School Library Journal Starred Review (Fri May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

PreS-Gr 2 Bliss has created an ideal graphic novel for emerging readers. While his dad is engaged in boring talk with a friend, Luke notices a flock of pigeons and chases after them. The birds lead him out of Central Park through Manhattan and across the Brooklyn Bridge to a quiet rooftop. The cartoon panels are so successful at engaging readers that young children do not have to be able to read the text to enjoy the story. Each drawing is filled with humorous details. In one scene children see a man proposing to his girlfriend before Luke leaps over his café table. Though he creates havoc wherever he goes, he remains oblivious to everything but the pigeons he is chasing. Children will enjoy his rambunctious adventure as he takes them on a spirited tour of New York City. In Benny and Penny , the children are suspicious that their new neighbor has stolen Bennys pail, so they sneak into her yard even though they know its a big no-no! Through many misunderstandings, they learn to apologize and make a new friend. The simple text uses basic vocabulary and repetition, making it accessible to emerging readers. Young children will love the graphic-novel format and the sweet, charming illustrations will draw them into the narrative. Fans of Geoffrey Hayess popular Benny and Penny: Just Pretend (Toon Bks., 2008) wont be disappointed with this sequel. Mari Pongkhamsing, St. Perpetua School, Lafayette, CA

ALA Booklist

Recruiting top talent from in and around the comics field and letting them loose on the page comes up aces for Toon Books once again. Their sweet success this time features the most perseverant character in comics history chasing a flock of pigeons up and down an urban setting. Here is a read that captures the thrill and satisfaction of a successful chase, as African American Luke races through park, sidewalk, street, and straight up to the roofs, much to the consternation of his poor parents, wise-cracking animals, and an array of city-dwellers who demonstrate a welcome racial diversity. Bliss, whose cartoons appear in the New Yorker and who has collaborated with the likes of Sharon Creech (A Fine, Fine School, 2003) and ­Doreen Cronin (Diary of a Spider, 2005), knows how to distill the most evocative moment of time for each panel, but never lets it slow the furious pace, capturing the pure doggedness of a boy who absolutely will not quit until he gets his bird.

Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

In this comic-format easy reader, a boy chases after a flock of pigeons, tearing through Manhattan into Brooklyn while his panicked father mounts a search. Funny dialogue and visual mini-stories (check out the cameo appearances by Tintin, Olive Oyl, etc.) complement Luke's excited progress. This latest Toon Book sets child-friendly storytelling against a welcoming cityscape.

Kirkus Reviews

Leaving his oblivious father deep in "(boring dad talk)" with a passerby, little Luke scuttles off in pursuit of a flock of pigeons. The merry chase takes him out of the park, across streets, over the Brooklyn Bridge, up an apartment building's fire escape and, at last, onto the roof of a water tower where he decides to sack out. Relating the escapade in sequential panels featuring dialogue balloons, blurgits and other cartooning conventions (plus a cameo by Popeye's Olive Oyl), Bliss sends his brown-skinned ex-toddler speeding through and over scenes of urban chaos, until he is delivered at last by firefighters into the arms of his relieved parents. The next-day final scene is much like the first—except that the errant lad is held in check by a leash. Luke's ruckus seems low-key next to the general havoc wreaked in The Cat in the Hat , or more recently Jennifer Armstrong's Once Upon A Banana , illustrated by David Small (2006), but that will make it easier for fledgling readers and prereaders to follow his trail. Only figuratively, one hopes. (Graphic early reader. 5-7)