Cartoon Saturday- The Terrible Two Get Worse

Barnett, Mac and John, Jory.  The Terrible Two Get Worse
January 12th 2016 by Amulet Books
E ARC from Edelweiss Above the Treeline

Miles and Niles are back, committing more acts of hatchback violence to Principal Barkin's poor car, smearing Limburger cheese on its undercarriage. In light of all of the pranks that have been happening, the school board votes to fire Barry Barkin and bring back his father. Former Principal Barkin is NOT having any pranks, and Miles and Niles are locked down in their ability to cause harmless mayhem at their school. Even the pranks they try (setting off the fire alarm, complete with sprinklers) is turned around so the pranks look like a good thing. Josh Barkin is promoted to School Helper, is allowed to commandeer the fundraising money, and is generally annoying. Finally, Miles and Niles have no choice but to contact Barry and work with him to oust his father. 

Strengths: Filled with goofy pictures, fans of the first book in this series will be glad to see the adventures of the pranksters continue.

Weaknesses: There is an incident where the boys put a very hot pepper in Former Principal Barkin's mug that I didn't find funny at all. The principal is not shown drinking the liquid, or suffering any ill effects, but as someone who occasionally has a cup of tea at my desk because I talk all day long and my throat gets dry, I found the idea alarming. In The Terrible Two, the pranks are fairly harmless, but this one crossed a line into destructive behavior. 

What I really think: Reduced my order from two copies to only one because this was so mean spirited. The other one seemed to depict more harmless pranks; this one was not nice at all!