In this second installment of Where’s Leopold, our young hero is still getting used to his new-found superpower of invisibility. His sister, Celine, points out that he could be ending wars and stopping bad guys, but Leopold still primarily uses his ability to disappear as a way to torment her instead. Early on, she convinces him to agree to a truce whereby he stops invisibly pranking her and she won’t take his cake. However, Leopold finds other ways to get himself and Celine into mischief.
Told in a series of semi-interconnected vignettes, the stories delve deeper into the relationship between Leopold and Celine, featuring both almost equally. While the language isn’t complicated, the stories feature that complex relationship of siblings who will relentlessly tease each other but will come to each other’s defense in times of need. The short, 32-page story also hits on many other staples of childhood embarrassment: having a crush on someone, playing pretend, convincing babysitters to let you go wild, and the misplaced jealousy over someone else getting to stay home sick from school. The stories are relatable, silly, and feature a poop joke or two.
The art remains kid-friendly with bright colors, cartoony characters, and a lot of action sequences. The “ugly cute” look of the characters doesn’t detract from their very expressive faces and body language, giving artistic subtext to the panels. This helps move the story along, but it also gives young readers clues for determining character development and motivation as well as plots and subplots. It also lends some comedy through a slapstick approach that is such a hit with the target age group.
A solid wintery follow-up to Your Pajamas Are Showing!, Snowball Truce! is a fun, humorous look at siblings and their relationships. The reinforced library binding will come in handy for those young readers who like to read things over and over again.
Where’s Leopold?, vol. 2: Snowball Truce
by Michel-Yves Schmitt
Art by Vincent Caut
ISBN: 9781467707701
Graphic Universe, 2013
Publisher Age Rating: Ages 6-10
