Customer Reviews

Unshelved Volume 3: Library Mascot Cage Match

5 star:		(7)
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Another funny book by the Unshelved crew. These strips are frequently (but not always) based on actual events sent in by Librarians, so they can be eerily familiar. Non-Library staff should also find them amusing - my IT partner enjoys it too

Try before you buy by reading the comic's website at: [...] - the whole strip is free online, with the exception of a few specials which are only in the books(like the Empire County novela).

The crazy antics at the Mallville Public Library continue apace in the 3rd year of "Unshelved." The characters really continue to grow in this collection, so that the dramatic tension (such as it is in three panels) is interesting, while the workplace humor is so hauntingly familiar. I've heard librarians rave about the humor, but just like you don't need to be an engineer to like Dilbert, the weird patrons and stressed out employees are the same people you meet and interact with every day, regardless of where you work.

"Empire County Strikes Back" is a great bonus feature, a full-color mini-comic. In ways that are more reminiscent of 1984 and Dick Cheney than Star Wars, it tells the story of a super-automated bookmobile that threatens to steal all the patrons from Mallville's library. I won't give away the ending, but I will say it would fit well in another sci-fi classic--Star Trek.

Buy this book. Heck, buy all four books while these guys remain relatively undiscovered. You can impress all your friends at cocktail parties in 2010 when you say you read "Unshelved" back before they sold out.

I shared my copies of all the Unshelved collection with my 22 year old son and he enjoyed the humor as much as I do. He really liked the references to RPG and movies he likes. Please give these books a try, they are all great!

A friend of mine got me to subscribe to the daily email of this strip a while ago and I haven't regreted it a bit. These tales of a very untypical public library crew have me rolling in the aisle. The 800s to be exact!

If you like books, you should make Bill Barnes & Gene Ambaum's daily comic strip Unshelved, available at [..], a must-read. When I was perusing their books at Book Expo, I asked, "But why would I need it in book format if I can read it online?" Well, I have to say, having sped through all four volumes, that while I'm now a subscriber, their books are so much fun. My favorite is Library Mascot Cage Match, mainly for the absurdity of a library even having a mascot, let alone two duking it out.

It's hard to pick who my favorite character is. They each have their often wry charm, and I might just have to say Merv, the precocious student always hanging around the very kid-like librarian Dewey. The authors manage to cover everything from reading habits to technology to relationships with spot-on, laugh-out-loud humor, and it's often just a short phrase that provides the zinger. The constant struggle between the Mallville Library staff's desire to help their customers (even the one wearing a "Say `No' To Libraries" t-shirt) and outwit them is perpetually amusing. With the addition of the full-color Empire County Strikes Back mini section, where the staff have to try to defeat a bookmobile, Barnes & Ambaum really outdo themselves. My only complaint is that this book is so fun it was over way too quickly.

The strips where Dewey introduces his grandmother to the young woman who keeps trying to date Dewey are really funny. Although the strips with Dewey and his gambling-addicted grandmother are my personal favorites, I also like the color section on "Empire County Strikes Back" about the competition from the bookmobile. The whole book is entertaining. I have all four Unshelved books and keep at least two on the coffee table.

I am certainly pleased with my order. It arrived in timely fashion and in good shape