A droll sequel featuring quests, quips, and a nuanced view of what it means to be a hero.
Multiple quests bring ogres, hooded necromancers, and unlikely heroes to Verdigris Forest, domain of the feared Robin, Princess of Thieves.
In this follow-up to 2023’s Punycorn, our unicorn hero searches for a grimoire and mystical weapons, dubbed “Nosepicker” and “Spork of Slaughter,” all of which have been stolen. This quest draws the doughty if diminutive unicorn into a rematch with hulking Sir Ogre, equally thick of brain and brawn, and the ogre’s clever little sister, Sixsmith. Into the scrum, Watson pitches both a set of pacifistic (though scary-looking) necromancers and a robber who turns out to be the most principled of thieves. Robin is a kindly, if kleptomaniac, princess who’s now living as the head of a band of rough-looking short-order cooks, robbing from the rich to fund a soup kitchen for refugees. Plainly this is all deeply tongue-in-cheek, and aside from one quick rout (“Don’t just stand there! Attack them back!”), the martially posed, comically grimacing figures in the cartoon art rarely come to blows. And if the plotlines cut off in ways calculated to bolster demand for sequels, there at least is some movement in the character-development department—particularly for Wheeze, a dragon with self-esteem issues who’s one of Punycorn’s two companions (the other being intrepid dung beetle P’oo). The human and humanoid members of the cast are diversely hued.
A droll sequel featuring quests, quips, and a nuanced view of what it means to be a hero. (Graphic adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: July 22, 2025
ISBN: 9780358572008
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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