A series kickoff with a promising mix of chills and chortles.
Monterrosa seems like an ordinary small town—until a resident is bitten by a strange-looking dog one night while taking a stroll past the graveyard.
When popular teacher Mr. Chu suddenly acquires a mean streak, superfast reflexes, and a weird giggle, worried fourth-graders Carlos and Benny (the Latino narrator and white best pal, respectively) rush off to do some research—in, where else, the local comic-book store. With help from store owner Mrs. Tamasese (known as the Samoan Slammer in her wrestling days, before an injury put her in a wheelchair), they reach the obvious conclusion that Mr. Chu will become a were-hyena unless he’s cured before the next full moon. Not so easy! Hale clearly crafts a main cast with an eye toward diversity, cued in the narrative with names, expressions in Spanish, references to hair and eye color and the like, and explicitly in the occasional line-drawn illustrations. He also unveils a supporting array of family members, shape changers, child-sacrificing cultists, and menacing strangers. Chucking in the odd gnawed corpse for atmosphere and butt references for laughs, the author provides narrow squeaks and plot twists galore. By the end, Carlos, Benny, and tough African-American classmate Tina “Karate Girl” Green emerge as a team of seasoned monster hunters—just in time for the next episode’s teaser.
A series kickoff with a promising mix of chills and chortles. (Light horror. 8-10)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1325-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
A fun-if-flimsy vehicle for science lovers.
A fifth grade girl brings her love of chemistry to the school play.
Kate loves science so much she’s determined to breathe fire. Of course she knows that she needs adult supervision, and so, with her science teacher’s help, Kate demonstrates an experiment with cornstarch and a blowtorch that nearly sets her teacher’s cactus on fire. Consequences ensue. Can someone who loves science as much as Kate does find pleasure spending her fall break at drama camp? It turns out that even the school play—Dragons vs. Unicorns—needs a chemist, though, and Kate saves the day with glue and glitter. She’s sabotaged along the way, but everything is fine after Kate and her frenemy agree to communicate better (an underwhelming response to escalating bullying). Doodles decorate the pages; steps for the one experiment described that can be done at home—making glittery unicorn-horn glue—are included. The most exciting experiments depicted, though, include flames or liquid nitrogen and could only be done with the help of a friendly science teacher. Biberdorf teaches chemistry at the University of Texas and also performs science-education programs as “Kate the Chemist”; in addition to giving her protagonist her name and enthusiasm, she also seems represented in Kate-the-character’s love of the fictional YouTube personality “Dr. Caroline.” Kate and her nemesis are white; Kate’s best friends are black and South Asian.
A fun-if-flimsy vehicle for science lovers. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11655-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Predominantly instructional, but light enough not to sink beneath the weight of its purpose.
Summer-camp kids get (scientifically) physical.
Falling between a boxed definition of gravity and explanations of how that force interacts with others, the story is largely a framework for nonstop real-life demonstrations of gravity in action. Readers see it at work on clock weights, dripping water, a beach ball, random falling objects—and horse-mad new camper Megan, who falls a hair below the height requirement to ride in the afternoon, but (after a night spent lying down) measures a half-inch taller the next morning. Helmer supplies brightly colored cartoon panels featuring a multicultural crew of young campers engaged in general horseplay or watching in wide-eyed wonder as a counselor explains how a mechanical clock works or concocts simple physics demonstrations. Even the titular cuckoo clock swings past as just a MacGuffin for showing how a pendulum works.
Predominantly instructional, but light enough not to sink beneath the weight of its purpose. (glossary, instructions for two experiments, URL for supplementary material) (Graphic fiction/nonfiction hybrid. 8-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4677-0733-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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