Barnes & NobleBig Nate: Prank You Very Much by Lincoln Peirce

Humor and heart

Sticking to the exciting flair of the Nickelodeon series, two adventures make sure Nate and his friends never near the realm of boredom. After becoming a Big Nate mini-fan, I was excited to dive into this newest edition. I have not, yet, seen too much of the Nickelodeon series, which meant that this graphic novel form was still a little unfamiliar. Unlike the rest of the Big Nate graphic novels, this book (and it's predecessor, book one) leave the traditional, well-known format and let the new series come in. The graphics align with the show and carry that animated direction, rather than the traditional illustrations. As a fan of the originals, this caught me a little off-guard, but I have no doubt that those who know the series will settle right in and enjoy the familiarity right away. Pranks abound in the first part of this book and carry all of Nate's ridiculous antics as well as the wonderful reactions of his friends. This newer format does add a new dimension thanks to the colors and slightly more realistic scenes. The emotions come across clearly, letting the humor fly. Instead of darting through many, various situations as in the traditional books, this one centers around two main tales. These play out smoother than the traditional form and remind of watching the show. The word bubbles play on top, giving the right amount of text to balance with each moment. Imagination mixes with humor and more realistic situations to create ridiculous moments...and carry some things readers can connect to. The pimple tale is easy for many to relate to and pray they never have that horrible of a zit (this more graphic illustration form made it truly gross). And the superhero tale with the self-made costumes was also more than smile-worthy. Plus, it was hard not to hope the 'heroes' made it through. The read was easy, the adventures fun, and it even hits home just a little bit. Nate's antics are hilarious as always and his friends round everything off well. There's tons of humor and lots of heart. I do see fans of the show enjoying this quite a bit but also believe fans of the original series might not be as drawn in quite as much. Either way, its a fun read. I received a DRC and enjoyed getting to re-meet this fun crew.