I think this book will stick with me becuase I'm not entirely sure what happened! So four stars for expanding my thinking. I kept hoping for an ending that I could wrap my head around, but that didn't really happen either. The book takes the reader on a wild ride. Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy.

I have not read many graphic novels but found Amazing Grapes to be odd and only mildly entertaining. The story of children in the midst of family chaos with parents leaving and a mother seemingly in her own world being carted off by fictional creatures provides a bit of an escape, yet is too drawn out and rather pointless. This ARC was provided to me by #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an electronic ARC from HarperCollins Children's Books through NetGalley.
My expectations were so much higher for a Feiffer book. I expected the offbeat style but this felt like a disconnected series of wanderers who never did resolve anything. The dad left to start the story and the we jump a year to mom finding a new man and planning to move the three children with her to a new place. After that, readers journeyed into other dimensions where the kids never changed. The brother and sister remained the same and didn't learn much from their adventures. The mom was portrayed as vapid and indecisive, and the oldest sister seemed to live her life in our dimension and grow up and away from the rest of them. The song woven through doesn't really have meaning (which could well be Feiffer's point).
Others may enjoy this more but it was a rare miss for me with his writings.

Nope. The art is in the unique style of Jules Feiffer which would be fine if the story wasn't as intangible as his art. This is not for children or adults really. It reads like a boring circuitous fever dream.

"Amazing Grapes" is a middle grade graphic novel by Jules Feiffer. Feiffer's signature illustration style is on display here, and while I think that adults and kids who enjoyed "The Phantom Tollbooth" will like it, I think it will be a tougher sell for most middle schoolers. Three siblings, Curly, Pearlie, and Shirley are moving away with their mother after their father leaves them. The children take one last look inside their empty house when a two-headed swan appears and says that they have to come on an adventure. Curly and Pearlie climb onto the swan's back, but Shirley runs back to her mother. Curly and Pearlie then go on a surreal adventure similar to "The Phantom Tollbooth." Their mother is able to help them by singing a strange song from her youth: "Amazing Grapes." The story is silly, but drags a bit at times. An additional purchase for middle grade graphic novel collections where "Otto: A Palindrama" by Jon Agee or "The Phantom Tollbooth" are popular.

This is easily one of the strangest books I've ever read, and it was a struggle to finish. I may not be the target audience, but I don't know who would be. I don't see the art style appealing to my students and the story is just too strange. If I had a student who really loved A Wrinkle in Time or The Phantom Tollbooth, I might recommend this, but it's not one I'll be adding to my shelves.

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this graphic novel, Shirley, Pearlie, and Curly have a difficult life. Their father, Greg, never liked children, and walked out on the family. A year later, their mother, who is often remote, announces that they will be moving across the country to live on a mountain when she marries Lenny, who has three children, Penny, Benny, and Kenny. Just as they are about to load the van for the trip, and giant two headed swan swoops by and takes Pearlie and Curly away into the Lost Dimension. Shirley stays with their mother, who seems to recognize the swan. Pearlie and Curly have quite the madcap adventure, telling knock knock jokes to the swan, stopping at a bathroom in Meanyopolis, where all of the residents look like Greg, and being used as a plaything by the Police Hawks, who toss them in a game of drop ya/got ya over a pool of crocodile like creatures called akyaks. When the swan has to leave, the children have an emergency feather from the creature, just in case. Eventually, they meet Slirro, the Lord High Muckety Muck of Everything That Counts, who puts them in a dangerous party pit. Back in our dimension, the mother can tell that her children are in danger. She sends Shirley to save the two, and opens the portal to the other dimension by singing and "Amazing Grapes" song. Three years have passed while Pearlie and Curly have been gone, although it doesn't seem that long to them. After meeting a baby monster, they take the Tower to Nowhere and meet an old lady without a head who gives them Kelly, a guide dog who is secretly a cat. Things get stranger and stranger, and eventually some light is shed on what's going on. The mother was the Empress Cornucopia of Trutopia, but left because she couldn't stomach the responsibility of running the kingdom with a war going on. She ended up in our dimension, and has always felt disconnected. How will Pearlie, Curly, and Shirley (along with her fiance, Earl) be able to save the kingdom and reconnect with their mother?
Strengths: It's definitely not an every day occurrences to have a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist and satirist who contributed to The Atlantic, The Village Voice, and whose work was syndicated across the US turn his hand to a graphic novel. Feiffer even had the first op ed comic strip in The New York Times for several years, and there was even a retrospective of his work at the National Archives years ago. It's like having John Cheever authoring an I Can Read book. This embraced his themes of anxiety and self reflection in a way that is accessible to younger readers, and has a lot of humor to boot. Of course, the real selling point is Feiffer's exuberant and eccentric illustrations.
Weaknesses: This might be a bit challenging for younger readers to comprehend, although they will find the artwork appealing. There is a quirky, allegorical feel to this that readers might not have seen before.
What I really think: Readers will be glad to see Feiffer's classic style of artwork appear in this popular modern format, and will giggle at the vintage goofiness of this Daniel Pinkwater-style fantasy adventure. As a bonus for long time fans, this has more than a few nods to the classic The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, which Feiffer illustrated.

I really really love the illustration style in this book. There's something about it that is so full of movement and expression. A fun quirky read.