Three years ago, 12-year-old Brit Alannah Malarra's ghost-hunting parents vanished on a mission to the Scottish Highlands. She took up the family business, but with highly mercenary objectives. She uses her psychic powers to get rid of ghosts with the help of her lock-picking buddy, 11-year-old Wortley Flint, her housekeeper's son, but she snatches any treasures the ghosts guard. Certain they're alive, Alannah uses the fortune to fund the hunt for her parents. On a routine ghost hunt, Alannah stumbles upon a gate to the Dark Dimension and the A.N.G.E.L. agents (Attack-ready Network of Global Evanescent Law-enforcers) from a higher realm tasked with keeping it closed. Notorious Gnarl Krot is about to unleash his Gargoyles and Ghouls on Earth as a stepping stone to Evan City; only Alannah and A.N.G.E.L. agent Flhi Swift stand in his way. Newbound's debut effectively sets up the milieu for his projected series and keeps the pages turning with laughs and suspense. However, Alannah's avarice is a bit alarming at times despite her good intentions, and the title's change from the original British Demon Strike will mystify readers. (Funny paranormal adventure. 8-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-22938-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid.
Black sixth-grader Jake Liston can only play one song on the piano. He can’t read music very well, and he can’t improvise. So how did Jake get accepted to the Music and Art Academy? He faked it.
Alongside an eclectic group of academy classmates, and with advice from his best friend, Jake tries to fit in at a school where things like garbage sculpting and writing art reviews of bird poop splatter are the norm. All is well until Jake discovers that the end-of-the-semester talent show is only two weeks away, and Jake is short one very important thing…talent. Or is he? It’s up to Jake to either find the talent that lies within or embarrass himself in front of the entire school. Light and humorous, with Knight’s illustrations adding to the fun, Jake’s story will likely appeal to many middle-grade readers, especially those who might otherwise be reluctant to pick up a book. While the artsy antics may be over-the-top at times, this is a story about something that most preteens can relate to: the struggle to find your authentic self. And in a world filled with books about wanting to fit in with the athletically gifted supercliques, this novel unabashedly celebrates the artsy crowd in all of its quirky, creative glory.
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-52351-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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