Agnes and Clarabelle by Adele Griffin, and: Agnes and Clarabelle Celebrate! by Adele Griffin (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Agnes and Clarabelle by Adele Griffin, and: Agnes and Clarabelle Celebrate! by Adele Griffin
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-61963-137-3 $9.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-61963-969-0 $7.99
Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 1-2
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-61963-217-2 $9.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-61963-218-9 $7.99
Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 1-2
Agnes Pig and Clarabelle Chicken are best friends in this new series for independent [End Page 172] readers. Each book contains four stories that are organized by the calendar, the first title about seasons and the second about holidays. Stories are friendship focused: in one, Agnes experiences a moment of stage fright while baton twirling on a float in the Fourth of July parade, so Clarabelle hops aboard to help her; in another, Clarabelle is scared by her own homemade witch costume, and Agnes brings her back to herself by suggesting a more modest disguise. The full-color illustrations, softly textured with colored pencil and watercolor washes and enhanced with crisp digital shapes, emphasize the antic energy of the pair, creating distinctly readable expressions through posture, beak, and snout. The nostalgia of small-town parades and fairs teams up with contemporary touches such as cell phones, mall excursions, and a hipster nod to making food too pretty to actually eat. However, given the flipping back and forth between who has the problem and who the solution in each story, recognizable character traits have not yet emerged for the girls, and the stories are somewhat flat. While these first two offerings therefore lack the wit and distinctive characterization of other buddy texts like Elephant and Piggie or Bink and Gollie, the series is still a serviceable early reader outing.
