a low-hanging branch. Et voila: tree broken! Coudray's forest critters are approachably cute, and they make for a gentle, unfrenzied introduction to the joys of absurdity. Unlocking what makes each strip funnywhich is often purely visual and sharply unexpectedwill reward bright kids with odd-shaped funny bones, and the added element of picking up some new vocabulary in the process is pure icing on the cake. For any kids who get in on the jokes, this one should have great replay value.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2015
Benjamin Bear returns for a third round of humorously bizarre mini-sagas. As in the first two volumes (Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking, rev. 11/11; Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas, rev. 3/13), each page contains a stand-alone comic strip (with title in bold) featuring Benjamin's decidedly fuzzy logic. Here Benjamin solves the problem of how to get that last apple from the tree (by knocking all of the other apples down and standing on the pile, in the strip Solution ); there -- in what seems to be a recurring issue for Benjamin -- how to cross a ravine (examined in three separate strips, including the aptly titled Bridging the Gap, in which Benjamin employs a bouncing soccer ball and some well-timed jumps). Coudray uses visuals effectively to consistently get laughs (many of the strips are completely wordless). There's the usual quirky crew of animal characters, depicted in Coudray's bug-eyed (yet deadpan) style that makes each critter the perfect straight-man for all those sight gags. Although not as uniformly brilliant as previous volumes, overall, Brain Storms! is another fine installment in this idiosyncratic series. sam bloom

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2015
Benjamin Bear returns for a third round of humorously bizarre mini-sagas. As before, each page contains a stand-alone comic strip featuring Benjamin's decidedly fuzzy logic. Coudray uses visuals effectively to consistently get laughs (many of the strips are completely wordless). The quirky animal characters are depicted in Coudray's bug-eyed yet deadpan style, making each critter the perfect straight-man for all those sight gags.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)