Stop the Presses! SpongeBob Starts His Own Paper! Film at 11.

After I read with disappointment Bubble Blowers, Beware!, the SpongeBob Squarepants Movie tie-in book I secured from the library, I rather expected to be just as unsatisfied with Stop the Presses!, the other SpongeBob book I brought home, comparable in length but based on the television series rather than the film. Happily, this story, written by Steven Banks and illustrated by Vince DePorter, did a much better job of holding my attention.

Unlike the aforementioned book, Stop the Presses! is self-contained, with a definite beginning and ending. The focus is on SpongeBob and Patrick's decision to start up a newspaper, and this makes for lots of amusing interaction between the two. Their personalities also come out in their choices of subject matter for their articles. SpongeBob interviews Gary, his mild-mannered, meowing pet snail, about the greatness of his porous housemate, while Patrick gleefully takes pictures of his favorite rock.

Both are surprised when their paper fails to attract any interest, but the ever-arrogant Squidward provides them with a helpful hint: get some juicy gossip. It seems a sound idea, but how will he react when they turn his advice against him by making him the subject of an expose?

Stop the Presses! is vibrantly illustrated, and its story measures up to the pictures by showing us SpongeBob and Patrick's ingenuity while offering a lesson in respecting the privacy of others. It encourages creativity by showing kids the some of the process by which a newspaper is put together. Issues such as how a camera with a big flash on top works underwater or how the ink is still readable and the paper not a sopping mess are typical SpongeBob occasions for suspension of disbelief; the rest of the story is engaging enough that we can accept these departures from reality.

I'm uncertain as to whether this story actually was an episode of SpongeBob Squarepants or if it was written specifically for this book. Either way, it works, making Stop the Presses! worth stopping to read, even for those who might not already be SpongeBob fans.