Revenge of the toxic space potato by First Dog on the Moon

When zombie uranium robot scorpions emerge from under a chair in a locked dentist’s room at the Flapadoodle Plaza Shopping Wonderland and Stuart the Wobbegong’s friend Worried Norman is sitting in the chair; there is no time to let the reader know what is going on. You, the reader must just keep reading while the superheroes think of a plan. Luckily they happen to have a suitcase full of strawberry marshmallow friands which are poisonous to zombie uranium robot scorpions and the friends overpower them just in time to see giant snorkel suckers terrorizing shoppers in the mall. Here the reader refuses to read another page without some explanation, and we meet the Indefatigable Enviroteens through their collector cards. They set about using their superpowers to track down the source of the snorkel suckers and discover that TV villain Captain Greenwash and Recycling Girl’s wheelie bin army are helping Space Baron Kartoffelpoffen’s plans to suck up all of Earth’s water to terraform Mars.

Fast paced and packed with action the colourful cartoons are wonderful. Great characters, like Beverly the sourdough starter, consistent throughout, I particularly loved Stuart the Wobbegong’s distinctive camouflage. The play on words adds another dimension and there are some fun glossaries at the end of the book. The author even manages to insert interesting science into the story, I now know that onchyophora, or velvet worms, use super digestive worm saliva to liquefy their prey. Placing the reader into the story is a masterstroke of empowerment, delighting our 10 year old reader Luke, and what librarian could resist a book which champions the library as a place to find the last remaining croissant recipe and save the earth. More Enviroteen adventures are promised and in the meantime First Dog on the Moon website has a wealth of links to find more cartoons and background about this award winning cartoonist.

Themes: Cartoon superheroes, Environment, Humour.

Sue Speck