The strength’s in the journey—survival skills and environmentalism—not the destination.
In their third interstate journey, the Wilder brothers travel west to save their dog.
Following The Journey Home (2016), 14-year-old Jake and 12-year-old Taylor settle into a peaceful existence in Wyoming with their happily reunited parents, their friend Kim, and their loyal Jack Russell terrier, Cody. But when they encounter the school bully, who attacks the brothers and attempts to kick Cody, Cody nips him. Worse, the bully’s father (who’s on the town council) demands Cody be destroyed. The brothers don’t trust animal control to keep Cody safe from the bullying family, so they abscond with their dog, fleeing injustice. Their goal is reaching their off-the-grid grandmother in northern California. They know her only through letters; their father’s concern over their grandmother’s living alone in the wilderness resulted in a disagreement and then a multiyear estrangement (based on the seemingly paranoid content of some of the letters, Jake and Taylor’s parents feel their worries are justified). The journey is fast-paced, with sympathetic strangers (mostly fellow kids or teens) assisting (especially with transportation). The boys’ nature know-how helps them navigate encounters with wild animals; the book also highlights wildfires and the consequences of deforestation. The biggest conflict comes as the brothers learn the truth about their grandmother’s troubles and find a way to help her, though the resolutions to both stories—the grandmother’s and Cody’s—come easily and anticlimactically. The Wilders are cued White, Kim is Shoshone, and there is diversity in background characters.
The strength’s in the journey—survival skills and environmentalism—not the destination. (Fiction. 9-14)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-662-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
