Narwhal’s School of Awesomeness

Narwhal’s School of Awesomeness is the sixth installment of Ben Clanton’s “Narwhal and Jelly” series. Narwhal and Jelly befriend a school of fish and find out they are off to school! However, school is cancelled because their teacher is sick. Narwhal decides to be their substitute teacher, Professor Knowell, with Jelly guiding Narwhal how to be a good teacher. Along this educational journey, Narwhal helps timid Jelly realize just how incredible Jelly is.

Narwhal’s School of Awesomeness is a graphic novel divided into seven chapters. Each chapter’s being short helps propel the story quickly and pieces the different sections together. The text is written in capital letters and large font. Many of the sentences are simple exclamatory sentences or questions. The humour in the story is driven by the dialogue between the characters and their use of puns, synonyms and sea jargon makes it appealing to older children.

Unlike some graphic novels, the graphics are drawn largely in the panels. Most of the panels in Narwhal’s School of Awesomeness take up half to a full page, a design which matches the simple and short text format. Since the story takes place within the depths of water, cool colour tones of light blue, grey and yellow are used for this story. In addition to the dialogue, the graphics help narrate the story and depict the feelings of the characters throughout the story.
Overall, Narwhal’s School of Awesomeness is another entertaining under the sea adventure from Ben Clanton’s “Narwhal and Jelly” series.

Fans of Narwhal and Jelly and reluctant readers will enjoy this funny, cute, quick-paced story.