Prime Baby: kids comic story about kid sister who's more trouble than most

Gene Luen Yang's comic storybook Prime Baby is a delight: Thaddeus is the older sibling to an adorable toddler, and he hates it. What's more, he's sure something's up with his sister -- after all, what kind of normal child coos in prime numbers?

Thaddeus gets all the proof he needs when his sister Maddie starts to cough up space-vessels bearing slimy, happy aliens who are bent on improving the world (they fix his dad's car so that it emits tulips instead of CO2). Finally, he's got the chance to send his troublesome sib to an isolation ward and enjoy life!

But life's not so enjoyable. Thaddeus starts to realize that his self-centeredness has isolated him from his friends and family, and he has to change himself, not the world around him.

Thaddeus is a delightfully sociopathic adolescent narrator, and the story is so weird and fun that you can't help but smile. The last Yang book I read was the stellar graphic novel American Born Chinese, and while Prime Baby is a departure from the earlier work, it's every bit as delightful.

The book was serialized on the New York Times, so you can read it all there, too.

Prime Baby

(Thanks to FirstSecond books for sending me a review copy of Prime Baby!)

Previously:

American Born Chinese, a graphic novel about identity

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Chentzilla

Hey, Mr. Doctorow, I have a rhyme for you:

Cory, Cory,
You spoiled half a story,
I think you must be sorry
At least a bit.
But thank you for finding it.
Lobster

Prime Baby? Is that like Prime Rib?
- jeligula
  
  Yes, it is recipe chapter taken from To Serve Man.
Anonymous

my brother is from outer space?
http://www.amazon.com/My-Brother-Outer-Space-Paperback/dp/0807553263
Stefan Jones

Looks like something I’ll pick up at the Stumptown comics fest.
SamSam

Man, this story made no sense to me, when I saw two, maybe three completely random segments in my fairly-infrequent Sunday Times purchases. Thanks for the synopsis — I’ll have to look it over again.
Anonymous

i think the story sorda was wack but what was even more wack was that rythme that chentzilla tried to come up with i mean really what is that??????????????????