Vivid storytelling and a suspenseful plot with four dynamic, if sometimes stereotypical, teen protagonists.
Four teens investigate a dangerous case in this sixth installment of a mystery series for middle schoolers.
This latest volume in Forbes’ Mystery Searchers series, about a quartet of 21st-century teen sleuths in the historic desert mountain city of Prescott, Arizona, opens with a deft Chapter 1 cliffhanger. The Mystery Searchers—Suzanne Jackson and her twin brother, Tom, and siblings Kathy and Pete Brunelli—are desperately trying to elude masked criminals at the Deception Gap Railroad Yard. (“Suzanne lay flat atop a steel-bodied boxcar, insulated from the cold metal by a light jacket, jeans, and running shoes, stomach down and churning.”) Chapter 2 takes readers back four days, to the anonymous phone call that will embroil the four high school students in their latest case, involving thievery, fraud, a missing man, and a potential murder at a remote rail yard. Conveniently, Suzanne and Tom’s father is the police chief, and the teens’ participation in criminal investigations is sanctioned by law enforcement. A friendly reporter on the local newspaper helps, too. Skillful plotting and ambient scene-setting add depth to this update of the tried-and-true teen-sleuth genre. (Suzanne’s peril is heightened by a description of boxcars stretching out before her, “shadow-like shapes lit by dimmed LEDs and a full moon in a cloudless sky.”) Current technology (GPS trackers, cellphones, a fitness watch, and WhatsApp) plays a significant role, as does a print newspaper, intriguingly enough. The author also underscores the characters’ diversity. The reporter is a refugee from Mozambique, and the missing person is a Black man. Suzanne and Tom are fair-skinned; Pete and Kathy are of Italian descent with dark hair and olive skin. Certain behavioral stereotypes are the only disappointment in this otherwise well-crafted mystery: Suzanne and Kathy “giggle,” repeatedly and unnaturally, when relating the discovery of an injured man, for example. Pete’s likability is compromised by frequent brotherly sniping and his gung-ho enthusiasm over a possible murder with little regard for the actual victim.
Vivid storytelling and a suspenseful plot with four dynamic, if sometimes stereotypical, teen protagonists.Pub Date: July 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73411-725-7
Page Count: 142
Publisher: St. Leo Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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