The Books

Cousin Irv from Mars

by Bruce Eric Kaplan

One Potato Review

Boorish houseguest (big eater, loud sleeper, pillow hog) becomes the pride of show-and-tell when he spontaneously vaporizes a few things in the classroom. Uncluttered artwork masks a pleasantly digressive fable about the things you can learn to appreciate in even the strangest of strangers, especially when you’re not exactly normal yourself. Irv is finally in a hurry to return home (our coffee doesn’t measure up), but not before a mechanical glitch to his spaceship permits the observation that “there is nothing more awkward than having to see someone after you already said goodbye to them.” Maybe awkward, but kind of hilarious.