ALA Booklist

Are seventh-graders Matt and Craz ahead of their time or just weird? Careful Matt Worfle and crazy Larry Crazinski make an awesome cartooning team, but no one pays attention to their work until Matt gets a magic pen and ink from Drawbetternow.com. Just as predicted, the cartooning kit brings their work to life. But the effects are disastrous: a horrible date night at the movies, aliens running student council, and killer bees chasing them down the halls of Kilgore Junior High, not to mention their English teacher's sudden visit to the world of Treasure Island and the transformation of Craz's large, messy family into one where he is an only child. Fast-paced action, humor, and occasional cartoons will keep readers engaged in this zany story, a combination of middle-school realism and wish fulfillment. But there is some depth to this tale, too, as both boys come to realize what they value in their families and in each other. A read with one goal on its mind: entertainment.

Horn Book

Best friends Matt and Craz enjoy creating cartoons together but wish their work got more attention. Things start to look up when they obtain a magical pen that brings their drawings to life, though the mysterious power soon leads to serious complications for the boys--and all of Kilgore Junior High. Fittingly, small cartoon illustrations help tell this imaginative and humorous story.

Kirkus Reviews

It turns out that a book doesn't need to make a lick of sense if it has enough baboons and pirates and aliens. The lesson of this book appears to be: "Magic is bad." That might seem like an odd message for a fantasy novel, but actually, there's a long tradition of fantasy stories with an anti-magic theme. The classic example is "The Monkey's Paw," by W.W. Jacobs, in which a family's wishes come true with deadly, horrific results. Silberberg's novel is much less ominous, but after Matt and Craz buy a magic pen, everything they draw comes to life; before too long, their school is filled with alien invaders and gigantic killer bees. It's like "The Monkey's Paw" produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. And yet the two boys keep right on drawing animals and buccaneers. So maybe the real lesson of the book isn't "Magic is bad" but rather: "If your drawings come to life, for god's sake don't draw giant bees." Or to put it more simply: "Don't be an idiot." That's a valuable lesson for anyone. Readers may question Matt's and Craz's intelligence, but if the plot is short on sense, the jokes almost always work, and that's a more important brand of magic any day. (Humor. 9-13)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Cartoons, text, and a hefty helping of magic convey the struggles of two best friends trying to find their place in middle school. Matt and Craz want to be cartoonists, but they can-t break into the clubby school newspaper. Hoping to up their game, they search online for better supplies and are mysteriously rewarded with a pen that can draw wishes into reality. After they inadvertently make a fortune by including a bag of money in their latest comic strip, their eyes grow wide with the new power they wield-ridding themselves of their nasty English teacher, for instance, by shipping her off to hang out with the pirates in her favorite book, Treasure Island. Silberberg (Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze) leavens the story-s nonsensical elements with several poignant subplots. Matt draws a cartoon that reunites his separated parents, but Craz-s wish for more shower time is less successful, erasing his four brothers and sisters. There-s plenty to chuckle at, even if the book, like its title, is a bit longer than it needs to be. Ages 9-13. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary Management. (Apr.)

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8 Middle-schooler Matt Worfle is organized, careful, and a bit tightly wrapped. His best friend, Larry "Craz" Crazinski, is the opposite: impulsive and messy, but fun-loving. Together they create cartoons they hope to see published in the school newspaper. When they mysteriously receive a magical pen and ink bottle, the boys discover that they can rewrite reality through their comics. However, as they quickly learn, there are sometimes disastrous and unforeseen consequences. As the result of a mix-up in the hallway, the pen is lost to a rival cartoonist who mistakenly turns the members of the student council into aliens, prompting Craz to try to rectify the situation by unleashing a swarm of giant killer bees. Punctuated throughout with Silberberg's cartoon illustrations, Matt &; Craz seems to occupy a place in the popular niche with James Patterson's "Middle School" series (Little, Brown) and Lincoln Peirce's "Big Nate" (HarperCollins). The story has some clever turns and at times poignantly captures the cusp of adolescence, such as a scene in which the boys create the perfect Saturday night, for Matt pizza and a movie with classmate Cindy Ockabloom; for Craz hanging out with unhinged superhero Captain G-Force. But overall, the style is inconsistent and the presentation unbalanced. The zany premise-the pen and ink arrive through an Internet search by way of an elusive yet ever-present mystery man-is offered with no explanation or justification. Yet elsewhere the story incongruously wants to be touching or instructive, with the boys learning the importance of their imperfect families and evolving friendship. Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA