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Meet "detective" Timmy Failure, star of the kids’ comedy of the year. Created by New York Times best-selling cartoonist Stephan Pastis.
Take Timmy Failure — the clueless, comically self-confident CEO of the best detective agency in town, perhaps even the nation. Add his impressively lazy business partner, a very large polar bear named Total. Throw in the Failuremobile — Timmy’s mom’s Segway — and what you have is Total Failure, Inc., a global enterprise destined to make Timmy so rich his mother won’t have to stress out about the bills anymore. Of course, Timmy’s plan does not include the four-foot-tall female whose name shall not be uttered. And it doesn’t include Rollo Tookus, who is so obsessed with getting into "Stanfurd" that he can’t carry out a no-brainer spy mission. From the offbeat creator of Pearls Before Swine comes an endearingly bumbling hero in a caper whose peerless hilarity is accompanied by a whodunit twist. With perfectly paced visual humor, Stephan Pastis gets you snorting with laughter, then slyly carries the joke a beat further — or sweetens it with an unexpected poignant moment — making this a comics-inspired story (the first in a new series) that truly stands apart from the pack.
Eleven-year-old Timmy Failure has no clue that he's not the world's greatest detective. Even being unable to deduce the culprit in a recent candy wrapper caper doesn't squelch his dizzying ambitions. The first book for young readers by the creator of Pearls Before Swine features funny pictures, classroom guerilla theater, and more mysteries than any pint-sized Holmes can handle.
Pastis has assembled an eccentric and funny cast (running gags revolve around Total’s voracious appetite and a librarian who looks like one of the Hells Angels), yet there are also touching interactions to be found...
—Publishers Weekly
…Readers should be simultaneously amused and touched by this quirky antihero.
—Booklist
The Pearls Before Swine cartoonist’s frequent black-and-white illustrations help to cast Timmy’s adventure in an appropriately ironic light. Timmy… has greatness in him. Just like all of us.
—Kirkus Reviews
Pastis crafts a great story starring an unforgettable protagonist whose unorthodox approach to detective work (and world domination) will have readers in stitches. For Timmy Failure, success is the only option!
—Lincoln Peirce, creator of the Big Nate series
Seldom has failure been so likable—or so funny.
—The Wall Street Journal
Pastis ... peppers nearly every page of this comic romp with at least one intentionally amateurish black-and-white illustration, enhancing the laughs along the way as Timmy misses even the most obvious clues in Clouseauesque fashion. Middle grade readers will appreciate all the silly sleuthing and absurd details, and older readers–including parents who come along for the ride–will find a satisfying layer of more sophisticated humor, too.
—School Library Journal
Stephan Pastis is the creator of Pearls Before Swine, an acclaimed comic strip that appears in more than six hundred newspapers and boasts a devoted following. His 2011 compilation Larry in Wonderland debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for paperback graphic novels. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is his first book for young readers. He lives in Northern California.
Stephan Pastis's Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is not a failure! Timmy delights readers with his experience as one of the best detectives in the world. He lays it all out from his questionable sleuthing skills to silly mishaps at home and school.
Timmy Failure is dead set on building his business into a detective agency empire, but he is not without trials: one being his lazy partner Total, who is also a polar bear, and others being his idiot best friend Rollo and his evil rival Corinna Corinna.
How Timmy describes those around him is almost so exaggerated you might wonder what's wrong with him. Timmy has a very strong voice which actually surprised me since he's an eleven-year-old. He expresses his opinions very decidedly. I find that his peculiar personality adds to his story's humor and helps readers understand where his super self-confidence comes from. Then, of course, there are the illustrations that provide further detail for whatever crazy plan goes wrong. Those drawings are like an extension of Timmy's voice and just as comical.
Pastis hits the mark when it comes to providing humorous entertainment for the middle grade age group. It's a big plus that adults and older teens will enjoy Timmy's antics as well. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is the just the first installment in Stephan Pastis's debut series and the hilarious plot will surely tide you over until the next!
*Book provided via publisher in exchange for an honest review*
2 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 9, 2013
Not as good as say Never More the final maximum ride novel.
Hi Omar
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 1, 2013
My 10 yr old is an avid reader & loves this book. It's not very challenging for him but sometimes it's okay for a child to read just for
the FUN OF READING! (It's a.r. level 3.8 & my son is on a 6.0 level) He finds this book HILARIOUS & has started trying to sketch the
characters himself. He's been chatting with me about his favorite parts as he's reading the book. It's been a great experience & we
are looking forward to the next book in this series.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 13, 2013
If you love Pearls you will love this!
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 12, 2013
I loved this book! I was laughing the whole time and have now passed it on to my 5th grade students. They can't wait to read it.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 12, 2013
Love Stephan Pastis' comic strip. As an adult, enjoyed the 50 pages I read before giving it as a gift to my grandson. But some of the attempts at humor remind me of many of the rat character's humor in the comic strip--which is to pick on others. Not sure I want to encourage that needlessly. I may send a review again when I get his take on it but if I had not promised him it was coming, I might not have handed it over.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 18, 2013
Timmy and Total, a fun read for kids, and grown-up kids! If you have a "reluctant reader", Timmy Failure will change that!
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 10, 2013
Awesome!!!
0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 10, 2013
AAAAAAWWWWWWEEEEEEESSSSSSOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEE
0 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 25, 2013
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Posted March 19, 2013
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Overview
Meet "detective" Timmy Failure, star of the kids’ comedy of the year. Created by New York Times best-selling cartoonist Stephan Pastis.
Take Timmy Failure — the clueless, comically self-confident CEO of the best detective agency in town, perhaps even the nation. Add his impressively lazy business partner, a very large polar bear named Total. Throw in the Failuremobile — Timmy’s mom’s Segway — and what you have is Total Failure, Inc., a global enterprise destined to make Timmy so...