A funny, heartfelt novel about belonging, identity, and finding your people.
Fraedrich’s middle-grade SF coming-of-age romp follows a stranded alien and her interior design–obsessed droid as they race to find their way home.
Bekkel, a 16-year-old Durbaxian Annexer on her first mission to Earth, is stranded when her ship crashes. Her only hope of getting home is reaching the Celestial Ferryway pickup point before it departs. In an effort to blend in, she hides her fuchsia-feathered alien form, disguising herself as a human teenage girl with tawny skin and umber hair. Her companion droid, Ma’at (who prefers “Matt”), transforms into a dog who inconveniently likes to talk. While gathering food for the trip home, Bekkel and Matt accidently draw the attention of a store clerk, a nonbinary Black teenager named Twigg. Much to Bekkel’s surprise, Twigg offers to drive them to the Ferryway. Unfortunately, when Twigg’s car, Wheezer, proves unreliable, they’re forced to call Lottie, Twigg’s white, alternative-style sister, for help. As the group scrambles to make repairs and reach the Ferryway in time, they face escalating complications, including run-ins with police, a kidnapping, and even another alien intent upon destroying Earth. As Bekkel gets closer to her destination, she begins to question what she thought she knew about Earth and its inhabitants, the rigid beliefs she was raised with, and whether a different path may be open to her in the future. Fraedrich has crafted a diverse, engaging cast; Twigg’s and Lottie’s identities as queer, adopted siblings add depth to the narrative without defining them entirely. The pacing is brisk, with the action balanced by moments of introspection as Bekkel navigates sarcasm, language barriers, and societal rules. Each chapter opens with an excerpt from the Cosmopedia, adding insights into intergalactic perceptions of Earthians (“Humans are, quite possibly, the most litigious species in the universe”). The novel deftly balances humor and heart, which makes it easy to grow attached to the characters. Middle-grade readers who enjoy SF adventures, found-family stories, and chaotic road-trip hijinks will find much to love here.
A funny, heartfelt novel about belonging, identity, and finding your people.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798987843628
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Goat Song Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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