K Is in Trouble AGAIN (A Graphic Novel)

by Gary Clement

Overview

Misfortune hilariously abounds in this graphic novel about the life of one persistently unlucky kid named K—who is, once again, very, very much in trouble!

K just keeps getting in trouble! 

Trouble finds him when a mischievous goat eats his train ticket home. Trouble finds him when he's stowed away in a barrel of apples, hiding from angry farmers. Trouble finds him as he dangles from a ridiculously high diving board in front of the entire town. Trouble even finds him through a very talkative snowman, whose chatter gets K into even more trouble.

But it’s not all bad news for K: The stories in this graphic novel find him reunited with an old friend, taking a restorative trip to the sea, and making the acquaintance of a young farm girl! Join K as he tries (and fails) to stay out of trouble in this new set of adventures from Gary Clement.

For more adventures with K, check out K Is in Trouble.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316468749
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	04/15/2025
Series:	K Is in Trouble Series , #2
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.35(h) x 0.76(d)
Age Range:	7 - 12 Years

About the Author

Gary Clement is a Canadian artist, cartoonist, illustrator, and writer. He’s the author and illustrator of several children’s books, among them The Great Poochini, which earned Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award in Children’s Literature—Illustration, and most recently illustrated My Winter City, written by James Gladstone. His illustrations have appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and many other newspapers and magazines across North America.

Editorial Reviews

"Those who appreciate Roald Dahl’s wacky adventure stories and lovers of the twisted original Grimm Fairy Tales will see the true humor that K brings."—School Library Journal

Praise for K Is in Trouble:

A Kids’ Indie Next Pick

"K is my new favorite hero, and my new favorite letter of the alphabet. If you like this book, then you are a wonderful person, and if you don't, then something is wrong with you."—Lemony Snicket

“Even the happiest boys and girls know what it is to be buffeted about by adults…. The universality of this experience, which, depending on the adult caprice, can feel like the most acute injustice, gives resonance to K Is in Trouble."—The Wall Street Journal

"Visual storytelling at its finest."—The New York Times Book Review

*"Clement’s debut graphic novel makes a good case that this age group could find great relevance, at least, in those things we’ve come to call 'Kafkaesque'.... A truly unique effort that will become a deeply resonant touchstone for anyone who recognizes in it the occasional strangeness of their world."—Booklist, starred review

*“That Clement never bows to the demands of feel-goodery – or explains away the endless absurdities K must face – is one of the most pleasing, and paradoxically realistic aspects of these weird, wonderful tales.”—Quill and Quire, starred review

“Odd mishaps and hostile grown-ups plague a lonely child in this set of surreal episodes…channeling the spirit of Franz Kafka in the plot and the gothic sensibility of Edward Gorey in the art.”—Kirkus Reviews

“In each of five graphic short stories, Clement presents a situation of powerlessness, oppression, or ennui in which K encounters a small moment of grace…a sympathetic and respectful portrait of the condition of being a child, a condition as familiar now as then.”—The Horn Book

“K is indeed in trouble—in more ways than one—in this quirky, subversive graphic novel.” —BCCB

From the Publisher

2025-02-01
A talking beetle, a goat, and a possible new friend help the hapless K weather more surreal misadventures.

Accompanied by pithy dialogue and a narrative that’s pointedly printed in a typeface called “KafkABC,” Clement’s sparely drawn panels depict a solitary, Buster Keatonish schoolboy in a chain of pickles and odd situations. Fortunately, whether he’s suddenly snatched off a Ferris wheel by a trapeze artist, stranded in a barn far from home with a goat who eats his train ticket, left forgotten in a huge, empty school infirmary, or snagged by the back flap of his swimsuit on the edge of a high diving board to the amusement of crowds below, relief eventually arrives. The assistance is often of an unexpected sort, however—the same goat, for instance, trots up to free him by eating the buttons on his bathing suit. Sometimes there are bright spots, like the friendly (if nameless) farm girl who helps him find a train back home and later comes to visit. Since these sorts of random events are commonplace for K, he seems less perturbed than the towering grown-ups in his life, all of whom, parents included, apparently find him annoying and frequently wind up shouting at him. Readers who sometimes feel themselves blown like leaves in existential winds will relate. The cast, all in dress and settings from the late 19th or early 20th centuries, is light-skinned.

Amusing, if sometimes unsettling, exercises in absurdity.(Graphic fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews