Another Comic Club is in session, with Li’l Petey taking the class. He has nearly two dozen baby frogs all keen to learn how to draw comics, but two of them are constantly disrupting the class.

Siblings Naomi and Melvin are constantly bickering, trying to get the other in trouble and wasting Comic Club time in the process. Li’l Petey does his best to carry on with the class. He captures their attention when he shows them drawing with perspective. The little frogs think the result is really cool and all want to try it out themselves.

Many of the little frogs have been working on comics themselves and they share them with the rest of the class, all with their own styles and stories. Naomi and Melvin continue to wreak havoc in class and out of it, and Melvin finally learns why Naomi is mean all the time. After being given extra comic homework to do for the trouble in class, he decides what to draw.

After the constant flow of children asking for the next Dogman in the book shop where I work, and our book club kids telling me how funny they are, I thought I’d taste one for my own. This is the 2nd book in the 2nd series called Cat Kid Comic Club.

It was easy to get into the story, not requiring any reading of previous books. The comic style is bright and fun and easy to follow and the classroom setting (albeit with baby frogs) is a familiar one for readers. Any keen sketchers or children wanting to learn more about drawing will enjoy the ‘lesson’ being taught in the class about perspective, and there are more drawing tips within the story too.

Naomi is a girl frog among many boys, keen to stand up for herself as she feels girls have to work harder at everything. This is her excuse for being constantly horrible to her brother. Although full of laughs (I’ve seen kids laughing out loud while reading this), the message of discrimination against girls unfortunately ends up showing readers it is okay for Naomi to mean to her brother.

The double meaning of perspective is a little lost in the story, even as Melvin’s comic is a result of seeing life in Naomi’s point of view (perspective).

Author / Illustrator – Dav Pilkey

Age – 6+

(2021, Funny, Laugh, Humour, Series, Animals, Siblings, Misogeny, Perspective, Drawing tips, Comics, Graphic novels, Classroom, School, Point of View)