Green Pieces: Green From the Pond Up by Drew Aquilina

This book is scheduled for publishing on September 4, 2010.  More information about the book and additional comic strips can be found at their website.

Life is never boring at the Pond when Iggy, Radic, Cabby and Roc meet. Enjoy a humorous yet educational look at the world from nature’s point of view through Cartoonist Drew Aquilina’s cartoon strip collection, Green Pieces: Green From the Pond Up. (Taken from enclosed literature)


Unlike most of the books I review, this one is a comic strip. I have to admit that that’s one of the things that drew me towards this book. It’s something out of the ordinary and I thought it might be a fun change. The other huge draw for me is that it’s being released on my birthday! Before I even received my review copy, I felt I had a sort of kinship with it.

Basically, this book is a wonderful compilation of a comic strip titled Green Pieces. It takes place in a pond with several talking animals and deals with different issues that face our environment. A deep look is taken at some serious issues but it’s done in a light-hearted and snarky manner that will draw readers.

Although this book is billed as being wonderful to share with children, I have to disagree. I believe that the issues brought up in the comic are important to share with children. I believe that reading this could be a fun way for children to learn about the environment and some of the more serious issues facing it. Some of the jokes in the comic are a bit too adult for me to want to share with my children. I found them humorous. I even chuckled a few times, but they just aren’t what I want my children reading. They aren’t crass or rude and I’m betting that my children wouldn’t even get them, but I’m a bit over protective. Another issue some parents may have with sharing this with their children involves a cigarette-smoking raccoon. The raccoon is supposed to be the bad example, but it’s subtle enough that children wouldn’t pick up on it unless someone else points it out to them.

This is a wonderful comic for anyone interested in learning more about animals and our environment. It did leave me giggling in a few places and smiling in others. I also found myself thinking from the perspective of animals more than that of humans. Overall, this was a great way to learn about serious issues in a fun way.