Review: The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan

By Maxwell Eaton III
Available now from Alfred A. Knopf (Random House)

Ace and Bub, the beaver brothers, are practicing for the surf competition when their board is stolen by a couple of penguins (or puffins).  But when they go to get it back, they discover that the penguins are  up to no good!  Can they thwart the penguins and win the competition against bullying beaver Bruce?

Maxwell Eaton III's art is more detailed than that of Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm, although he uses a similar three-color scheme.  Eaton is terrific at drawing action, which is good since there's a lot of it in THE FLYING BEAVER BROTHERS AND THE EVIL PENGUIN PLAN.  In particular, there is one really cool two-page spread of the brothers swimming through a tunnel in the penguins' lair.  (Hilariously, their submarine is a giant refrigerator.)

I felt sort of uneasy about the plot.  The penguins are motivated by the loss of their home due to global warming.  Now, obviously their plan isn't good for the beavers, but I felt weird about them being labeled "evil."  This hang up is silly, I know, especially since Eaton does show that not all of the penguins are bad guys.

THE FLYING BEAVER BROTHERS AND THE EVIL PENGUIN plan is a cute, funny comic that will appeal to action fans and children who like animals.