A middle child muddles through one minor mishap after another in this Canadian author’s lightweight, low-key debut for young readers. Caught between the reckless schemes of older brother Andy, who’s forever promoting such harebrained ideas as taking a shortcut across a railway bridge, and the challenges of having a little sibling, Leonard, who is already smart enough to cozen both older brothers out of all of their Halloween loot—and to stay off that bridge—Owen’s life isn’t so much “secret” as subject to sudden complications. Though Cumyn draws his incidents, by and large, from the standard chapter-book menu—the battle with bullies, the wildly misinformed conversation about sex, the supporting cast of inept male adults, etc.—he does subject his preteen Everylad to moments of high triumph and terror. He closes with a poignant, ice-breaking encounter between Owen and classmate Sylvia, on whom he’s had a longstanding crush, on the very day she and her parents pack up to move away. It’s not exactly venturesome writing, but Hurwitz fans and other readers who prefer to stay in familiar territory will enjoy following the ups and down of this closely knit trio of siblings. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-88899-506-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2002
The second in a projected set of interwoven kung-fu adventures revisits incidents from the previous episode, Tiger (p. 236), through the eyes of Malao (“Monkey” in Cantonese)—named after both the fighting style in which he’s been trained, and his noisy, restless disposition. Here, he and fellow child monks in various combinations battle their renegade former leader Ying for possession of four scrolls containing mighty kung-fu secrets. Amid much treetop back and forth with a mysterious old macaque, Malao torments his companions with continual chaffing, while participating in hyper-complicated pranks and well-described battles marked by stunning physical feats; though the plot sometimes moves forward in fits and starts, action scenes are fast, furious and often comic. Stone tosses in hints of deeper intrigues, and closes with an inconclusive encounter with a powerful, super-fast new adversary. Stay tuned. Fine fare for fans of lower-budget martial arts films and graphic novels. (Fantasy. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2005
ISBN: 0-375-83073-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A spectacular follow-up to The Black Paw reunites Morning Glory Goldenleaf and her timorous techie beau Bunsen Burner—both certified agents of Spy Mice, with the silver popsicle-stick skateboards to prove it—with their human co-agents, 6th-graders Oz and D.B. As Oz’s recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip bread (unfortunately not included) carries him and D.B. to the finals of the Mayflower Flour Bake-Off in New York City, Spy Mice learn that archenemy rat Roquefort Dupont has gathered a congress of European rat kingpins in the same city to form the Global Rat Round Table. But in a development far more threatening to the balance of power between mice and rats, he’s no longer proudly illiterate. Frederick develops this promising setup perfectly, adding a diminutive rock-and-roll band, a pair of human bullies from the previous episode who once again end up thoroughly and publicly humiliated and other delicious features, then propelling events to a climactic face-off aboard a float at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. A delight for fans of Avi’s Mayor of Central Park (2003), Holm and Hamel’s Stink File series and like interspecies thrillers. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-4169-0573-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2005
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