A satisfying adventure.
A boy with a destiny finds it with a little help from his friends, in this original fantasy “inspired by the rich cultures that have called North America home since long before the words ‘North America’ were ever spoken.”
When the pale-skinned Tenemusuh, invaders from beyond Gonoka, the World Turtle of the Ay’do people, steal Gonoka’s Egg, 13-year-old Kyta knows it’s his destiny to restore it and save the world. Together with brave and quick Yudove, bellicose Tumuhv, and timorous Eno Blackfeather, Kyta ventures forth to recover the Egg. But it’s guarded by a terrible beast—whose own victimization at the hands of the Tenemusuh is revealed in occasional interstitial chapters that darken the narrative significantly. This adventure is Roubique’s debut, and it bears the signs of an author who’s still mastering the craft. A ponderous beginning and shaky sense of geography will lose some readers. But those who persist will be treated to a sturdy heist plot, a likable team of young people, occasionally stunning figurative language, and the beguiling concept of “living myths” who interact with mortals. While the line between good and evil is clear and unsubtle—“If I have the strength to take what’s yours, I am no thief: I am your better,” the Tenemusuh’s leader gloats—Roubique, who’s “part of the Indigenous Diaspora,” thoughtfully problematizes the genre’s chosen-one trope. The Ay’do people have copper skin and black hair, and Eno uses they/them pronouns.
A satisfying adventure. (author’s note, glossary and pronunciation guide) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9798217039043
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
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
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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