Mr. Ball's egg-cellent adventure just may leave him cracked.Mr. Ball, a big, yellow smiling ball with short arms and legs, and his friends, a hen, a turtle and Dr. Dog, along with Mr. Ball's pet cat, Ms. Kitty Cow, head off to the circus. Mr. Ball is hoping for some wild, scary entertainment; he is unimpressed until the lion tamer steps into the ring. Everyone's sad when the circus ends, so they decide to hold their own. Each picks an act to perform. Mr. Ball decides he'll trap and tame a fire-breathing "tweety blob" bird, despite his friends' warnings. When he is trapped in the tweety blob's nest by a mama bird who thinks he's one of her babies, Mr. Ball needs his friends to rescue him. Good thing Ms. Kitty Cow is there to "Moo-ow!" for help. Townsend's first Mr. Ball adventure stretches over four chapters, plus prologue and afterword. It's told in graphic panels with easy-to-read narrative captions. Visual gags in the panels and simple, declarative sentences will encourage repeat readings. The chewed-up worms at feeding time in the nest and the many pie fights won't hurt re-readability either.Expect more from this Pac Man-esque hero and his band of friends. (Graphic fantasy. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Mr. Ball, a gap-mouthed Pac-Man type, goes to the circus with his friends (a turtle, dog, and chicken), but he's not impressed by the funny clowns throwing pies or the high-flying trapeze artists all he wants to see are big, scary animals. By the end of the show, he's so impressed by the man-eating lion act that he and his friends decide to make their own circus. Despite his friends' advice, Mr. Ball is convinced that he can train a big, scary animal for his act (rather than training his cat, Ms. Kitty Cow, while she wears a lion suit), so he seeks out a tweety blob a giant, fire-breathing bird. Can he capture and train the deadly animal for their backyard big top? Townsend's goofy figures in bright colors recall childlike doodles, and their outlandish antics will delight little ones. With oversize panels, large font type, and a story divided into easily digestible chapters, this is a good fit for young ones learning to read graphic novels for the first time.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2014 Booklist