Review by Frank Plowright

Bea and her best buddy Box love strawberries. They’d eat a billion of them, but unfortunately they’ve worked their way through a week’s supply in one spell of gorging. Bea’s mother negotiates a deal for more strawberries if they’ll eat ten lima beans, but Bea figures a better way might be to grow her own.

In Agent 9 and Bird & Squirrel James Burks has created two great all-ages comedy favourites, so his instincts have to be trusted, but it’s nonetheless only natural to wonder why he thought a series about a girl whose best friend is a talking box was a good idea.

Rather than the out and out comedy of his other material, the funny moments in Box Tales disguise, to children at least, that Grow Strawberries, Grow! is actually an instructional manual for young children. It goes through the process from planting the seeds through caring for the young plants until the strawberries are finally ripe and ready to eat. Adults will already be aware that patience is a primary ingredient. However, Bea and Box being enthusiastic but unprepared leads to enough comedy moments, and with the creation of the name ‘strawberry’ there’s an opportunity for Burks to stretch his imagination a little further than factual material and domestic slapstick.

Box or no box, Burks’ cartooning is a delight, refined to the necessities, eye-catching and personality-rich. The spreads remain simple, but elegantly composed, and Burks makes the most of silly situations.

However, while kids will accept a box as a box, and perhaps create their own companion, surely every adult is going to wonder why Burks didn’t give Bea a younger sibling instead.