Review: Full disclosure: I am a HUGE fan of Big Nate and his world. Had I a bit more nerve, I would have been Nate as a child (though maybe a bit smarter about things), so between the sarcasm, narcissism, bad jokes, worse plots, and his battle with school teachers, administrators, and pretty much anyone in authority, I was geared for this one. Have read at least a dozen or more collections of Lincoln Peirce's about this irascible, slightly nuts sixth-grader over the last few years, so was ready.
But this one's different; it's actually the first of a series of books based on the new Paramount+ animated series starring Nate and his friends and family. Instead of a collection of comic strips, here you have full-color panels laying out three episodes from the show, complete with comic speech bubbles. Not having Paramount+, I haven't seen the show, so seeing all these beloved characters not just in color but in 3D was a bit jarring (not in a bad way). Further, instead of three-panel or Sunday paper vignettes that basically tell a single joke, here Nate's antics play out in three fully-narrative stories, each episode with its own beginning, middle and end.
The Legend of the Gunting (probably my favorite), about Nate's herculean efforts to avoid one more detention for the week, is funny and goes nicely nuts with a new kid in school who makes Norman Bates look like Shirley Temple. Go Nate! It's Your Birthday, which went a bit over-the-top for me in regards to what I'd think even Nate would try to get away with, outlines the perils of (purposefully) misinterpreting how your dad tells you to use his credit card. Lastly, CATastrophe! is about Nate's crippling fear of felines ... and when he has to deal with one first-hand, in order to get a certain girl's attention and a class project completed.
Well done and a fun read ... but what blew my mind was when, not too far into the book, I realized how much the images reminded me of my own childhood obsession with ViewMaster reels. Between the speech bubbles and pop-out words to express action and the 3D animation, it was like clicking through an old ViewMaster again, and the warm memories that THAT brought alone only added to what was already a funny, enjoyable, action-packed read. (Available August 30) 4/5 stars
NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.
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