My Dad Is a Super Secret Agent (Lola's Super Club #1)

Gr 2-4--Lola's active imagination lands her in one madcap adventure after another. In both stories, Lola rescues her parents from the mustache-twirling villain Max Imum and his minions across many settings. Aiding her are a number of toys brought to life, including a size-changing dinosaur in underpants, a skeleton couple, and a shape-shifting sentient scribble, plus a cat, a shark, and an alligator, all of whom provide running commentary and silly reactions. Lola either invents solutions to obstacles or fights her way out with ballerina moves. The narrative is propelled by child logic that has Lola's troupe floating through treacherous waters on an inflatable ducky one moment, then free-falling through the sky the next, only to land on a cloud. Three-tiered layouts and skinny linework fill the page with plenty of details to be absorbed if readers aren't matching Lola's breakneck pace. There are a few gags involving underwear and a time travel story that zips through eras and locations with little explanation. Lola admires Christopher Columbus, but spear-wielding, arrow-firing Indigenous characters aren't given any dialogue. The protagonist and her parents all appear to be white. VERDICT Children who recruit anyone and anything nearby to set the stage for their imaginative play will have no trouble keeping up with Lola.--Thomas Maluck, Richland Lib., SC