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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
These stories are delightfully weird & perfect when read online (I was right in that I enjoyed it immensely on a screen as opposed to an over-sized book). You can read this one HERE.
These stories follow the adventures of a group of jr high kids through their school years. They kids get older, friendships fade & are repaired, and they continually come up against the supernatural.
The writing is awesome, I love the illustrations, and I highly recommend you start reading these!
These stories follow the adventures of a group of jr high kids through their school years. They kids get older, friendships fade & are repaired, and they continually come up against the supernatural.
The writing is awesome, I love the illustrations, and I highly recommend you start reading these!
Just as much fun as the first and I am making my peace with the format. Good thing I have the rest of the series sitting on my kitchen table.
I quite enjoy Bad Machinery! Can't wait for more.
So so lovely. This second volume collects the second case solved by the kids of Tackleford. There is a weird unknown beast on the loose, and it seems to be eating toddlers. The girls have (possibly) created this mess and the boys are determined to solve it. Funny, goofy, and sweet, these kids are so awesome I totally want to be friends with all of them. There is a moderate amount of angst, but they're teens and it's only one chunk of the story. I like that these characters exist in a world where there are magic pencils and strange beasts. I really wish MPL owned a copy so I could write a blog review!
I've been reading John Allison's stuff since I was in college and he was doing Bobbins, and I have to say, I really love what he's been doing with Bad Machinery. His art is more streamlined and his characters are a lot more charming. Magical pencils and mysterious dogs and mystery-solving tweens are hard to beat.
John Allison's characters are a mix of personalities - just as school-age friends are in real life. To American readers they may sound a bit odd since they speak with British expressions and slang mixed in to the conversations. The main plot is the appearance of a very smart "dog" that Mildred wants to keep, but her parents won't let her. Shauna's father brings the dog (Mildred has named him Archibald) home to use as a watch dog so that people will stop breaking into his van and trying to steal his tools. Archie does odd things, like drink from a cup just as a human would, but everyone just thinks he is a very smart breed of dog. Meanwhile, small children all over town are disappearing and wildlife experts have been called in to track some mysterious footprints. Does Archie have something to do with the disappearances? What sort of dog is he? Will Shauna be able to keep him? The boys in the story decide to solve the case of the missing children by themselves - using Sonny's younger sister as bait for the beast. There are also other things going on such as a trip to the carnival, parent night at school, a magical pencil, and some bullying that needs to be sorted out.
Except for the mysterious beast, the situations are familiar and will probably remind readers of instances from their own lives. Most of us have been stuck in the middle when two of our friends were not getting along, or known someone who really wanted a pet but couldn't get their parents to agree, or been forced to take along a younger sibling on an outing with friends.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
Except for the mysterious beast, the situations are familiar and will probably remind readers of instances from their own lives. Most of us have been stuck in the middle when two of our friends were not getting along, or known someone who really wanted a pet but couldn't get their parents to agree, or been forced to take along a younger sibling on an outing with friends.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
It was really funny except all the toddlers got eaten by a bear?