Gritty and exciting: Readers will be hooked by the ruthless historical elements and compelling mystery.
A lowly 12-year-old apprentice aspiring to become a surgeon in 1480s London is an oddity; even stranger is one who resembles an imprisoned royal.
Amid the ongoing Wars of the Roses, King Richard III has entered London with his troops, prepared to keep Henry Tudor from claiming the throne. Jack Broom, who lives with his apothecary aunt, Old Mother Broom, overhears adults speaking of chilling terrors. Many believe that Richard stole the throne from the deceased King Edward’s sons—two boys he locked in the Tower of London. Jack becomes acutely aware of the controversy when Richard’s soldiers, mistaking him for one of the princes, threaten him in a terrifying encounter: With his gray eyes and shock of blond hair, he’s a double for Richard Plantagenet. Even though people of his class don’t usually study with famed surgeons, Jack had previously hoped to enter the Tower to apprentice with Dr. Argentine. Now, as a child who knows nothing of the parents he can’t remember, he seeks entry to uncover the truth about both Edward’s sons and his own lineage. Jack’s goals align when courageous new friend Alice asks for his help with treating an unnamed patient in the Tower. Well-drawn characters populate this tightly plotted, strongly paced page-turner, which features intriguing reveals about secret identities and plentiful details about the deadly intrigues of the time.
Gritty and exciting: Readers will be hooked by the ruthless historical elements and compelling mystery. (map, historical note) (Historical adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781802635539
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sweet Cherry Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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