Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley
by
Crockett Johnson

Henry Holt & Co., 1944, 327 pp.
ISBN: N/A

Genre: Comics
Subgenre: Daily Comic Strip / Humor
Reviewed: 11/24/2007

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Comic Page

Synopsis

Barnaby lives at home with his mom, pop and his dog, Gorgon. He has an imaginary fairy godfather named Mr. O'Malley. Well . . . I guess the question is whether Mr. O'Malley is real or not. Barnaby's mom and pop do not see or believe in Mr. O'Malley. Being Barnaby's fairy godfather doesn't really involve making Barnaby's life any easier. In fact, Mr. O'Malley causes more problems than he fixes. For instance, Mr. O'Malley wants to join the circus using Gorgon as his act in place of a lion. Of course, this leads to a real lion escaping from the circus and following Mr. O'Malley home.

Barnaby's fairy godfather introduces him to a mental giant named, Atlas, who uses his slide rule to figure out puzzles, like making it rain. Mr. O'Malley also finds Gorgon's father, who doesn't seem to be too nearly as nice as Gorgon.

When Mr. O'Malley and Barnaby foil a bank robbery, the fairy godfather ends up running for Congress. And then there is the ghost, Gus. Yes, I said a ghost. Can Barnaby's life get any more complicated? I thought fairy godfather's were supposed to make life easier. Well, not for Barnaby.

Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley is the second collection of daily comic strips by Crockett Johnson. This collections of strips is about a boy and his dog and his fairy godfather, Mr. O'Malley.

Review

Barnaby looked very familiar to me. Then it hit me. He looks like an older version of the boy Harold, who had a purple crayon and wrote on his walls in one continues line drawing. Of course, I am talking about the famous book Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955). I loved this book as a child and read it all the time. After all, what kid doesn't want to write on the big white walls in their house?

Crockett Johnson wrote the purple crayon book, and more Harold stories, after the initial run of his daily comic strips of Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley, which ran from 1942-1952 and 1960-1962.

I highly enjoyed reading these old comic strips and I always think of my father when I read these types of comics, wondering if he read them as a boy. I found this book of comic strips to be timeless. Of course, kids today would have no idea what a slide rule is, but, heck, I never used one either . . . that was my father's era.

Overall, I highly enjoyed Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley and do recommend it for good, clean fun. Now, the only challenge you will have is actually finding the book. Good luck! It is well worth the hunt.

I rated this book a 9 out of 10.