SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Manga
  • All Ages
  • Young Adult
  • Interviews
  • News

March 9, 2015 by Michael May

Review: Silly Kingdom

March 9, 2015 by Michael May   Leave a Comment

Silly Kingdom: Alengrimrickshaw’s 211th Birthday and A New Steed Indeed
Story by Steven “Shaggy” Shanahan; Art by Katie Shanahan
Shanahanigans

With the Shanahan siblings’ Silly Kingdom, the title tells you pretty much what you’re in for. A more accurate title would be Silly, but Also Completely Charming and Occasionally Touching Kingdom and Oh By the Way Nice World-Building, but you see why they went the other direction. There are currently two volumes in the series, both doing wonderful things with their light-hearted premises.

As the name suggests, the series takes place in a medieval fantasy kingdom where funny things happen. The main characters are a pair of nameless royal siblings. The Princess is fun-loving and good-natured, but the Prince is a selfish rascal who’s impatient to inherit his father’s kingdom. The first volume, Alengrimrickshaw’s 211th Birthday, also introduces the kingdom’s ancient sorcerer. Alengrimrickshaw is as cranky as 211 years can make a person and he has no friends, so when the Princess discovers that his birthday is approaching, she decides that it’s time someone finally celebrate it. She ropes her brother and their friend Markus, the kingdom’s jester, into helping, but Alengrimrickshaw is irritated by Markus’s stage magic and decides to sabotage his own party.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

In A New Steed Indeed, the Prince is envious of neighboring prince Peatrid’s new unicorn, so he sets out to capture his own, again recruiting Markus. The two of them delve into the Avoided Woods and instigate a cat-and-mouse game worthy of a Looney Tunes cartoon.

As cheerful and bouncy as the premises are, the real magic of Silly Kingdom is in the details. The Shanahans are both extremely gifted in their areas. The characters are all strong and have distinct personalities, which are communicated through joke after joke after joke. Some of the gags are verbal, like when the Prince questions whether the Princess wanting a magic show for Alengrimrickshaw’s party is for the sorcerer or for her. But most of the humor is visual, with even the spoken stuff being enhanced by the art. Katie Shanahan’s experience in animation gives the characters—humans, animals, and otherwise—an amazing range of expressions and body language that not only communicate individual personalities but also let each individual have a wide variety of emotions. In other words, while the characters look and sometimes act cartoony, they don’t feel that way.

The same goes with the kingdom itself. Part of the beauty of Silly Kingdom is that it feels like a real place. Most of A New Steed Indeed takes place in the Avoided Woods, for example. Even if the story didn’t include an awesome, Family Circus style, double-page spread map at one point, the detailed panels and recurring landmarks would still give the Woods a strong sense of geography. The same is true of the castle in the first volume. Silly Kingdom is goofy, but it’s never flighty.

That lets the story have some genuine moments amongst all the goofiness. I don’t want to oversell this part, because the books’ defining characteristic is that they’re simply great fun, but that’s not all they are. Thanks to the Princess and Markus, they’re also very sweet. And thanks to the irritable Alengrimrickshaw and the pleonectic Prince, they’re also instructive about the follies of certain kinds of behavior. Not that either of those characters necessarily learn from their mistakes, but readers certainly can. And they’ll be laughing as they do it.

Filed under: Reviews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
Katie ShanahanShaggy ShanahanSilly Kingdom

About Michael May

Michael May has been writing about comics for a little over a decade. He started as a reviewer for Comic World News and soon became editor-in-chief of the site. Leaving editorial duties to focus on writing, he joined The Great Curve, the comics blog that eventually became Blog@Newsarama and finally Comic Book Resources' Robot 6. In addition to loving comics, he loves his son and enjoys nothing more than finding (and writing about) awesome comics for the boy to read.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

February 2023

The Archie Encyclopedia | Review

by Michael May

January 2023

Monkey Prince Vol. 1: Enter the Monkey | Review

by Michael May

January 2023

Young Agatha Christie | Review

by Michael May

January 2023

Andy Warner's Oddball Histories: Pests and Pets | Review

by Michael May

January 2023

My Sister, the Cat, vol. 1 | Review

by Michael May

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Surprise! Announcing CABOOSE

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Jump Into this Guest Post by Shadra Strickland About Her Latest Book: Jump In!

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

The Archie Encyclopedia | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

WRITING FOR YOURSELF FIRST, a guest post by author M. K. Lobb

by Karen Jensen, MLS

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Graphic Novel Series Updates for Both Die-Hard Fans and New Readers

Free Comics, and Resources on COVID-19, in Graphic Form

First-Person Graphic Memoirs Bring Events to Life for Students

Eight Graphic Works that Offer Fresh Perspectives on the Past | Stellar Panels

First-Person Graphic Memoirs: 17 Recommended Titles

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023