Kokopelli & Company in Attack of the Smart Pies

Larry Gonick's comics for adults, especially The Cartoon History series, are great, but may be too advanced for younger children. This new children's book is an absolute delight, full of both giggles and suspense. There are a few moments that may be a little too intense for children under the age of six, but everything turns out all right in the end.

Review of Attack of the Smart Pies by Larry Gonick My son Benedict (age 10) writes: When I read the book Attack of the Smart Pies, I thought it was good. It's lots of fun and very funny. In the story, there is a bird who likes donuts. Larry Gonick made up funny names of donuts with fish flavor, or raisin-glazin' It is a really ingenious book There are also many beautiful drawings in it, of imaginary creatures. A great picture I found was one of the machine throwing the pies. I like Larry Gonick's work very much-I also have read and enjoyed his Cartoon History of the Universe, vol. 1-7.

I have been a fan of Muse since I was very young, and I always loved the comics. So imagine my excitment when I heard that FINALLY book about Koko and his friends was in stores! I rushed to Barnes & Noble and bought it. This is a hilarious book! Larry Gonik is an excellent writer as well as artist.

Let me start with my [dis]qualifications: I am a 46 year old childfree science teacher familiar with the works of Larry Gonick, but pretty clueless about Kokopelli & Company or Muse Magazine [I did a little research before I bought Attack of the Smart Pies - I read a good number of the Kokopelli & Company strips on the Muse Magazine website]. I am obviously NOT part of the target audience for this book [or the strip and the magazine] which is 9 - 14 year olds, but I do teach students at the upper end of the target range. That said, I really enjoyed Attack of the Smart Pies! The majority of the story takes place in Kokonino County, home to the 9 New Muses. Emma, an orphan escaping from a bad situation in her current foster home, follows Feather, Muse of Plants and a doughnut addict, back to Kokonino County where HUMANS ARE NOT ALLOWED! Emma needs help with her stepfather, but gets wrapped up in the Muses' arms race [smart pies and defenses against smart pies]. The intended audience should love the story, but there's enough depth to the story that an adult [or a really precocious kid] can take away a lot from reading Attack of the Smart Pies. Even though Kokopelli, Muse of Tunes and Tricks and flinger of pies, might like me to give up the ending [especially since the trickster plays a key role in the resolution of the story], I won't be a spoiler and tell you what happens. I will be extremely pleased when my copy of Attack of the Smart Pies makes its way into the library at the high school where I teach.