Skippy

by Crosby

Black and white and color illustrate cartoons/comics

Genres: Fiction, Comics

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1929

Reviews

[Hal Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

That the tone of this book is strange and mixed should come as no surprise to fans of the Skippy comic strip: Percy Crosby pioneered melancholy philosophizing in a kid strip (Charles Schulz is his direct heir). But the Skippy comic never got as melancholy as this book. Parts are effectively but nevertheless melodramatically flat-out maudlin; but even more disconcerting, and in some ways more depressing, is the extended dramatic irony wherein Skippy is exploited by an unscrupulous real-estate developer. Although often a cunning and impish Penrod/Tom Sawyer figure, Skippy meets his match as the forces of big business (and—shudder!—immigrants!) destroy his town, and trick him into complicity.

I can't imagine any kids enjoying this book (at least when I was a kid I didn't want to read about children being exploited by adults; that was my life); I'm not really sure of the target audience. It's solid Percy Crosby, though.

[Michael P.]

This novel from the comic strip SKIPPY was written by creator Percy Crosby. It was a huge critical success on its 1929 publication, becoming a best seller and an Academy Award winning film. A Big Little Book was made from the film. While many years worth of the comic strip retain their charm today, this novel does not. It is episodic to a fault, and thoroughly unengaging. I think the difference is that Crosby's drawings are utterly charming, and they drive each episode of the strip. This 335 novel has just 8 illustrations, and they do not drive the story as illustrations do the comic strip. I waded through three dull chapters before giving up on this book.

[Daniel Kleven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old (1920s) kids lit. It was interesting. Apparently Crosby's comics are monumental classics, and I'm interested to dig into those. I really checked it out because one of Joseph Mankiewicz's ("Mank") earliest films is based on Crosby's Skippy, so I wanted to check it out. Overall a pretty sad story, actually, surprising this was popular fare for kids.