The Daily Comet: Boy Saves Earth from Giant Octopus!

by Frank Asch, Devin Asch (Illustrator)

The father-and-son team behind Mr. Maxwell's Mouse and Mrs. Marlowe's Mice delivers an entertaining father-and-son story about tabloid culture that will delight even the most hardened skeptics. Youthful doubter and know-it-all Hayward Palmer is accompanying his father — a reporter for the sensationalistic Daily Comet — on a "Go to Work with a Parent Day." Hayward has a rational explanation for all the weird and wacky things they encounter—until he finally comes face to face with an ENORMOUS fact he can't explain. And if Hayward doesn't start believing fast, it could be too late — for him and his dad!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Adventure

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Frank Asch is an American children's writer, best known for his Moonbear picture books.

Asch published his first picture book, George's Store, in 1968. The following year he graduated from Cooper Union with a BFA. Since then he has taught at a public school in India, as well as at a Montessori school in the United States, conducted numerous creative workshops for children. He has written over 60 books, including Turtle Tale, Mooncake, I Can Blink and Happy Birthday Moon. In 1989 he wrote Here Comes the Cat! in collaboration with Vladimir Vagin. The book was awarded the Russian National Book Award and was considered the first Russian-American collaboration on a children's book.

Asch lived in Somerville, New Jersey where he and his wife home-schooled their son Devin.

He currently lives in Vermont with his wife, Jan.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun read that I liked better in concept than in execution. A boy accompanies his reporter father to work on a "Bring your child to work" day. The boy thinks his father's job is lame because all he ever does is report hoaxes. (You know, the tabloid stuff we roll our eyes at when we see them in the supermarket line, "Alien Baby Found in Hollywood" and the like.) But, when they go out on assignment, stranger and stranger things happen, and soon the boy begins to doubt his original doubts. Maybe what his father reports is true, after all?

The story is a great concept that allows for a lot of fun, imaginative situations. The pictures are really interesting, and some of the little details (like seeing the Queen of England in the crowd) are neat. I was struck by how much the photographer looks like Elvis Presley, from the hair to the wardrobe, to his liking for fried peanut butter sandwiches (maybe, if "Elvis Lives!" is no hoax, the King is now a photographer!) Overall, though, I was somewhat underwhelmed. It didn't really resonate with me as much as I think it should have. I recommend it for the older picture book set as the younger ones will probably find it overlong and not catch all the humor.

PS Yes, this is the same Frank Asch that does the Moon Bear and other Bear books that I loved so much. He collaborates on this with his son.

[Karyn The Pirate · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is "Go to Work with a Parent Day" for Hayward Palmer and he is accompanying his father for the day. His father is the lead reporter for the Daily Comet, a less then believable tabloid. As Hayward tags along with his dad on various news stories, he soon realizes that maybe the Daily Comet is not so fake as he believes.
This is a wonderfully written and illustrated story for kids and adults alike. I was delighted to find "old friends" in the illustrations. I must admit that I am a big tabloid reader. Not the National Inquirer tabloid, but the World Wide News. The "newspaper" that brought us such greats as Bat Boy and "I Was Bigfoot's Love Slave." Adults reading this book can find all kinds of the allusions to tabloid stories in the past. Kids will love this book for the funny, fantastic story and adults will love it for the wonderful illustrations and tongue-in-cheek poke at the tabloids we all peek at in the grocery aisle.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son and I were both drawn to The Daily Comet: Boy Saves Earth from Giant Octopus! by Frank and Devin Asch. It's somewhere between a comic book and tabloid magazine cover.

Hayward Palmer, skeptic and self proclaimed know-it-all goes with his dad to work. To his immense embarrassment, Dad is a tabloid reporter. The book chronicles Hayward's day and how he ends up learning that the Daily Comet is publishing the truth and how he manages to save the world from an alien invasion.

Sean and I are fans of monster, alien, ghost stories. We also really enjoyed the Asch's Mr. Maxwell's Mouse (link to review) but The Daily Comet didn't pull us in the same way.

