Horn Book (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

In this episode, extraterrestrials Zig and Wikki need to return Zig's pet fly to its proper home--Earth. Seeking the perfect ecosystem, the pair decides the best fit is a farm. Scientific information relevant to their farm adventure pops up periodically on Wikki's computer-screen body. Comedic cartoon panels and small photographs and diagrams combine for an informative yet entertaining package.

School Library Journal (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Gr 2-3 Zig and Wikki are back in a new adventure. While in space, Zig discovers that his pet fly is sick. With the help of Wikki's information screen, he figures out that the fly misses Earth and would be happiest living on a farm. The two pals travel to Earth and look for the perfect dung patty to make his new home. Somewhere along the way, a cow eats their spaceship, so the pair must travel inside the animal to retrieve it, and when the cow burps it out, they're off. The panels of this eye-catching graphic novel are interspersed with boxes that give information about the digestive system of a cow, as well as how things like dung beetles and soil factor into the planet's ecology. A concluding page with "Wikki's Fun Facts" explains, among other things, that "each day, a cow burps out about 400 times more gas than a human does." Zig and Wikki's familiar odd-couple friendship serves as the framework for this science book in disguise. A humorously educational spin on subject matter that is scientifically important, if slightly gross. Rita Meade, Brooklyn Public Library, NY

ALA Booklist (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

The two miniature aliens who had some serious homework problems in Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework (2010) return to our planet in the hopes of saving Zig's pet fly from devastating homesickness. The fly, it seems, is an integral part of the earth's delicate ecological cycle, as is the cow that the two must get eaten by in order to reclaim their accidentally consumed spaceship. Spiegelman again strikes an effective balance between hijinks and education, giving the aliens straightforward but distinct personalities that play well off each other and incorporating an array of ecological facts in a way that flows with the narrative rather than intrudes upon it. Loeffler's art captures animals with a simple realism and aliens with gentle humor, and gives the whole enterprise a breezy zing. The reading level, while on the higher end of the TOON Books spectrum, will not interfere with the fun.