A fitting farewell packed with action, humor, and heart.
A Perilous Journey of Danger and Mayhem enters its final leg in this trilogy closer.
After The Treacherous Seas (2019), Molly Pepper; her inventor mother, Cassandra; her best friend, Emmett; Emmett’s long-lost-but-recently-found father, Capt. Wendell Lee; and sentient robot Robot are headed back to America. They face an assuredly bad reception, with three out of the five wanted fugitives, the captain a legal citizen but unable to prove it under the racist climate of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and Robot arguably someone else’s property. In between the wacky hijinks of sneaking into the country and evading arrest, tension arises from Molly’s and Emmett’s uncertainty about whether his family reunion spells their imminent separation. The kids are prompted into action in the second act when a clue in a newspaper reveals their nemesis, Ambrose Rector, is back and planning something big. Parental reluctance to get involved leads to Molly, Emmett, and Robot’s sneaking off to Washington, D.C., to thwart Rector (which requires first figuring out his plan) and includes a delightful heist at the Smithsonian and tracking down the Mothers of Invention. Reversals and betrayals open the final act of the story. Despite his silliness and tendency toward monologue, Rector’s an effective villain because he plausibly stays a step ahead of the heroes and even makes good points during the final showdown. The alternate-history epilogue dazzles. Emmett and his father are Chinese; most other characters default to White.
A fitting farewell packed with action, humor, and heart. (afterword) (Historical fantasy. 8-14)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-234203-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Full of puzzles to think about, puns to groan at and references to children’s book titles, this solid, tightly plotted read...
When a lock-in becomes a reality game, 12-year-old Kyle Keeley and his friends use library resources to find their way out of Alexandriaville’s new public library.
The author of numerous mysteries for children and adults turns his hand to a puzzle adventure with great success. Starting with the premise that billionaire game-maker Luigi Lemoncello has donated a fortune to building a library in a town that went without for 12 years, Grabenstein cleverly uses the tools of board and video games—hints and tricks and escape hatches—to enhance this intricate and suspenseful story. Twelve 12-year-old winners of an essay contest get to be the first to see the new facility and, as a bonus, to play his new escape game. Lemoncello’s gratitude to the library of his childhood extends to providing a helpful holographic image of his 1968 librarian, but his modern version also includes changing video screens, touch-screen computers in the reading desks and an Electronic Learning Center as well as floor-to-ceiling bookshelves stretching up three stories. Although the characters, from gamer Kyle to schemer Charles Chiltington, are lightly developed, the benefits of pooling strengths to work together are clear.
Full of puzzles to think about, puns to groan at and references to children’s book titles, this solid, tightly plotted read is a winner for readers and game-players alike. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-87089-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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