Comics Squad: Recess!

For most students, recess is the most fun part of the day, and I have to say that this compilation is totally fun for younger readers. It features some fantastical stories, like the one that stars an anthropomorphic cupcake named Jimmy Sprinkles and another featuring a talking squirrel ("The Magic Acorn"). There are also more realistic stories about kids dealing with indoor recess on a stormy day ("The Rainy Day Monitor") or the time crunch for getting a book report written ("300 Words"). Because of the consistent humor and quality of the various stories, I feel this book would be great to hook new comics readers or to entertain more experienced comics fans who are into some of the characters/creators contained within.

The creators here are all on top of their game, and I really dug most of the tales.My two favorites were  by current National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Gene Yang ("The Super-Secret Ninja Club") and Dav (Captain Underpants) Pilkey ("Book 'em, Dogman"). The former is about a group of kooky young boys who wear black t-shirts on their heads and the latter a police-dog contending against a cat who tries to steal the world's books. But there are also some familiar favorites, like an entry from the Babymouse and Lunch Lady series. Like those two series, this book's artwork is black, white, and one other color (orange). You can see what that looks like with this page by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman:

All of the reviews I have read for this book sing its praises. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and called it "a very funny collection." Kirkus Reviews also gave it a starred review, stating that it was "lively, upbeat and all-around-awesome." Andy Wolverton wrote that it was "the perfect book to give to young readers who already enjoy comics/graphic novels as well as to those who might be a bit hesitant to read them."

Comics Squad: Recess! was published by Random House Kids, and they have links, a video preview, and more information here.