The Guild of Geniuses

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - North Yarmouth Academy, Yarmouth, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: May 11, 2016

Review

The artwork is the star of this silly, frenetic story that is hardly a story. The monkey Mr. Pip is best friends with the actor Frederick Lipton. Mr. Pip makes Frederick a simple, but heartfelt birthday gift, which he then is afraid to give to Frederick due to all of the other amazing gifts that he has received. Rather then trying to figure out what is wrong with his friend, Frederick pawns him off on the Guild of Geniuses and disappears for two weeks to work on a movie. The Guild of Geniuses, each with a different specialty, tries various ridiculous things to cheer up Mr. Pip, but nothing works until Frederick returns and spends time with his friend and receives and appreciates his gift. The illustrations are lush with detail and the zany robots and richly drawn scenes will be fun for young readers, but the pedestrian storyline won't resonate for too long.

Overall Book Score: fair