Not everyone understands the art of satire and often the humor hurts and well… slices to the core. Which is exactly what the folks at Papercutz attempted to do. They’ve taken the most popular series and using the sly, wry, and hysterical humor of satire poked fun at today’s pop culture.
Papercutz Slices
Harry Potty and the Deathly Boring
Petrucha, Stefan. Parker, Rick.
Ages 12 and up
Papercutz, 2010, 978-1-59707-218-2 (hc) 978-1-59707-217-2 (pbk)
$10.99 (hc) $6.99 (pbk), 64 pp.
Breaking Down
Kinney-Petrucha, Maria & Petrucha, Stefan. Parker, Rick.
Ages 12 and up
Papercutz, 2011, 978-1-59707-245-8 (hc) 978-1-59707-244-1 (pbk)
$10.99 (hc) $6.99 (pbk), 64 pp.
Looking at the first two volumes, Harry Potty, which in case you can’t figure it out, pokes fun at the Harry Potter series and Breaking Down which pokes fun at the Twilight Series, I had two very different reactions, mostly because I cared very differently about these series. I was/am wild about the Harry Potter series and merely enjoyed Twilight, but by the end of the latter series I was happy to see it over. So you’d think that when I was reading Harry Potty and the Deathly Boring, I’d be rip-roaring mad, right? Instead, I was holding onto the edge of my seat so I wouldn’t stop laughing.
In Harry Potty, Harry must fight ValueMart (and his “debtors”). After the death of Dumb as a Door, Harry and his friends are each left with one gift to fight Value Mart. We’re briefly taken through the entire series, which will just have readers holding their stomachs as they laugh their hearts out. The jokes are funny and well developed.
In Breaking Down, the jokes center on a ditzy Bleh-bleh, a sparkly Fredward and a hot sexy J-bob. (Seems to me that this writing team was totally on Team Jacob.) Just like Harry Potty, Breaking Down starts with the fourth title in the series but quickly backtracks to fill readers in on the back story. The jokes here are more of the bathroom humor variety, but still entertaining.
These books aren’t meant to be anything more than fun. The artwork is perfectly aligned with the text, comedic and satirical. Die-hard fans of these series might take offense so read these only if you’re equipped with a good sense of humor.
This review is based on complimentary copies supplied by the publisher. All images copyright © [Papercutz].
About Esther Keller
My middle grade students LOVE these books and always want more.
I didn’t have a chance to test out the titles, so I’m glad to hear that middle schoolers like this. I thought they would.
Thanks for the nice write-up! Rick and I are delighted you enjoyed them!