Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face

"Exuberantly silly from start to finish . . . Dougherty packs his story with winking references to adventure story tropes, as well as self-referential, metafictional humor ('Do you mean you're in a story now?' the king asks the children. 'Oh, yes, ' responds Ketchup-Face. 'You can tell because of all the chapters and page numbers and stuff'). Between playful typography, a nearly nonstop onslaught of jokes, and Ricks's jittery b&w cartooning, it's a solid choice for readers who have exhausted the Captain Underpants library." --Publishers Weekly "Take a dollop of Jon Scieszka's classic fairy-tale sendups, add a swirl of M.T. Anderson's humorously perilous quests, garnish with a Snicket-ian narrator's crumbled fourth wall, and you have the hilarious first adventure of Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face on the island of Great Kerfuffle. . . . With metafictive flare, a truly expert deployment of absurdity, and an unrelenting song about jam, Dougherty's narrative is as self-reflexive and entrancing as a Penrose staircase, populated with delightfully inscrutable characters and brought to rollicking life with Ricks' spot illustrations."--Kirkus Reviews

"Loaded with silliness and adventure . . . Ketchup-Face's boisterous personality bounces the story along, and the scheming badgers--complete with evil false mustaches--make amusing villains. . . The playful tone and slapstick humor will draw in youngsters." --Booklist

"Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face are a mischief-making brother and sister who are not afraid to make a mess or strike out on their own adventure."--School Library Journal

"Slapstick humor abounds in this illustrated easy chapter book that is sure to be popular with fans of Dav Pikley and Jon Scieszka."--School Library Connection