On balance, warm and magical.
As a “talker of tongues,” 9-year-old Maddy West has the astonishing and enviable ability to speak and read any language.
While most people are simply amazed by her ability, there are those who would like to exploit her talent. When professor Coateloch, a linguist, asks Maddy to translate ancient scrolls in an island monastery on the Black Sea, her parents see dollar signs rather than danger signs. Maddy soon finds that the professor’s interest in her ability is far from academic. Thankfully, Maddy is as adept at making friends as she is at communicating. Along with her ninjalike neighbor, Kazuki, Maddy gains the help of Bulgarian wrestler Dimitar the Giant and his crafty monkey, Mr. Chester. And Maddy will need all the help she can get if she is going to defeat the professor (aka the Chocolate Witch) and thwart her plans for world domination. While Maddy’s magical ability is impressive, she really shines in her normal human moments of compassion, forgiveness and acceptance. A river of cockroaches, a wild car ride and age-appropriate humor all come together in this magical adventure. Unfortunately, the rushed ending fails to address some of the deeper emotional issues.
On balance, warm and magical. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62370-084-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey.
Separated from his pack, Swift, a young wolf, embarks on a perilous search for a new home.
Swift’s mother impresses on him early that his “pack belongs to the mountains and the mountains belong to the pack.” His father teaches him to hunt elk, avoid skunks and porcupines, revere the life that gives them life, and “carry on” when their pack is devastated in an attack by enemy wolves. Alone and grieving, Swift reluctantly leaves his mountain home. Crossing into unfamiliar territory, he’s injured and nearly dies, but the need to run, hunt, and live drives him on. Following a routine of “walk-trot-eat-rest,” Swift traverses prairies, canyons, and deserts, encountering men with rifles, hunger, thirst, highways, wild horses, a cougar, and a forest fire. Never imagining the “world could be so big or that I could be so alone in it,” Swift renames himself Wander as he reaches new mountains and finds a new home. Rife with details of the myriad scents, sounds, tastes, touches, and sights in Swift/Wander’s primal existence, the immediacy of his intimate, first-person, present-tense narration proves deeply moving, especially his longing for companionship. Realistic black-and-white illustrations trace key events in this unique survival story, and extensive backmatter fills in further factual information about wolves and their habitat.
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey. (additional resources, map) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-289593-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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