Mister O

Dan Nadel

The repetitious page structure emphasizes the monotony of Mister O's clueless existence but never makes for dull reading. Instead, taken one after the other, the strips seem funnier and more ridiculous. Their utter silliness carries the day, and we turn each page as much to see if Trondheim will let his little man off the cliff as what he'll invent to keep him on it.
— The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

There couldn't be a simpler premise than the one that drives every one of this book's 30 cartoons of 60 tiny, wordless panels apiece: Mr. O is a tiny geometrical stick figure whose path is interrupted by a chasm. All he wants is to make it to the other side (which every other creature and character in the book seems to be able to do without a problem), but every scheme he tries lands him at the bottom of the pit (which is off-panel, but seems to be a very long way down). The effect is reminiscent of a collection of Charlie-Brown-and-the-football strips or Road Runner cartoons stripped down to their barest, micro-minimal essence of line, color and existential frustration, and ending up with something universal and hilarious. From the book's outset, French cartoonist Trondheim sets up the ground rules for the strip's look and content-the laws of physics here are a bit different from the ones in our world, but they are consistent-and then runs through an increasingly complicated (and hysterically funny) set of variations on the crossing-the-chasm problem. Mr. O tries bridges, wings, springs, levers, hot air, an airplane, a teleportation device and several unusual (and scatological) options to get across, with the same fatal result every time. It seems like an idea that could generate an infinite number of gags, but Trondheim actually comes up with a perfectly apt conclusion to the book that's its best and darkest joke. (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-This wordless cartoon adventure is told in 60 rectangular frames per page that resemble tiny, animated film stills. Mister O cannot seem to get from one side of a canyon to the other. Page after page, he watches others successfully jump or fly or rocket to the other side, using grappling hooks and transporters and even eating cow dung to aid them. However, every time Mister O mimics their methods, he ends up plunging once again into the abyss. Every page chronicles a separate attempt at crossing, beginning with the circular-shaped Mister O peering over the cliff, trying a new approach, and ending up at the bottom. His fellow travelers are also simply drawn shapes: triangles, ovals, and cucumbers. Trondheim manages to express a wide range of ideas and emotions with his stick-figure characters. He uses an assortment of pleasant, earthy colors, changing backgrounds from lavender to brick red to pea green to prevent monotony. Featuring an inventive assortment of situations for Mister O and his never-ending, ever-failing quest, this hilarious book is guaranteed to please readers.-J. M. Poole, East Rochester Public Library, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.