Haworth takes the legend of the Selkie and gives it a modern-day twist. Twelve-year-old Allie Jo lives in Florida at her parents’ famous antebellum hotel, The Meriwether. Her plans for a quiet summer are thwarted after she catches 13-year-old Chase, a guest at the hotel, skateboarding on the hotel’s historic wooden floors. Despite this inauspicious beginning, the two fall into an easy friendship, with Allie Jo showing Chase the town’s attractions and the charms of the hotel. When Allie Jo and Chase meet a mysterious girl, Tara, who claims she is a Selkie on the run from the man who stole her sealskin, the two friends rise to the challenge and help Tara get her skin back. The author sets a quick pace in short chapters alternating among Allie Jo, Chase and Tara. The two kids take turns narrating in a colloquial present tense, while the author maintains a magical frisson by presenting Tara’s chapters in a stately, third-person voice. Although predictable, the mix of fantasy and light mystery makes for an entertaining read. Fans of Liz Kessler’s Emily Windsnap will enjoy this amusing tale. (Magical adventure. 8-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8027-9520-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A page-turning adventure that’s truly out of this world.
Roswell Johnson is about to go on a bigger journey than he could ever imagine.
Precocious 11-year-old Roswell, one of the few Black kids in his class, loves everything about astronomy, space, and the conspiracy theories that often accompany these topics. After all, inspired by a UFO sighting, his late father did name him Roswell. Following a major disappointment at the school science fair, Roswell’s ready to give it all up when aliens accidentally abduct him (along with Persephone, one of his grandparents’ chickens). He finds himself on a mission to save Earth from colonization while exploring far-flung corners of the galaxy and strange alien planets. Roswell’s journey is complicated by the fact that he’s being hunted by Reptoids, a vicious race of aliens who want to cause chaos and will stop at nothing. Along the way, he befriends a ragtag group of aliens, and together they race against the galactic clock before time runs out and he loses everything he loves. The combination of factual information and witty humor will maintain readers’ engagement as they follow Roswell’s journey. Much of the information about space, including the names of stars and constellations and facts about planets, is accurate and presented in an entertaining and seamless way. Actor and novelist Colfer also touches on prejudice and racism: Roswell grapples with both the injustices he faces and the ones he sees others confront. Final art not seen.
A page-turning adventure that’s truly out of this world. (author’s note, glossary) (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9780316515047
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
File under “laugh riot.”
A rogue spell-check program’s bid to transform all life-forms into that eminently useful office item, the paper clip, touches off a fresh round of lunar lunacy.
Predicated on the entirely reasonable premise that eliminating all spelling and grammar errors everywhere would logically lead to the necessity of exterminating carbon-based life in the universe, this third series entry combines high stakes with daffy banter and daring exploits. CheckMate—a chipper, jumped-up editing program—has invented the Transmogratron, a giant laser that will fulfill its ultimate goals in both the cyber world and “meatspace.” Facing challenges as random as prankster lunar unicorns and a disarmingly motherly Motherboard, scowling First Cat joins a motley crew of diversely carbon- and silicon-based allies, led by the pearlescent Queen of the Moon. They’re in a race to the finish—diverted occasionally by, for instance, a relentlessly punny comic-book interlude featuring a pair of literal and figurative Pool Sharks. They ultimately triumph thanks to teamwork and moxie. Following a celebratory party and toasts to “new friends…and steadfast comrades” (and, of course, “MEOW”), the story’s energetic, brightly colored panels close with a reveal of the next volume. (“I always hate it when comics end by announcing a sequel. SO CRINGE!” declares an authorial stand-in.) It can’t come too soon.
File under “laugh riot.” (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063315280
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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