Squirrel Do Bad (Trubble Town #1)

by Stephan Pastis

Overview

From the author of the Pearls Before Swine comic strip and New York Times bestselling Timmy Failure series comes a laugh-out-loud, heartwarming, full-color graphic novel series about a quirky town—just right for young readers starting to read longer books!

Wendy the Wanderer has lived in Trubble Town her whole life but never had the chance to go exploring. For this reason, she thinks she was definitely misnamed. Her dad likes to know where she is to make sure she’s safe, so she’s never been anywhere on her own. Then, her dad leaves on a trip and the babysitter doesn’t reinforce all the usual rules. Or any of the usual rules! Suddenly, Wendy is free to do what she wants, and what she wants is to live up to her name…and find Trubble.

Turns out, there’s lots going on in Trubble Town. As she encounters endearingly goofy animals and hilariously hapless townsfolk, Wendy’s very first adventure takes more twists and turns than she could have ever expected. She learns some really valuable life lessons and even teaches a few of her own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534496125
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	02/13/2024
Series:	Trubble Town Series , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	785,292
File size:	147 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Stephan Pastis is the creator of the syndicated comic strip Pearls Before Swine, which appears in over 800 newspapers. He is also the creator of the Timmy Failure book series and the cowriter of the Disney+ movie Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. He lives in Northern California with his wife and two kids.

Editorial Reviews

06/07/2021

There’s trouble in Trubble Town when a child experiences the butterfly effect firsthand in this loony graphic novel series starter by Pastis (the Timmy Failure series). It all starts in chapter zero—the first of many offbeat chapter conventions—when tan-skinned, purple-haired Wendy the Wanderer, left with a neglectful babysitter, heads out to fulfill her name’s calling. She begins with a trip into her own Trubble Town, but things immediately go haywire when Wendy shares a chocolate and marshmallow concoction called “mooshy” with a Christmas sweater–knitting rodent, whose sugar-fueled reaction results in a mayoral decree: “No more mooshies for Squirrely McSquirrel.” Mayhem ensues, and a series of cascading catastrophes leave Wendy scrambling to make things right before her father comes home. Along the way, Wendy’s efforts bring her into contact with countless quirky individuals, including a squirrel-hating sheriff, a Nutman who lives in a doughnut-shaped house, and a group of activist moles. Pastis’s hand-lettered, rough-hewn digital illustrations feature flat bright colors and simple character design. Deadpan humor abounds alongside a cartoonlike approach to violence and destruction (buildings explode, angry mobs stampede and loot), but it’s really the utterly unpredictable, absurdist plotting that propels this screwball adventure forward. Ages 8–12. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House. (Aug.)■

Publishers Weekly

08/01/2021

Gr 2–5—Trapped with an overprotective father, purple-haired, beige-skinned Wendy the Wanderer leaves home at the first opportunity to explore the neighboring town of Trubble, which is filled with unique personalities, including anthropomorphic animals. When Wendy gives a squirrel a sugary drink, a chain of events is set off like a butterfly effect over the rest of the town, and nothing will ever be the same. This book specializes in surreal humor (a Chihuahua reads a mostly inaccurately reported newspaper written by an octopus). Chapter headings either make hyperbolic claims or flatly state the obvious ("Chapter Nine, Which Is One After Eight"). A matter-of-fact omniscient narrator indulges and presents the cast and their highjinks. The narrative makes chaotic leaps from character to character, but follows a strange logic of its own that leads to hilarious callbacks and nonsequiturs. Layouts are almost universally two panels wide and three panels tall. Characters have a simplified, cartoonish look, reminiscent of Pastis's comic Pearls Before Swine. Townspeople are diverse in skin color. VERDICT Wendy wanders almost as much as the story, which takes some random turns but builds a world of jokes along the way.—Thomas Maluck, Richland Lib., SC

School Library Journal

2021-06-16
Meet Wendy the Wanderer, who lives with Worried Willy, her overprotective dad, in a purple, mushroom-shaped house in the town of Trubble.

Willy hired Watchful Willamina to keep Wendy from wandering while he’s away on business, unaware Willamina plans to be on the phone and just wants her charge to do her own thing. While her sitter takes selfies, Wendy takes off to explore Trubble. She buys herself a hot chocolate at Mooshy Mike’s, giving the dregs to Squirrely McSquirrel, a treat-seeking squirrel who, buoyed by a sugar high, bounds into traffic, sowing mayhem and causing the mayor to forbid him to have any more Mooshies. When the mayor’s office blows up, Squirrely is blamed. Thereafter, the cast of characters perpetrate and endure a storm of unforeseen consequences. (The plot’s loose throughline hinges on the butterfly effect.) Most human characters are adults; jokes about building permits, office politics, and municipal bureaucracy abound, unspooling with cheery nihilism. Standout characters include Three Moles (Myrtle, Girdle, and Menace To Society) and a homebound Chihuahua in love with the kitty next door. Human skin tones vary—Wendy and her bald father have brown skin; Wendy’s hair is a bushy purple halo. The comic strip–style art, with minimal shading or detail and a hand-lettered font, is well suited for the manic, madcap humor.

A wild ride infused with anarchic glee. (Graphic humor. 9-13)

Kirkus Reviews