Trubble Town Books in Order

Trubble Town is a full color graphic novel series that feels like wandering through the strangest small town you can imagine and discovering that every corner hides a new joke. The main character is Wendy the Wanderer, a curious kid whose overprotective father rarely lets her go anywhere by herself. She has spent her whole life in Trubble Town without really seeing it.

When her dad leaves on a business trip in the first book, Squirrel Do Bad, he hires the strictest babysitter he can find. The sitter turns out to be far less attentive than advertised, and Wendy finally gets the chance she has been craving. She sneaks out, buys a marshmallow packed snack, and shares it with a squirrel in the park. That tiny act touches off a chain reaction of slapstick disasters that leave buildings blown up, townsfolk in chaos and her new friend, Squirrely McSquirrel, facing jail for crimes Wendy knows he did not commit.

From there the series leans into cause and effect. The more Wendy tries to fix things, the stranger Trubble Town becomes. She ends up dealing with a sheriff who despises squirrels, a judge who seems only half awake, and lawyers that look like they walked straight in from the Pearls Before Swine strip. Every attempt to help Squirrely tends to make the mess bigger before it gets better, but Wendy keeps pushing, loyal to a friend everyone else has decided is guilty.

The second book, The Why-Why’s Gone Bye-Bye, starts with a premise that feels like a kid daydream gone wild. All the adults in Trubble Town are suddenly abducted by aliens, leaving the kids in charge of everything from city hall to the donut shop. At first it feels like freedom. Then Wendy and the others discover that running a town is exhausting, confusing and full of choices that really do have consequences.

Throughout the series, Pastis plays with words and signs. Place names, food labels and background posters are packed with puns, misspellings and little side jokes. The panels are busy in the best way, stuffed with oddball side characters who walk on stage, do something ridiculous and wander off again. Kids who like to reread will keep finding new details.

Under the noise there are simple, solid themes. The books come back again and again to the idea that small actions matter, that adults are not always right, and that taking responsibility for your mistakes is part of growing up. Wendy may cause a lot of trouble, but she is also the one who cares enough to try to set things right. Trubble Town is chaotic, but it is also warm, and that balance makes the series fun for both kids and adults reading over their shoulders.