by Chris Kientz & Steve Hockensmith ; illustrated by Lee Nielsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 2016
There are more than a few loose threads left a-dangle, but this lightweight adventure packs a decent quantity of historical...
Four young visitors to the National Air and Space Museum scotch an attempt to rewrite the entire history of aeronautics in this Smithsonian-centric series opener.
Stunned to find all the powered aircraft in the museum suddenly switched out for balloons, science-fair winners Eric, Josephine, Dominique, and Ajay are recruited by a mysterious gent (“I AM the Smithsonian”) to travel—holographically clad in period costume—back to 1909’s Hudson-Fulton Celebration in New York. It seems that time-traveling meddlers with holographic disguises of their own are fixing to turn public opinion against heavier-than-air flight by deliberately crashing the craft belonging to Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers. Brisk rounds of snooping and pursuit lead to the baddies being unmasked if never identified (maybe in a future episode). The children go on to save the day with help, plus infodumps, from their interactive wristband computers and some intrepid piloting by the Wrights’ undeservedly lesser-known sister, Katharine. Though dialogue balloons sometimes get tangled, the figures in Nielsen’s neatly squared-off panels dash vigorously through their paces, and the artist renders both historical figures and background settings in accurate detail. Eric and Josephine are white, Dominique is African-American, and Ajay is probably South Asian.
There are more than a few loose threads left a-dangle, but this lightweight adventure packs a decent quantity of historical fill. (Graphic fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58834-541-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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by Chris Kientz & Steve Hockensmith ; illustrated by Lee Nielsen
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by Chris Kientz & Steve Hockensmith ; illustrated by Lee Nielsen
by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer ; illustrated by Simini Blocker ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 18, 2019
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer ; illustrated by Frank W. Dormer
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by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer ; illustrated by Carlyn Beccia
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by Nick Bruel ; illustrated by Nick Bruel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 29, 2020
This kid-friendly satire ably sets claws into a certain real-life franchise.
A trip to the Love Love Angel Kitty World theme park (“The Most Super Incredibly Happy Place on Earth!”) turns out to be an exercise in lowered expectations…to say the least.
When Uncle Murray wins a pair of free passes it seems at first like a dream come true—at least for Kitty, whose collection of Love Love Kitty merch ranges from branded underwear to a pink chainsaw. But the whole trip turns into a series of crises beginning with the (as it turns out) insuperable challenge of getting a cat onto an airplane, followed by the twin discoveries that the hotel room doesn’t come with a litter box and that the park doesn’t allow cats. Even kindhearted Uncle Murray finds his patience, not to say sanity, tested by extreme sticker shock in the park’s gift shop and repeated exposures to Kitty World’s literally nauseating theme song (notation included). He is not happy. Fortunately, the whole cloying enterprise being a fiendish plot to make people so sick of cats that they’ll pick poultry as favorite pets instead, the revelation of Kitty’s feline identity puts the all-chicken staff to flight and leaves the financial coffers plucked. Uncle Murray’s White, dumpy, middle-aged figure is virtually the only human one among an otherwise all-animal cast in Bruel’s big, rapidly sequenced, and properly comical cartoon panels.
This kid-friendly satire ably sets claws into a certain real-life franchise. (Graphic satire. 8-11)Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20808-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
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by Nick Bruel ; illustrated by Nick Bruel
BOOK REVIEW
by Nick Bruel ; illustrated by Nick Bruel
BOOK REVIEW
by Nick Bruel ; illustrated by Nick Bruel
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