A delightful balance of spooky, sweet, and funny.
A girl helps the wandering soul of a boy escape death.
“Twelve years ago, the girl lived. The boy lived. One should have died.” July Chen might as well be invisible, as she’s usually forgotten by everyone around her. Using her ability to see ghosts, July tries to summon one in hopes of making friends. In addition to calling a hungry ghost, July meets the wandering soul of William Xiao, a boy whose physical body lies in a coma. William has experienced multiple near-death incidents, and he collects information on the underworld in the notebook he calls his Ghost Book. Using the Ghost Book, July helps William evade hungry ghosts and underworld underlings who are trying to claim his soul. While trying to find a way to get to the underworld and back to save William, the friends discover an unfortunate secret truth about their intertwined lives. This full-color graphic novel skillfully balances dark, humorous, and heartwarming elements. Themes of friendship, kindness, sacrifice, and being remembered, both in life and in death, are prominent throughout. July and William’s adventure exquisitely captures Chinese mythology, traditions, and beliefs surrounding the afterlife, like burning joss paper offerings during Hungry Ghost Month. The clean and expressive illustrations complement the story, being a bit eerie and scary but leavened with humor and lightness.
A delightful balance of spooky, sweet, and funny. (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9781250810434
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark.
An animal ghost seeks closure after enduring aquatic atrocities.
In this sequel to The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter (2020), sixth grader Rex is determined to once again use his ability to communicate with dead animals for the greater good. A ghost narwhal’s visit gives Rex his next opportunity in the form of the clue “bad water.” Rex enlists Darvish—his Pakistani American human best friend—and Drumstick—his “faithful (dead) chicken”—to help crack the case. But the mystery is only one of Rex’s many roadblocks. For starters, Sami Mulpepper hugged him at a dance, and now she’s his “accidental girlfriend.” Even worse, Darvish develops one of what Rex calls “Game Preoccupation Disorders” over role-playing game Monsters & Mayhem that may well threaten the pair’s friendship. Will Rex become “a Sherlock without a Watson,” or can the two make amends in time to solve the mystery? This second outing effectively carries the “ghost-mist” torch from its predecessor without feeling too much like a formulaic carbon copy. Spouting terms like plausible deniability and in flagrante delicto, Rex makes for a hilariously bombastic (if unlikable) first-person narrator. The over-the-top style is contagious, and black-and-white illustrations throughout add cartoony punchlines to various scenes. Unfortunately, scenes in which humor comes at the expense of those with less status are downright cringeworthy, as when Rex, who reads as White, riffs on the impossibility of his ever pronouncing Darvish’s surname or he plays dumb by staring into space and drooling.
Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark. (Paranormal mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5523-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
Classic action-packed, monster-fighting fun
It’s been 42 days since the Monster Apocalypse began, and 13-year-old Jack Sullivan, a self-proclaimed “zombie-fighting, monster-slaying tornado of cool” is on a quest to find and rescue his not-so-secret crush, June Del Toro, whether she needs it, wants it, or not.
Jack cobbles together an unlikely but endearing crew, including his scientist best friend, Quint Baker; Dirk Savage, Parker Middle School’s biggest bully; and a pet monster named Rover, to help him save the damsel in distress and complete the “ULTIMATE Feat of Apocalyptic Success.” Middle-grade readers, particularly boys, will find Jack’s pitch-perfect mix of humor, bravado, and self-professed geekiness impossible to resist. His sidekicks are equally entertaining, and it doesn’t hurt that there are also plenty of oozing, drooling, sharp-toothed monsters and zombies and a host of gizmos and gadgets to hook readers and keep them cheering with every turn of the page. Holgate’s illustrations play an integral role in the novel’s success. They not only bring Brallier’s characters to life, but also add depth and detail to the story, making plain just exactly how big Rover is and giving the lie to Jack’s “killer driving.” The marriage of text and illustration serves as a perfect example of what an illustrated novel can and should be.
Classic action-packed, monster-fighting fun (. (Graphic/horror hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-670-01661-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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