Blue, Barry & Pancakes

by Dan & Jason, Dan Abdo, Jason Patterson

Overview

Blue, Barry, and Pancakes are best friends, but sometimes friends make mistakes.

One day, when the gang goes to the beach, Barry and Pancakes lose Blue’s beloved beach ball. They come up with a plan to get it back, but things go way off course. Now, these pals will have to go inside a giant whale’s stomach, crash a pool party on an alien spaceship, and survive Duckzilla’s volcanic birthday bash if they ever hope to see Blue’s beach ball again!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250255556
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	03/09/2021
Series:	Blue, Barry & Pancakes , #1
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	106,590
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson go back. Waaaaay back. They got their start drawing and writing stories in what feels like the early Jurassic period, also known as the '90s, when they were making comics in the back of their high school art room. Annnnnd they never stopped!

The acclaimed cartooning duo live, breathe, and eat comics and animation. They love writing and drawing stories more than anything else in the whole wide world, and they really hope you like reading them. Dan and Jason making everything together! They think it, write it, draw it, mix it, bake it, and serve it as a team. Just like Blue, Barry, and Pancakes, they're best friends!

Editorial Reviews

02/01/2021

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. Agent (for author and illustrator): Erica Rand Silverman, Stimola Literary Studio. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"A friendly beach excursion turns into a fantastical adventure in this action-filled early reader graphic novel debut reminiscent of Nickelodeon cartoons. ...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."—Publisher's Weekly

"Rapidly paced and loaded with absurdity and laughs, dynamic cartoon illustrations sweep readers along on a journey designed to humorously upend their expectations. A happy ending and gentle lesson on friendship close what is happily the first of many escapades."—Booklist

"The cartoon art is bright and appealing, with loud colors, exaggerated comic reactions, and goofy details. ...Riotously entertaining. Readers will look forward to more adventures with this quirky trio."—School Library Journal

"A joyful, slapstick romp."—Horn Book

From the Publisher

01/01/2021

K-Gr 3—During a trip to the beach, Barry, a frog with a penchant for problem-solving and inventing, and Pancakes, an athletic large yellow rabbit, play a game of keep away with a beach ball belonging to a studious and introverted worm, Blue. Against Blue's protests, Barry and Pancakes take the ball, and a series of unfortunate—and hilarious—events ensue. A whale swallows the ball, but when the pals get it back, it soon lands in a flying airplane before being sucked up by a passing UFO. The misadventures continue until the ball is secured and all is forgiven. This graphic novel is the perfect length for younger readers, with most of the panels taking up a full page. The cartoon art is bright and appealing, with loud colors, exaggerated comic reactions, and goofy details. Character guides offer more information on Blue, Barry, and Pancakes (a true bookworm, Blue can often be found "sipping a hot beverage and reading"), which will further endear them to readers. VERDICT Riotously entertaining. Readers will look forward to more adventures with this quirky trio.—Gretchen Hardin, Bee Cave P.L., TX

School Library Journal

2020-11-27
This graphic novel might qualify as a Rube Goldberg device.

Barry has a simple plan for retrieving his friend Blue’s beach ball. He’s even written it in his notebook. Step No. 1: “Find whale.” Step No. 2: “Tickle fin” and then “Enter mouth.” Later steps turn out to involve an enormous tuba, an upside-down airplane, and an active volcano. The plan gets funnier each time it goes awry, and every few pages, Barry and his friends get catapulted into the air. Near the climax, they drop out of a flying saucer and land in the middle of a duck’s birthday party. The party, of course, is inside the aforementioned volcano. It ends cheerfully for everyone, especially the duck, who was afraid no one would show up for the party. The artwork couldn’t be any more cheerful or appealing. Every character is made up of the simplest possible shapes and the brightest possible colors. Barry the frog is a green rectangle. A rabbit named Pancakes is, confusingly, shaped like a pear and is yellow except for her pink tail. Blue is, less confusingly, a blue worm. The details are so gloriously loopy that, if anything, the climax, featuring more than a dozen ETs with balloons, will seem a little sedate. But even the quietest scene, with hugs and morals, includes an orange sky and a purple bird.

Only Rube Goldberg would find the story realistic, but slapstick fans will rejoice. (Graphic fantasy. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews