A lighthearted and entertaining play on the title’s double meaning.
Mixed motives seriously hamper a young villain-in-training.
Villainy having been the family occupation for generations, 11-year-old George Pruwell is thrilled to audition for a spot at the exclusive Academy of Villainy and Wrongdoing in New York City, with a chance to earn a Distinguished Villain plaque. But at the same time, he frets that his compulsive kindness to animals, surreptitious friendship with a Regular Public Citizen neighbor, and inability to carry through with pranks are signs that he may not be cut out for proper evildoing. Things only get worse when his penchant for connecting with classmates rather than sabotaging them lands him in the lowly track assigned to, ugh, sidekicks. And so, in a truly last-ditch effort to raise his standing, he volunteers to duke it out with legendary superhero Captain Perfectus. The face-off doesn’t go off as expected at all, as instead of fighting the Captain, George makes him a secret ally by helping him weather an existential crisis (it’s not so easy being “Perfectus” all the time). This experience finally prompts the relieved George to face facts, quit the academy, return to his loving mother (who doesn’t seem all that surprised) in Omaha, and enroll in a regular middle school. For readers who haven’t caught on to the title’s ambiguity, Bearce leaves her young dropout proudly regarding the new Worst Villain Ever plaque on his door.
A lighthearted and entertaining play on the title’s double meaning. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-952667-79-4
Page Count: 218
Publisher: Snowy Wings Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lively romp and an honest read.
Two best pals plan the most epic adventure as their last hurrah.
Matthew and Eric have been best friends since meeting in band in fourth grade. Now in sixth grade, the boys learn that their school band will play in the Spring Music Festival at World of Amazement, the biggest amusement park in the state. But that’s not all: DefenderCon, a comics convention, will be taking place nearby at the same time and will feature special guest Jonah Burns, the author of their favorite character, Sandpiper. The boys also learn that as soon as the school year lets out, Eric will be moving across the country to New York for his pastry chef mom’s new job. Out of desperation the two plan a daring final mission: They will sneak off to DefenderCon, meet their hero, and get back to the amusement park before anyone notices they were gone. Naturally, things do not go exactly to plan. The tightly written, humorous narrative takes on serious subjects as Matt faces racism and both boys are on the receiving end of homophobic bullying due to their close friendship. It is both refreshing and reassuring to read a tale that explores a loving friendship between two boys who defy societal gender norms and are simply authentic to themselves and one another. Matt is Korean American, and Eric presents as White.
A lively romp and an honest read. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64614-011-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A-mew-sing fare for readers who sometimes feel like fraidycats themselves.
Two shelter cats take on a mysterious puss with weird powers who is terrorizing the feline community.
Hardly have timorous (and aptly named) Poop and her sophisticated buddy, Pasha, been brought home by their new “human beans” for a two-week trial than they are accosted by fiery-eyed Scaredy Cat, utterly trashing the kitchen with a click of his claws and, hissing that he’s in charge of the neighborhood, threatening that if they don’t act like proper cats—disdaining ordinary cat food and any summons (they are not dogs, after all), clawing the furniture instead of the scratching post, and showing like “cattitude”—it’ll be back to the shelter for them. Will Poop and Pasha prove to be fraidycats or flee to the cowed clowder of homeless cats hiding from the bully in the nearby woods? Nope, they are made of sterner stuff and resolutely set out to enlist feline allies in a “quest for life, liberty, and the pursuit of purrs!” Cast into a gazillion very short chapters related by furry narrators Poop and Pasha, who are helpfully depicted in portrait vignettes by Herzog at each chapter’s head, the ensuing adventures test the defiant kitties’ courage (and, in some cases, attention spans) on the way to a spooky but poignant climax set, appropriately enough as it happens, in a pet graveyard.
A-mew-sing fare for readers who sometimes feel like fraidycats themselves. (Adventure. 9-11)Pub Date: March 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-49443-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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