Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with Big Nate: Prank You Very Much (Big Nate TV Series Graphic Novel Book 2) by Lincoln Peirce

Big Nate: Prank You Very Much by Lincoln Peirce 
Format:  E-ARC
Publisher:  Andrews McMeel Publishing
Number of pages:  224
Publishing:  November 29th, 2022
Source:  Publisher in exchange for an honest review 

Big Nate first debuted as a comic strip on January 6th, 1991, and in 2010 the graphic novel titled Big Nate: In a Class by Himself was published.  Lincoln Pierce went on to publish eight books in the series and his stories have now been adapted into an animated series on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon.  Each book includes storylines from the animated episodes and illustrations of characters like Nate, Francis, Dee Dee, and Teddy.

Big Nate Prank You Very Much is a tie-in to the animated series and includes stories from two shorts and two complete episodes.    The first story is called "How to Pull a Proper Prank" and involves seven of Nate's infamous pranks including atomic sit-ups, some leaping frogs and even one where he switches out his sister's toothpaste for one that is glow-in the dark florescent green.  While I'm not a fan of pulling pranks on people, I think this story will appeal to readers who enjoy the Nate series.  I am glad that the message of "if you dish it out, you've got to be ready to take it" was included. 

In "The Pimple," Nate wakes up with a honker of a zit smack dab in the center of his forehead.  Concerned that popping it will make it ten times worse, Nate tries to camouflage himself and goes to school.  Instead of being grossed out by his zit, everyone wants to touch it and soon Nate is seen as the cool mature kid whose zit grants everyone their wish.  However, in an unfortunate twist, Nate's lucky pimple has unforeseen consequences for those wish seekers and soon everyone is out to pop that zit.  Okay, having a pimple as a kid was pretty traumatic and stressful, but there is no way anyone would want to touch it, that's just gross.  I get the not wanting everyone to see it and feeling like it's this huge blemish on your face, but this story just went into a whole weird new direction for me.             

In "Picture Day," Nate hashes a plan to break into the yearbook office and correct everyone's pictures, hoping to make this year's picture day a success with some clever touchups.  I quite enjoyed Nate's remakes and found this story to be such fun.  "Time Disrupters" involves a costume ball celebrating a school year with no students lost to homeschooling.  The theme, "The Legend of the Homeschool Corn Girl." Nate and his friends begin working on designing their costumes while Francis is sent by the principal to tutor a girl from their rival school, Jefferson Middle School.  With Francis acting squirrely and trying to evade talks about the dance, Nate vows to discover what his friend is hiding.  Again, this is a fun story that sees Francis singing a song about charter schoolgirl and has an appearance from the legendary Corn Girl that has everyone spooked.  

These Tv series graphic novels will surely appeal to middle graders who enjoy the Paramount + animated television series or readers who get the humor of the original graphic novels or are fans of Nate's hilarious escapades and his tendency to land himself in trouble.  Each of the stories features the full color CG artwork from the animated television series with a sprinkling of Nate's original black and white comic book illustrations.   Surely a hit for reluctant readers who are looking for a humorous story or for fans of the original Big Nate comics.    

 Please don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.