A Yule slog.
Santa’s looking for a successor…time for a Christmas contest of epic proportions.
Ollie and his best friend, Celia, are 11-year-old elves (if they were humans, he’d be white and she’d be black) who work in Games & Puzzles when the current Santa Claus—Matt Claus—announces a contest for persons under 16 to vie to become the next Santa. Ollie and Celia join a motley crew of Clauses, humans, and elves as contestants in a monthlong competition. The first contest—sneaking past giant, fire-breathing robot toddlers to deliver wish letters to the proper departments—winnows down the field. Can the best friends hold on to their Christmas cheer and prevail through 10 more wacky Christmas contests? Huett’s debut is an idea with potential buried under an avalanche of unnecessary scenes and stock characters in Christmas costumes. The contestants routinely break the rules of the competition, and the contests themselves at time run counter to the stated goal of finding the best next Santa (as in one that features random elimination). Ramp, an obviously elderly Claus relative, masquerades as a teenager to enter, and his attempts at kidspeak, never particularly funny, grow tiresome. Ollie’s wide-eyed excitement and sweetness are cloying out of the gate, and his naiveté stretches credulity.
A Yule slog. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-05214-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...
Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.
These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-46083-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
A sparkling tale of survival.
A family camping trip in the mountains turns interesting after an earthquake.
Eleven-year-old Vivian is so excited to be going camping with her 12-year-old cousin, Owen, and her 8-year-old sister, Amy. She’s talked her mother and Uncle Mike (both veterans of the outdoors) into camping at Sequoia National Park and, what’s more, letting the kids stay by themselves for 24 hours (the adults will camp just over a short mountain pass). Dusk comes, and Owen, who loves to cook, fixes a stellar meal on his little camp stove; the kids are blissful in their independence. Then comes the earthquake, shaking rocks down onto the trail and blocking the way back to the adults. Taking charge of the frightened Amy and disassociating Owen, Vivian determines that their only choice is to walk out the long way. While Owen has packed more food than necessary for one overnight, it’s not enough. Nevertheless, they start out. This is a tale of adventure and survival, but it’s far from grim; instead, it’s filled with effervescent writing and humorous dialogue. Vivian’s confidence and her joie de vivre in the beauty of her surroundings embrace Amy and Owen—as well as readers—with the usefulness of a positive attitude. If a story about three kids alone in the mountains with little food could ever be described as cheerful and uplifting, this one is it. All main characters read white.
A sparkling tale of survival. (map) (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781536234725
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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