Kokopelli and Company in Attack of the Smart Pies

It's silly and sweet. But a kids book, not up to the standard of his many science-related graphic novels.

Larry Gonick's comics for adults, especially The Cartoon History series, are great, but may be too advanced for younger children. This new children's book is an absolute delight, full of both giggles and suspense. There are a few moments that may be a little too intense for children under the age of six, but everything turns out all right in the end.

The 6th grader enjoyed it; he is a fan of Larry Gonick books.

My son loved this book. I found it after getting the cartoon guide to chemistry and searching Larry Gonick. Then we found Muse magazine, which my son reads cover to cover and reports the latest science findings to me.

A great read! I bought this for my 12 year old daughter. She enjoys MUSE magazine and couldn't wait to read this book. This copy came in great condition and was significantly cheaper than buying it directly from Carus.

Let me start with my [dis]qualifications: I am a 46 year old childfree science teacher familiar with the works of Larry Gonick, but pretty clueless about Kokopelli & Company or Muse Magazine [I did a little research before I bought Attack of the Smart Pies - I read a good number of the Kokopelli & Company strips on the Muse Magazine website]. I am obviously NOT part of the target audience for this book [or the strip and the magazine] which is 9 - 14 year olds, but I do teach students at the upper end of the target range. That said, I really enjoyed Attack of the Smart Pies!The majority of the story takes place in Kokonino County, home to the 9 New Muses. Emma, an orphan escaping from a bad situation in her current foster home, follows Feather, Muse of Plants and a doughnut addict, back to Kokonino County where HUMANS ARE NOT ALLOWED! Emma needs help with her stepfather, but gets wrapped up in the Muses' arms race [smart pies and defenses against smart pies]. The intended audience should love the story, but there's enough depth to the story that an adult [or a really precocious kid] can take away a lot from reading Attack of the Smart Pies. Even though Kokopelli, Muse of Tunes and Tricks and flinger of pies, might like me to give up the ending [especially since the trickster plays a key role in the resolution of the story], I won't be a spoiler and tell you what happens.I will be extremely pleased when my copy of Attack of the Smart Pies makes its way into the library at the high school where I teach.

Review of Attack of the Smart Pies by Larry GonickMy son Benedict (age 10) writes: When I read the book Attack of the Smart Pies, I thought it was good. It's lots of fun and very funny. In the story, there is a bird who likes donuts. Larry Gonick made up funny names of donuts with fish flavor, or raisin-glazin' It is a really ingenious book There are also many beautiful drawings in it, of imaginary creatures. A great picture I found was one of the machine throwing the pies. I like Larry Gonick's work very much-I also have read and enjoyed his Cartoon History of the Universe, vol. 1-7.

I deeply admire this man. I'm collecting all his stuff out of the respect I feel for such a genius of communication.His cartoon guides are definitely master Works!!