Sound detective work, unexpected twists, and plenty of fun for the young mystery fan ready for longer and more chapters.
This book is dedicated to “curious Fact Collectors everywhere.”
When 8-year-old Paige moves onto Evergreen Street, she begins collecting information in her Fact Diary—facts like the “street has exactly seventy-three windows,” and an 8-year-old boy named Penn lives next door. A talkative Penn introduces Paige to the “puddle that’s shaped like Texas,” “a kid with a pet rock,” and the undiscovered neighborhood monster. That’s when Paige kicks into gear. It’s a Fact Collector’s “responsibility to tell people when they are wrong. ‘Fact: Monsters are NOT real.’ ” After Paige records what Penn knows about the monster (“leaves behind footprints…hides in bushes…scary screeches”), the two kids prowl the neighborhood in search of evidence. Through careful observation and deduction, Paige proves there is no monster…until a loud “AROOOO” and a strange shadow make Paige and Penn rethink their conclusion. The text is carried in a combination of Paige’s first-person narration and dialogue bubbles. Paige’s notebook pages and random fun facts—“wombat’s poop is cube-shaped”; the “original name for Uranus was…George”; the “Earth is struck by lightning 100 times per second”—add to the kid appeal. They are interspersed throughout the nine chapters, which are nine to 15 pages in length. Paige has purple hair, blue eyes, and beige skin; Penn has light-brown skin and eyes and a pouf of curly, blue-green hair. Their neighborhood is minimally diverse.
Sound detective work, unexpected twists, and plenty of fun for the young mystery fan ready for longer and more chapters. (Graphic mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: June 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5161-2
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit.
Eleven-year-old Maria Russo helps her charlatan mother hoodwink customers, but Maria has a spirited secret.
Maria’s mother, the psychic Madame Destine, cons widows out of their valuables with the assistance of their apartment building’s super, Mr. Fox. Madame Destine home-schools Maria, and because Destine is afraid of unwanted attention, she forbids Maria from talking to others. Maria is allowed to go to the library, where new librarian Ms. Madigan takes an interest in Maria that may cause her trouble. Meanwhile, Sebastian, Maria’s new upstairs neighbor, would like to be friends. All this interaction makes it hard for Maria to keep her secret: that she is visited by Edward, a spirit who tells her the actual secrets of Madame Destine’s clients via spirit writing. When Edward urges Maria to help Mrs. Fisher, Madame Destine’s most recent mark, Maria must overcome her shyness and her fear of her mother—helping Mrs. Fisher may be the key to the mysterious past Maria uncovers and a brighter future. Alas, picture-book–creator Ford’s middle-grade debut is a muddled, melodramatic mystery with something of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feel: In addition to the premise, there’s a tragically dead father, a mysterious family tree, and the Beat poets. Sluggish pacing; stilted, unrealistic dialogue; cartoonishly stock characters; and unattractive, flat illustrations make this one to miss. Maria and Sebastian are both depicted with brown skin, hers lighter than his; the other principals appear to be white.
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit. (author’s note) (Paranormal mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20567-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Silly and inventive fast-paced fun
A zippy graphic-novel series opener featuring two comically bumbling reptile detectives.
As agents of SUIT (Special Undercover Investigation Team) with customized VESTs (Very Exciting Spy Technology) boasting the latest gadgetry, the bright green InvestiGators Mango and Brash receive their newest assignment. The reptilian duo must go undercover at the Batter Down bakery to find missing mustachioed Chef Gustavo and his secret recipes. Before long, the pair find themselves embroiled in a strange and busy plot with a scientist chicken, a rabid were-helicopter, an escape-artist dinosaur, and radioactive cracker dough. Despite the great number of disparate threads, Green manages to tie up most neatly, leaving just enough intrigue for subsequent adventures. Nearly every panel has a joke, including puns (“gator done!”), poop jokes, and pop-culture references (eagle-eyed older readers will certainly pick up on the 1980s song references), promising to make even the most stone-faced readers dissolve into giggles. Green’s art is as vibrant as an overturned box of crayons and as highly spirited as a Saturday-morning cartoon. Fast pacing and imaginative plotting (smattered with an explosion here, a dance number there) propel the action through a whimsical world in which a diverse cast of humans live alongside anthropomorphized reptiles and dinosaurs. With its rampant good-natured goofiness and its unrelenting fizz and pep, this feels like a sugar rush manifested as a graphic novel.
Silly and inventive fast-paced fun . (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21995-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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