An engrossing sequel.
Ace and his boxmates return, and in this follow-up to 2021’s Ace Takes Flight, they aim to rescue their missing friend.
After racing off in search of their boxmate, Grayson, following a signal from his augment, Ace, Leo, and Jayla are stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no rescue in sight. As a last resort, Jayla sends off a message to her parents—high-ranking members of the Resistance whom she hasn’t seen since she ran away to join the B.E.S.T program. Following their dramatic rescue, the trio ends up on a deepscraper that they suspect acts as Resistance headquarters. Leo and Ace are sent back to the Tower of Power to resume classes, while Jayla is left behind to work on regaining trust in her parents. However, Leo has made finding Grayson their obsession, leading them to make some risky decisions. All of this culminates in a shocking twist that will leave readers on the edges of their seats. The author provides the ideal amount of description to keep readers engaged with this page-turning adventure that features lead characters who are diverse across many dimensions of identity. The characterization is strengthened by the third-person narration in which the delineation between the varying perspectives is clear as the young people work through their individual burdens. The well-crafted logic for the technology adds to the atmosphere.
An engrossing sequel. (pick your perfect aug) (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-358-36214-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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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