James Proimos's Blog, page 3

From Kirkus Review:KNUCKLE AND POTTY DESTROY HAPPY WORLDb...

From Kirkus Review:

KNUCKLE AND POTTY DESTROY HAPPY WORLD
by James Proimos

Two cutesy-poo picture-book characters seek (and find) a way to toughen up their images.

Chafing at the roles forced on them in previous bestsellers with titles like Tiger and Bear Are Cute and Tiger and Bear Are Wholesome, Knuckle Tiggerelli and Potty Polarberg seek help to escape their upcoming outing, Tiger and Bear Go to Happy World. Appeals to their author (who turns out to be not the TV celebrity named on their title pages, but a ghost writer named Gregory) and illustrator get only hostile responses. Knuckle and Potty (respectively, small pink and green outline figures with oversized eyes and lashes) arm themselves with erasers and mount a direct assault on Happy World’s trees and flowers. Alas, these turn out to be less defenseless than their sappy smiles imply. Proimos cranks up the general air of chaos by mixing narrative text with loosely drawn framed and unframed cartoon scenes and trots in other stars of page and screen. Such lights as Winkie the Pug and the rhyme-spouting Chicken in the Beret lend aid and advice.

A knee-slapper for recent early-reader grads who like their metafiction on the droll side.

From Colleen Mondor, a Bookslut columnist and reviewer fo...

From Colleen Mondor, a Bookslut columnist and reviewer for Booklist and Eclectica Magazine:

12 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU CRASH AND BURN by James Proimos


Proimos manages to make the most of every word in the 128 pages of 12 Things to Do. In the opening, we learn that sixteen-year-old Hercules has lost his self-help guru father in a plane crash and is being sent for two weeks to his uncle's home so his mother can deal with the aftermath. ("Herc" is a bit of a mouthy handful and she would like a break in the post-funeral period.) As it turns out, while Dad was very good at telling the world how they should live their lives (and making a pretty penny at it), he was not good at being a father. Herc makes his opinion clear at the funeral when he uses his moment in front of the congregation to say, "He was an ass. My father was a complete and total ass." It makes sense why his mother would need a break.

Uncle Anthony is a hard worker who has a decent relationship with his nephew and decides to challenge him in an unorthodox manner. Rather than allow him to wallow around the house during his visit, he gives Herc a list of twelve tasks (cue the Greek gods reference) that must be completed before he leaves. They include "Choose a mission," "Muck the stalls at Riverbend Farm," "Go on seven job interviews," and "Find the best pizza joint in town." Herc's knee-jerk reaction is to rebel, but Uncle Anthony is undaunted; the boy will do what he needs to do. So, because he really has no choice, Herc sets out (in a huff) and finds himself accomplishing the pizza joint task. From there many other things fall into place and suddenly the list becomes a lifeline not only to filling his days but also facing his long held frustrations with his father and, most importantly of all, figuring out just what kind of man he wants to be. The list gives Herc perspective, it gives him goals, it gives him hope. It turns out Uncle Anthony is a bit of a genius, or at the very least knows a lot more about manhood than you expect. His honest advice, Herc's believable adventures, and Proimos's outstanding style make 12 Things to Do Before You Crash and Burn one of the quickest and best reads I've had in ages. I highly recommend giving it to any teenager. It's outstanding.

From School Library Journal:12 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU CR...

From School Library Journal:

12 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU CRASH AND BURN by James Proimos


Hercules Martino, 16, sits in a room full of his famous father’s admirers listening to mourners shower the closed coffin with gushing eulogies. Hercules, however, can’t quite make himself say anything nice about the man. After the funeral, his mother sends him to finish out the summer with his bachelor uncle. On the train ride to Baltimore, the teen sits next to a “Strange Beautiful Unattainable Woman” and thinks he must have her. When she gets off, she leaves her book behind. From that point on, she becomes a much-needed distraction for Hercules, as well as part of the 12 tasks his uncle assigns him to complete during his two-week stay. His first task is to choose a mission. He opts to find the Strange Beautiful Unattainable Woman and return her book. As Hercules halfheartedly completes the tasks, he finds small moments of everyday magic and discovers new aspects of himself, his family, and life. In a minimum of pages, Hercules charms readers with humor and honesty, often in raw language, and his story will appeal to those who have admired the passing Strange Beautiful Unattainable person, including reluctant readers.

From Publishers Weekly:Starred Review12 THINGS TO DO BEFO...

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review

12 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU CRASH AND BURN by James Proimos

Time and again, picture-book creator Proimos has demonstrated a rock-solid sense of humor and outside-the-box thinking. His first book for teens is no different, opening a promising new chapter in his career. Sixteen-year-old James Martino, nicknamed Hercules, is spending the summer in Baltimore with his Uncle Anthony, who has given him a list of 12 tasks to accomplish (one even involves cleaning a stable). It’s meant to stave off boredom and maybe help Hercules deal with the recent death of his father, a beloved self-help author and talk-show host. Beloved by all but Hercules, that is, who eulogizes his father thusly: “He was an ass.” In chapters lasting just a page or so, Hercules gives a blunt and blisteringly funny account of his misadventures (“Horses are running everywhere. We are in the jeep. Chasing them. Through streets. Through other people’s farms. Through hell and high water, really”), which revolve around his efforts to reconnect with a “Strange Beautiful Unattainable Woman” from the train to Baltimore. Proimos fully inhabits the mind and voice of his hero, whose almost mythic journey offers moments hilarious, heartbreaking, and triumphant. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)

From Kirkus Review:12 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU CRASH AND B...

From Kirkus Review:

12 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU CRASH AND BURN by James Proimos

Homeless dudes, hot pizza girls, tanning salons and horse-stable make-out sessions punctuate a summer in Baltimore...hilarious...told in short, near-poetic vignettes...packed with plenty of small details and genuine moments of ridiculous humor...readers will relish Hercules’ smart-alecky, slacker sense of humor and his dogged determination to get the girl...an all-too-brief madcap summer adventure of longing, lust, confusion and clarity.