'Undersea adventures have never been so darn cute. Join Narwhal and Jelly as they discover the whole wide ocean together. The two might not have a lot in common, but they do they love waffles, parties and adventures. Featuring three short stories and a super fun ocean fact page - and joke page too!
The perfect first book for young 5 year-old, 6 year-old, 7 year old and 8 year-old readers looking for funny, high interest books that are an accessible read, where they'll discover the joys of friendship, working together and the power of imagination. Clanton’s comics here, like Kochalka’s Johnny Boo ones, have a sense of high silliness about them, although Narwhal is at this point far less anarchic Johnny Boo sometimes reads like it was written by little kids, whereas Narwhal is clearly written for little kids.'Hilarious and charming' - Dav Pilkey, bestselling author of Dogman and Captain Underpants Those have the same character dynamic between their leads Johnny Boo and Squiggle that Narwhal and Jelly have, and there’s even some visual equivalence, with the title character being physically bigger and the sidekick a tiny presence. Most specifically, Kochalka’s Johnny Boo series of graphic novels for kids. Its essential comics-ness calls to mind the work of the other writer/artist who seems to have either been an influence on Clanton, or to at least be working in a very similar vein: James Kochalka. Unlike the books in Willems’ Elephant and Piggie series, however, this is a true comic book in terms of its narrative format, albeit an extremely simple one, with few panels per page (and plenty of full-page splashes). The dynamic between the two characters is somewhat reminiscent of Mo Willems’ happy-go-lucky Piggie and slightly more down-to-earth and careful Gerald, and in fact Clanton’s line-work is further suggestive of Willems’ art. Jelly’s an even more simple design, essentially just a very emotive half-circle with six lines for tentacles and an emoji-basic face. You can practically see the path Clanton’s hand must take when drawing his title character, an elongated, upside down teardrop whose tail and body all seem drawn in a single, continuous series of swoops. In the third, Narwhal shares the best book in the world with Jelly it turns out to be a blank one, which they have to fill with their own imaginations.īreaking up the three mini-stories are a few pages that include facts about the sea creatures and the lyrics to a narwhal song.Ĭlanton’s extremely simple, extremely cute character designs make this a perfect book for the youngest of children, and anyone who appreciates such lo-fi, highly adorable artwork. In the second story, Narwhal sets off to create an awesome pod of awesomeness, recruiting various sea creatures to join his pod, each of them being given an honorary, narwhal-like horn upon joining.
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