Review by Booklist Review
With four delightful Benny and Penny titles already gallivanting around out there, Hayes' work is a prime example of TOON's high-level product. Benny and Penny themselves have contended with sibling dynamics, ruthless destroyers of toys, bedtime, and rule breaking, and the rodent brother and sister must now undertake a hunt for a missing pirate cap. Waylaid by her frustrated older brother into assisting on a search through the fog, Penny predicts trouble and is proven right when looming shadows and a lost path create a need for calm heads and cooperation. Hayes, as always, strikes exactly the right balance, allowing his characters to be both moody and reasonable, scared and courageous, appealing to young readers both as surrogates and role models. His art similarly hits the sweet spot dead-on, with mysterious shapes that are never too menacing, rounded and soothingly furry figures, and delicately rendered backgrounds filled with meticulous detail. His warmly classical picture-book technique never fails to be both animated and engaging as well.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-In their newest adventure, Penny finds her brother Benny sulking on the front stoop. Benny has lost his favorite hat and has been kicked outside by their mother for being in such a bad mood. Angry at his mother and his misplaced hat, Benny decides to run away from home and try to find his missing hat, with Penny's assistance. Benny insists on leading the way because he's older, but soon gets lost himself; only after Benny calms down can he and Penny find their way back. The text is easily accessible to emerging readers, with simple, repeating words, while also enforcing ideas about controlling emotions and being responsible for one's actions without being overbearing. Children will easily relate to Penny and Benny as they grapple with sibling issues that are very real to this age group. The crafty charm of Hayes's illustrations gives the book a timeless feel, while sleek panel variation and swooping action shots reestablish readers's focus. Once again, Hayes has created a graphic novel that is inviting, relatable, but, most importantly, fun.-Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Gently bickering mouse siblings Benny and Penny have another backyard adventure, this time when they search for Benny's lost pirate hat.As the book opens, Benny is in a real funk"a BAD mood!" His pirate hat is lost again, this time for two days. Mommy says he needs to stay outside until his good mood is restored. Equal parts helpful and hindering, Penny tags along on his quest, the fog-enshrouded backyard presenting a landscape it's all too easy to imagine getting lost in. Over the course of this brief, comic-book story, the children explore a number of valences of lost and found. Benny loses Penny when she darts into the underbrush, having found her lost jump rope. He instructs her, "we need to be lost together." When Penny frets that they are "REALLY lost," Benny insists they aren't: "We are right here." Hayes also takes the opportunity to explore preschoolers' mercurial emotions. The sibs are effective emotional foils for each other, Penny's buoyant cheer grating on Benny's determined dudgeon before she becomes anxious, then angry, then sad and frightened. Benny's brave decision to be in a good mood marks a literal turning point, bringing the little lost mice home again. Hayes' colored-pencil panels keep their sunny charm even in the fog.These sweet sibs show no signs of growing oldthank goodness. (Graphic early reader. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
