A fresh, lively escapade with lots of übercreepy bits. ¡Órale!
A rash of mysterious fires sets Jorge and his amigos on the trail of an evil arsonist…or maybe a vengeful ghost.
Being as his best friend, Carter, is the 7-foot tall, wolflike cryptid met in the series opener—and now just back in town—Jorge Lopez has trouble dismissing a scary old local legend about an evil incendiary piñata possessed by the ghost of a despised rich kid. Still, since the grown-ups in Boca Falls seem oddly uninterested in finding out who, human or otherwise, is burning down local businesses, Jorge nervously enlists his fanged but friendly buddy to join science-minded classmate Liza in an investigation that quickly turns up a positively bountiful array of clues and suspects. Seasoning the eponymous narrator’s account with Spanish words, including flavorful Chicano slang, Lopez and Calejo alternate chuckles and chills as the young detectives struggle with their fears, fend off prankster “bully-jerk” Zane, puzzle over the significance of seemingly contradictory findings, and, in the wake of a string of (as Jorge puts it) “übercreepy” incidents and narrow squeaks, wind up stuck in a ruinous old mansion with an entire gang of crazed villains eager to explain their motives before setting one final, deadly blaze. Gutiérrez’s frequent monochrome illustrations feature both a racially diverse cast and action and dialogue that segue smoothly into the narrative, offering the feeling of a graphic novel–prose hybrid format.
A fresh, lively escapade with lots of übercreepy bits. ¡Órale! (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9780593466001
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
The young folk and (of course) the animals are engagingly wrought in this tale with a strong ecological message.
An orphan loner’s small town faces a hard future after it unwittingly disrupts a natural cycle.
Willodeen is lucky that elderly retired thespians Mae and Birdie took her in after the wildfire that killed her parents and brother, not only because they’re a loving couple, but because they let her roam the woods in search of increasingly rare screechers—creatures so vile-tempered and stinky that the village elders of Perchance have put a bounty on them. The elders have other worries, though: The migratory hummingbears that have long nested in the area, drawing tourists to the lucrative annual Autumn Faire, have likewise nearly vanished. Could there be a connection? If there is, Willodeen is just the person to find it—but who would believe her? Applegate’s characters speak in pronouncements about life and nature that sometimes seem to address readers more than other characters, but the winsome illustrations lighten the thematic load. Screechers appear much like comically fierce warthogs and hummingbears, as small teddies with wings. Applegate traces a burgeoning friendship between her traumatized protagonist and Connor, a young artist who turns found materials into small animals so realistic that one actually comes to life. In the end, the townsfolk do listen and pitch in to make amends. Red-haired, gray-eyed Willodeen is cued as White; Connor has brown skin, and other human characters read as White by default.
The young folk and (of course) the animals are engagingly wrought in this tale with a strong ecological message. (Eco-fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-14740-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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