A fun children’s adventure story.
In the second installment of Failing’s middle-grade series, siblings endeavor to solve the mystery of a missing artifact.
Lizzie and Josh Parker, the 11-year-old children of travel bloggers, head to Nantucket, Massachusetts, with their parents,where they find their next adventure. The struggling Coleman Clarke Museum is planning a fundraiser centered around Reuben Coffin’s historic spyglass. The piece has never been on display before, and the event is expected to bring in donations to keep the museum running. But before the fundraiser gets underway, Maya Benedict, the young daughter of a collector, takes the spyglass to earn her father’s notice, planning to return it later. Before she can do that, the artifact vanishes. Lizzie and Josh take it upon themselves to find the missing spyglass, investigating and unearthing suspects like Frank Finnegan, a maritime antiques dealer, and James Wind, a wealthy collector with a strong interest in acquiring the relic. Even Charlie, a museum worker struggling with reduced hours, appears to have a possible motive (“Maybe there are lots of angry people on Nantucket”). Like the first book in the series, which took place in Alaska, this entry includes a glossary and discussion questions that make it perfect for the classroom. Josh and Lizzie are formidable protagonists who will resonate with young readers—no magic or superpowers here, just regular kids who love adventure and find themselves solving grown-up crimes. This installment kicks the series up a notch with the side story involving Maya and her father; throughout the narrative, she’s starving for his attention (once he recognizes this, he promises to spend more time with her). Many young readers will likely identify with Maya’s longing for connection, which adds another emotional touchstone for them in this delightful series. Fans will find it difficult to wait to see where Lizzie and Josh’s next outing takes them.
A fun children’s adventure story.Pub Date: May 29, 2024
ISBN: 9780991650965
Page Count: 167
Publisher: Forestdale Press
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
