Planet Tad

April 23, 2012
Based on a column that Carvell, head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, has written for Mad magazine since 2005, this episodic illustrated novel presents a year’s worth of blog entries from Tad, an underachieving, none-too-popular kid in the vein of Wimpy Kid Greg Heffley. Without a narrative arc, the book’s momentum comes from Carvell’s distinctive sense of humor. While Tad’s musings often feel like they’ve been pulled from the mind of a stoner at 2 a.m. rather than that of a 12-year-old boy (“You know what I bet would suck? If you died and went to heaven, but really hated harp music”), the target audience ought to find them hilarious. Amid familiar entries about family trips, a lawn-mowing business scheme, and a secret admirer, Tad watches a lot of TV, which lets Carvell riff on the pop culture pantheon, from Avatar (both the James Cameron and air-bending versions) to The Legend of Zelda. Holgate’s cartoon spot art, not all seen by PW, is a good fit, underscoring the awesomeness of an eight-horned unicorn or the absurdity of Hannah Montana’s “disguise.” Ages 8–12.

March 1, 2012
A phoned-in Diary of a Wimpy Kid wannabe from a Mad Magazine and Daily Show writer. Based on a blog of the same name that runs in Mad, the narrative is framed as nearly daily entries over the course of a calendar year by a middle-school Seinfeld. The content is entirely predictable. He skates on or over the edge of embarrassment while trying to be noticed by girls, generally comes out second best in dealings with his gifted little sister and briefly lands a summer job wearing a hot-dog suit. He joins several of his classmates in making a (wait for it) science-project volcano and records many similarly unexceptional experiences and encounters. These entries are thickly padded with a monotonous litany of callow opinions on dozens of cultural markers from various commercial mascots (including Ronald McDonald) to TV shows (Jeopardy, for example) and movies (Jurassic Park, among many others). These share space with complaints about minor annoyances like gum in water-fountain drains and superficially clever ruminations about why "werewolves" aren't called "arewolves," the nature of Santa's reindeer games and like burning topics. Moreover, he decides that his school mascot, movies about volcanoes, work and a mind-numbing catalog of other irritations all "suck." So does this tedious effort to climb aboard the bandwagon. (line drawings, mood icons) (Fiction. 10-12)

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June 1, 2012

Gr 5-7-When Tad receives his father's old computer as a Christmas gift, he decides to start a blog. In his first post, he announces his New Year resolutions: to get through seventh grade, learn to do a kickflip on his skateboard, have girls notice him, and start to shave. What follows are the trials and tribulations of a year in the life of the Lakeville middle schooler, including a mystery to solve when someone leaves notes signed, "You're Secret Admirer" in his locker. He also has a way of complicating even the simplest situation. Humorous pencil illustrations accompany the riotous narrative. Fans of Jeff Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series (Abrams) will find Tad's blog equally engaging.-Wayne R. Cherry, Jr., First Baptist Academy Library, Houston, TX

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2012
Grades 5-8 Cruising happily in the Wimpy Kid wake, this blog-entry novel from the head writer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart introduces 12-year-old Tad and everything he goes through over the course of a year spanning seventh and eighth grade. And what does he go through? Well, not all that much that's worth mentioning, but that doesn't keep him from jabbering on about whatever strikes his fancy. Tad is an observational humorist in the making, ruminating on such imponderables as: Why isn't the snooze button called the oversleep button? If you can be disgruntled, why can't you be gruntled? How is it that Batman ended up with both the Joker and the Riddler as enemies, and do they ever worry about stepping on each other's toes? And are there really so many Jabbas that he needs to be clarified as the Hutt? It's all fluff and little else, but there's nothing wrong with having a refined and often clever confectionery read for Tad's middle-school male cohorts. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This book is based on a blog from MAD magazine, so it already has plenty of built-in demand. A big marketing push will make sure it catches the eyes of kids who aren't already down with Tad.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2012
Fictional blog entries (some that originally appeared in [cf2]Mad[cf1] magazine) span Tad's year of comical middle-school mishaps. Tad shares his thoughts on school, shaving, and other events. Filled with random quips ("[cf2]tater tot[cf1] is a bad name for a food, because it suggests that you're eating potato babies"), the book reads more like standup than story, but parts are very funny. Black-and-white cartoons illustrate the text.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)