Review by Booklist Review
Hunny is a little monster. Funny is a big monster. One day, when Hunny feels grumpy, Funny promises to cheer them up with a joke. He tries out puns and wordplay and nonsense jokes, but time after time, Hunny doesn't even crack a smile. In the end, Funny gives up and is so frustrated he falls out of a tree into the water, which finally gets a laugh from Hunny. Although Stine's humor is typically reliable, the monster-themed jokes contained here are somewhat wilted in wattage. Nevertheless, Funny's near-manic commitment to lifting Hunny's mood adds its own absurd humor to the rapid-fire jokes. Aesthetically, Garbage Pail Kids--allure is front and center as an array of monsters--both described in deliberately yuck-filled language and depicted using the eye-catching technique of hand-textured, cutpaper collage--feature such things as gooey noses, green decayed teeth, and dripping yellow eyes. The latest collaboration of Stine and Brown--preceded by The Little Shop of Monsters (2015) and Mary McScary (2017)--is flawed but will no doubt find its readers.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Little monsters will want to get their claws on this laughably gross offering from two kidlit superstars.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In the setup to this jokey picture book, two monsters sit on a tree branch overhanging water. The smaller monster, Hunny, a fluffy horned creature with a red handbag, is feeling "sad and grumpy." So the bigger monster, Funny, who sports gator-like eyes and an orange vest, launches into a barrage of jokes, each one enacted in a vignette ("Why did the monster take out one hundred books from the library? Because he wanted to eat them at home!"). It isn't until the self-appointed comedian accidentally falls off the branch and into the drink--a scene rendered in splattery, bubbly blues--that Hunny's gloom disappears. "NOW, THAT'S FUNNY!" the little monster declares, and Funny good-heartedly agrees: mission accomplished. The jokes, as channeled through Stine (the Goosebumps series), are more chestnuts than rib-ticklers, but they're almost beside the point. Brown (the Arthur series) turns the story into a visual feast of dimensional, collage-like shapes and textures (plaids, striations, mottling, streaks), and there's something deeply relatable about Funny's relentless snaggletooth delivery and insistence that the best is yet to come ("Hold on to your belly. You'll be laughing so hard"). After all, who hasn't thought at one time or another that they're a monster comic talent? Ages 4--8. (July)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The creators of Goosebumps and Arthur team up for a monster of a joke book. Two monster friends, one big, one little, perch on a tree branch. Funny decides to improve glum Hunny's mood with some irresistible jokes. Hunny remains unimpressed and resolutely grumpy, but Funny increasingly ups the ante, assuring Hunny more and more firmly that the best gags are yet to come. Funny tells a dozen jokes in total. Some are incoherent, while others are mildly amusing; all but one feature monsters, many involving monstrous appetites: "What's the monster's favorite school lunch?" "The teacher!" Funny believes that each one is hilarious and cracks themself up, but Hunny is unmoved. The impasse is resolved with one moment of slapstick: Funny jumps up and down on the branch in frustration, then becomes unbalanced, falls off the limb, and lands in the water below with a huge splash. Hunny thinks that the pratfall is hilarious and finally guffaws, good humor restored. Many readers will find the so-bad-they're-good jokes and the ending satisfyingly absurd. Blocky collage illustrations of varied textures and cheerful colors, set against a flat background, carry readers through the text; the monsters are toothy, but most are reasonably friendly looking. Touches of red provide accents. Large text and mostly simple words will appeal to beginning readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Comic fun for those who appreciate farce--or monsters. (Picture book. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