Part of the problem is Hayward's attitude. He's such an annoying know-it-all that he doesn't make a very sympathetic protagonist. Another problem we had was with the helter-skelter approach to each page. The illustrations are meant to look like pages from the Daily Comet tabloid but they end up getting in the way of the story.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOL! I adored this book and found it delightfully bizarre and amusing. As a kid, I inhaled "strange but true" books, and I know I would have gotten a huge kick out of this one.

[Brady Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hayward was skeptical child about the stories his father would write about. Hayward went to work with his dad and was caught up in all the wild stories that were taking place. Hayward ended up saving the day from a giant octopus. Story is about a newspaper recording wild scenes that have happened but would not actually take place. A child would not believe the world would be under attack by an octopus from reading this book. Character was able to learn from his problem and the reader can get good morals in the story that you can believe in anything that you want no matter how crazy it is.
Asch, F., & Asch, D. (2010). The Daily comet: Boy saves Earth from giant octopus! Toronto: Kids Can Press.

[Marisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hayward shadows his dad at the Daily for “Go To Work With Your Parent Day,” but he’s not happy about it. After all, everyone knows The Daily comet only prints fake stories. When a million year old dinosaur egg at the Natural History Museum starts to hatch, Hayward thinks his dad staged the whole thing to impress him. But then Bigfoot drives them to Times Square to get the story on a wayward ten foot tall chicken, and when a giant mechanical octopus emerges from a flying saucer, Hayward has to admit his dad couldn’t possibly have arranged all of it. But how will they rid the city of the tentacled terrors from the sky?

[Kasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm gonna be honest, I partly picked this up because my co-workers said it was good but MOSTLY because the dad in the book looks like Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. It did not disappoint! It's very silly but very charming. Hayward makes a great bratty kid. The characters are well drawn both textually and visually -- latter even when they're based on real people, which is part of the fun of it, I guess. I really loved the art, especially the colors. It had a perfect newspaper feel.

Minus one star because there are like two women in the entire book, but that's really my only complaint.

[Ubalstecha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute, clever picture book about a boy whose father works for a tabloid newspaper. The boy doesn't believe that the stories his father writes are true. In fact, he is embarrassed by his father. But then he witnesses something that changes his mind.

Cheesy in the Ed Wood, bad horror movie way and evoking a memory of the late, great Weekly World News this picture book is aimed more at the older reader and adult.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Boy Saves Earth from Giant Octopus is the perfect mix of tabloid, b-movie and science fiction goodness! Skeptic son Hayward, accompanies his father to the office on “Go to work with your parent day” and learns that there is much more to his dads job than he ever gave him credit for. A fun read aloud that kids will love.

[Karen Arendt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy named Hayward goes to work with his father, who is a reporter for the Daily Comet, a tabloid. Hayward does not believe any of the things his dad reports, and as he experiences the day at work with his dad, he remains skeptical, until he sees a giant octopus and can't explain how his dad would have staged that for him. This story will definitely appeal to boys who love the outrageous.

[Gabe]

Hayward was skeptical child about the stories his father would write about. Hayward went to work with his dad and was caught up in all the wild stories that were taking place. Hayward ended up saving the day from a giant octopus.

Reading level: Grades K-2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Asch

[Courtney K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't rate this book yet, because we made up our own story to go along with the illustrations. Our family loves sea life like octupus and squid. I can say the story would probably be more appropriate for an older child.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's "Take Your Child to Work Day" for a tabloid reporter. It's a fun story, and I recognized some famous people (Elvis, Queen Elizabeth) in the drawings. think I'd enjoy it more if I knew more of the pop culture references (I'm assuming I missed a bunch).

[Vandy]

young boy's struggles to differentiate between fiction and non fiction.

[Donalyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Frank Asch's other books, but I had a hard time finishing this one. The illustrations were gray and weird.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty fun- definitely for an older child, who could appreciate all the nuances

[Tina B · Rating 3 out of 5]

newspaper reporter, new york city, tabloid, aliens

[Stevie Oberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very amusing... I liked the randomness of it, but I really didn't care for the art.

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

'40s noir vibe, photorealistic illustrations--good for older elementary school kids.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow! What an ambitious concept! Too bad it fell apart in the execution. This book was kind of everywhere at once -- the idea was great -- but it was buried in busy-ness.