Jop and Blip Wanna Know #1: Can You Hear a Penguin Fart on Mars?: And Other Excellent Questions

by Jim Benton, Jim Benton (Illustrator)

Overview

*Winner of the 2022 Pop Culture Classroom Excellence in Graphic Literature Award for Best Children’s Nonfiction!*

Two curious robots seek the answers to life’s most pressing—and hilarious—questions in this full-color graphic novel series by Jim Benton, New York Times bestselling author and creator of Franny K. Stein and Catwad!

Join Jop and Blip as they follow their curiosity and investigate these seemingly odd questions using their own brand of logic, critical thinking skills, STEM knowledge, and humor.

• Can you hear a penguin fart on Mars?

• What if you wanted a dragon sandwich?

• Why do we need TWO ears?

With Jop and Blip, everything is worth knowing! Perfect for fans of Dav Pilkey and Dan Gutman!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062972934
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/29/2021
Series:	Jop and Blip Wanna Know , #1
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	497,107
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	6 - 10 Years

About the Author

Jim Benton is a New York Times bestselling author and the creator of many licensed properties, including It's Happy Bunny. He's created a kids' TV series, designed clothing, and written the bestselling series Dear Dumb Diary, as well as Catwad and Franny K. Stein. Jim lives in Detroit with his spectacular family.

Jim Benton is a New York Times bestselling author and the creator of many licensed properties, including It's Happy Bunny. He's created a kids' TV series, designed clothing, and written the bestselling series Dear Dumb Diary, as well as Catwad and Franny K. Stein. Jim lives in Detroit with his spectacular family.

Editorial Reviews

"Underscore the notion that even—or perhaps especially—silly questions are always worth asking. Nourishing fare for readers with a burning need to know."
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

★ 2021-03-31
Two robots discuss some of life’s big questions.

There’s as much going on between the lines here as in them. Big Jop’s response to little Blip’s titular penguin query—“I’ve never heard a better question about one”—demonstrates the respect that any and every query from a child merits, and the two go on to consider logically what it would take to get a penguin (for instance) to Mars. Following this, the two chew over a range of topics, including the origin of sandwiches, why we have two nostrils, the epistemological implications of a belief in dragons, and the story of the blind men and the elephant. (Jop: “You can be kind of right about something…and kind of wrong about something at the same time.”) It all serves to underscore the notion that even—or perhaps especially—silly questions are always worth asking. Benton presents this profound exchange in plain language and panels of deceptively simple cartoon depictions of, say, guts (funny as well as relevant!) and comically overdone reaction shots. Jop and Blip vaguely resemble popeyed versions of C-3PO and R2-D2, and if the three blind, white-bearded men are identical except for having pink, brown, and yellow skin, the other human figures throughout generally vary in features as well as skin tone. An activity page closes each chapter (one is a maze that challenges readers to trace a hot dog through the digestive tract of a penguin).

Nourishing fare for readers with a burning need to know. (Graphic nonfiction. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews