Laugh-out-loud ludicrousness.
Haunted by the ghosts of dead pets, a kid must right their wrongs.
All sixth grader Rex wants is a “real-live” pet of his own—preferably a chocolate Labrador. Everyone he knows has a pet. His best friend, Darvish, a “pet hoarder,” has four—maybe five. In answer to Rex’s constant pleading, his parents give him a “practice pet”: a chicken. One hour and 14 minutes after the chicken enters Rex’s life, it becomes a real-dead pet. Things go from bad to worse when, after losing a mysterious carnival game called The Reaper’s Curse he finds on the sidewalk, Rex can not only suddenly see the ghosts of dead animals, but speak to and understand them. The chicken—Drumstick—is the first of many to communicate with Rex. As a de facto animal “afterlife errand boy,” can Rex help these ghosts rest in peace? Reynolds’ new series debut is nonstop comedy, poking fun at everything from animal rights groups to the education system. Rex’s first-person narration—heavily unreliable and hyperbolic—smartly utilizes direct address to implicate readers in the ridiculous plot. Several jokes skirt the edges of adult taste, with instances of potty humor that should especially delight kids. Most of the human characters are white by default; Darvish is Pakistani American.
Laugh-out-loud ludicrousness. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-368-05183-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion/LBYR
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
An earnest but uneven tale of family, friendship, and hope.
A boy adjusts to a new town as his mother awaits a heart transplant.
After living in three cities in the past two years as his mother sought treatment for dilated cardiomyopathy, nearly 12-year-old Graham Dodds finds himself in Sugarland, his mom’s Florida hometown. His new roommate, Nick, the surly son of his mom’s childhood friend, isn’t exactly welcoming. Fortunately, Graham quickly befriends Lou, a plucky girl whose father needs a new heart. When Mom gives Graham her old bird-watching journal, he’s convinced that if he spots a Snail Kite—the one rare bird she never found—she’ll be OK. But after a contest promises $5,000 for the best Snail Kite photo, Nick and his friends sabotage Graham’s efforts. Can Graham spot the bird in time? And could his mother be right—does everything happen for a reason? The symbol-laced plot occasionally seems to reinforce the maxim, which readers may find either comforting or problematic. Miller viscerally portrays Graham’s alternating fear and hope, his heartwarming bond with his mother, and his complex feelings for the late father he barely knew. Unfortunately, most secondary characters are one-dimensional, something particularly apparent when a late, abrupt twist invokes the trope of a disabled person serving as a nondisabled character’s life lesson. Most characters default to White.
An earnest but uneven tale of family, friendship, and hope. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-4549-4504-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A quirky, kid-friendly introduction to the murder mystery.
Five strangers (with secrets!) are invited to a historic (haunted) hotel—to solve a murder.
The secluded Barclay Hotel, one of Colorado’s most haunted places, sends five invitations to a carefully selected guest list: a cowboy, a librarian, a CEO, an actor, and a detective. The CEO’s preteen son (ghost-hunting aficionado JJ, who hates reading) and the detective’s granddaughter (aspiring detective Penny, a bookworm) tag along and immediately connect with the hotel’s lonely resident kid, Emma, daughter of the head chef. Once the guests are assembled (and the driver has left, natch), the butler reveals that they’ve been gathered to solve a mystery—who killed Mr. Barclay?—and, with the exception of the detective, they are the suspects. The kids jump into action, interviewing suspects to tease out motive, means, and opportunity—and all of the adults have secrets. The mystery features some fun reversals, allowing just enough convolution for mystery novices (who will learn the terms “whodunit” and “red herring”); Agatha Christie references abound, and the hotel setting shines. The ghostly supernatural storyline is mild and unthreatening and not prominent enough for kids looking for a paranormal scary story. The murder mystery is gentled through temporal distance (the murder happened a week prior; there are no bodies or graphic moments). While the ending relies on a villain’s monologue, the happily-ever-after is an earned one. Aside from dark-skinned Penny and her grandfather, the other characters default to (and are illustrated as) white.
A quirky, kid-friendly introduction to the murder mystery. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-20290-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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