Do four-year-olds need an oddball, absurdist, semisurreal, homemade comic book in their lives? Indie stalwart Kochalka (the Johnny Boo series) thinks so, and he may just convince you. Using his signature childlike figures collaged onto photographed backgrounds and with the faces of himself, his son, and his cat, the often-brilliant creator brings together a combat-armored feline and a spoon-wielding, three-year-old . . . monkey? Without ever quite managing to get along, they take on a whip-quick butterfly and a drooling, wormlike dragon. If it sounds as though it were hatched in Kochalka's backyard playing with his family, there's an excellent chance that's the case. But through Kochalka's guerilla, one-man-and-a-pen style of creation, it magically captures the exact sense of zaniness often discovered in such a playtime and found in some of the best TOON Book titles (Otto's Orange Day, 2008, springs to mind). Remarkably, it does this without losing coherence; and with huge panels and spare dialogue that will amuse kids and adults, it's also the rare graphic novel that makes an excellent read-aloud.

Another quirky offering from the man behind the Johnny Boo series. Three unconventional characters populate this small charmer: Dragon Puncher, the moody, aloof hero of the tale (modeled after Kochalka's cat, Spandy), Spoony-E, Dragon Puncher's young, perky, monster sidekick (who bears the likeness of Kochalka's son, Eli), and the fearsome dragon (the author himself). When Dragon Puncher meets up with Spoony-E and his wooden spoony-spoon, the young monster sees what Dragon Puncher does not—that the hero needs his help to defeat the menacing, drooling dragon. The more Dragon Puncher resists his appeals, the more Spoony-E persists. This is hardly a new formula, but it's a winning one. A novel mix of photographs and illustration, this unique little gem is chockfull of giggles. The three main characters' carefully selected Photoshopped expressions are grin-worthy; the author's grimacing expressions as the dragon are priceless. With its vivid palette and rampant silliness, this work should enrapture young readers. Effervescently bizarre. (Graphic fiction. 6-10)