Trubble Town 2, The Why-Why’s Gone Bye-Bye, too 4 tout

Disparate is an adjective that I absolutely love. I’m currently teaching 8^th grade ELA and I used that term in conversation when comparing things that have nothing to very little in common, and then trying to make a compelling argument as to why they belong in the same classification. A cursory glance at the pages of Trubble Town 2, The Why-Why’s Gone Bye-Bye would yield the same conversation. That is if I were to tell you that this graphic novel is flat-out hilarious, weird, creative and constantly gives readers a smile, even when they don’t know what’s going on. It is.

How can a graphic novel, with a sometimes meandering plot, be simultaneously funny, engaging, thought-provoking, and appropriate for an all-age audience? That’s the genius of Stephan Pastis. He’s the creator of Pearls Before Swine and Timmy Failure. Readers of this site will know that we hold daily comic strip creators in the highest regard. Pearls is a comic strip that has semi-recurring characters who sometimes engage in ongoing stories. Sometimes it’s a gag-a-day premise, but the strip is always funny. More often than not, the humor in the comic strip is found in its silence.

Trubble Town 2, The Why-Why’s gone Bye-Bye uses that silence, space in some cases, or the rule of thirds; illustrated to comic proportions, to drive home the point. That could be to make you laugh, think about the actions of the situation or just point out something absurd. Absurd, quirky, heartwarming, funny and an aces all-age-graphic novel are some other ways to describe Trubble Town.

The adults that live in Trubble Town have been abducted by aliens. It didn’t start out like that. First off we see Milo who is in The Trubble Orphanage for Troubled Tots. He’s a kid who finds joy where he needs it, never holds a grudge, and is a dependable youth who just might have to save the town. The leaders of Trubble have a plan to make money off of the town’s people. The town has been being fleeced by contractors who made a 1,000-foot flaming dolphin that sits atop city hall.

Unfortunately, the dolphin was just a huge inflatable, so one day when a gust of wind comes along it blows the dolphin down, which causes the city to burn to the ground. Thanks to other acts of malfeasance, tiger traps, crooked crocodile lawyers, talking sheep, moles who dig tunnels, and a gyro restaurant just on the outs of town, Trubble Town just might be a total lost cause.

Reading The Why-Why’s Gone Bye-Bye reminded me of so many things that I find hilarious. It has the intelligent, fast-paced STEM aspects of Phineas & Ferb. There are also those down times in the book, as in the show, that exacerbate the feels or humor. More often than not, it’s funny, but there are a couple of instances that shed light on the friendship that the characters are building towards one another.

The graphic novel’s chapters have unique, silly numbers and titles that kids will immediately have an affinity towards if they’ve seen Captain Underpants on Netflix. The action in Trubble Town has aspects of the silly, science-fiction in that show also, but with a heartfelt infusion that would raise its potty humor. In The Why-Why’s the humor is madcap, very fast-paced, and on a level that those grades four and up will appreciate and love.

How can they love a graphic novel that I’m struggling to adequately describe? All one has to do is open Trubble Town 2 for proof of that. Just turn to any page and you’ll be immediately curious as to why a man in a giant peanut costume is jumping on a trampoline. The sheep are sometimes the smartest ones in the panel and the Berrymanalow aliens are dressed in jumpsuits. This is a graphic novel that elementary ages will enjoy and their parents will enjoy it even more. However, those younger audiences will develop the confidence and love of reading longer books.

Yeah, the chapters in the graphic novel are short, but they’re for those younger readers and intended for the process of confidence building. It’s also comfort food reading that they’ll want to spend quiet time with. The illustrations drag reluctant readers in and the brilliantly twisted story engages them in an all-age graphic novel that they’ll love, even though they won’t be able to tell their friends the plot.

Trubble Town 2, The Why-Why’s Gone Bye-Bye is by Stephan Pastis and is available on Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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