Are We Lost Yet?: Another Wallace the Brave Collection

Gr 3-7–Wallace and the neighborhood kids make their own fun in this nostalgic, outdoorsy slice of life. The setting for these brief episodes spans summer and autumn, complete with scenes during school and Halloween. Creative lettering controls the rhythm and pitch of dialogue that happens to be hilariously placed in each panel. Word balloons shrink, expand, stretch around, and change color. Overactive imaginations, discrete and blown-up sound effects, and messy games speak to the chaos of childhood. Kids look up toward a launched kickball for a full, silent panel before it bonks one of them in the head in the next. Getting in trouble for tossing a portly pumpkin off the roof of a school doesn’t mean they can’t smile about how fun it felt. Parents’ attempts to maintain order lead to their own dry humor.