The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan (Flying Beaver Brothers #1)

Some readers won’t make it through the most painful jokes, but those who do will see something marvelous building itself in front of their eyes. 

Over the course of these two stories, two beaver brothers save their home island from other animals out to exploit the island's beavers'natural resources for profit. Ace, the active beaver brother, and Bub, the lazy one, are first troubled by a group of penguins attempting to use a giant underwater refrigerator to freeze their island into a cold-weather resort. At the same time, Ace's attempt to win the island's surfing competition is threatened by beaver bully Bruce's plan to sabotage Ace's surfing. As readers might guess, the plan ends up backfiring and helps Ace stop the penguins and win the surfing contest. In "Fishy Business, " Ace, Bub, and formerly evil penguins Bob and Bob must stop a group of fish from tearing down the island's forest to make cheap toy fishsticks, burning the rest of the trees and polluting the island in the process. When Bruce becomes a spokesman for the fish's sticks, they all must be awakened to the extent of the fish's destruction. Eaton's simple cartoonish style, big action scenes, and dry sense of humor keep the story moving, and younger readers will enjoy the camaraderie and sharp characterization. Ages 6 9. (Jan.) Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

K-Gr 3--Ace and Bub are distinguishable from one another only by their shorts; they both have a yen for adventure and a tendency to get caught up in major animal kingdom conspiracies. Their primary nemesis is Bruce, a larger beaver with a commensurate ego, but they also end up battling the evil plans of penguins and mackerel. The art is simplistic, using a single spot color to add some variety to the background and to highlight the narrow line work. The visual design limits the expressions of the characters to a precious few primitive reactions. Despite this, the books are fun reads, exhibiting a glib sense of the absurd as well as solid comic timing. Something is always happening, a wonderfully terrible pun is being set up, or someone will regularly make an aside to readers. Much of the charm of the books comes from the particularly offbeat humor--Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.