An unbeatably humorous trio take on bugs and bullies in their latest zany excursion.
Anxiety-ridden Tim and overly confident Tito, fourth grade best friends, are ready for another fantastic adventure, buoyed by Oskar, an inventor and self-described “good-looking time-traveling dinosaur.”
Two new characters join them, Tim’s crush, Zoe A. Charms, “the nicest, coolest, most popular kid” at school, and his longtime nemesis, William Woodrow “W” Wiggle the Third, “the richest, snootiest, most conceited kid in the Western Hemisphere” and descendant of the town’s founder. Back from attending “a fancy-schmancy elementary school” abroad, W announces that he will sponsor My Most Talented Pet Competition, turning their school’s fun day into a high-stakes contest. W promises a “YouCube” broadcast and special guests, including lightly disguised American Idol judges, like Simon Catwell and Lion L. Itchy, and Tim knows he must do something special. The Bug Brain Booster 3.0, one of Oskar’s creations, lets Tim’s pet Margot, an ordinary housefly, win the competition by doing amazing tricks, but it also sets off a bug invasion. Insect facts, action-filled fights, yucky food humor, and pages filled with black-and-white cartoons will grab lovers of quirky, off-the-wall comic books and graphic novels. Latine Tito adds a few Spanish words to the mix; Tim, W, and Zoe read as White.
An unbeatably humorous trio take on bugs and bullies in their latest zany excursion. (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781534492721
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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