As in the previous appearances of Captain Underpants (The Adventures of Captain Underpants, 1997, etc.), this gross but not...
Once again, it’s Wedgie Power to the rescue, in a book subtitled “And the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds).”
When aliens Zorx, Klax, and Jennifer launch their invasion of Earth by converting the students and teachers of the Jerome Horwitz Elementary School into an army of zombies with pocket protectors, it’s up to inveterate troublemakers George and Harold, with their feckless ally Captain Underpants (he’s the mean principal’s alter-ego), to save the planet. The deed is done in a crowd-pleasing welter of plot twists and bathroom humor, wisecracks and free shots at school food; Pilkey’s black-and-white cartoons move from crudely-drawn comic books created by the boys to pages that readers are required to flip back and forth for an animated effect. As in the previous appearances of Captain Underpants (The Adventures of Captain Underpants, 1997, etc.), this gross but not gruesome adventure will have fans looking forward to the upcoming (and obviously perfectly tasteful) Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-439-04995-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
On go the Aldens from one exotic locale to the next, through experiences more exciting than dangerous.
Mysteries thicken around the Alden children’s mission to return a trove of stolen artifacts in this updated reboot of the classic series.
The second episode of a five-volume arc picks up right where the first, Journey on a Runaway Train (2017), leaves off—taking Violet, Jessie, Henry, and Benny first to Cairo and the pyramids, then to Nairobi, Stonehenge, and finally on to Rome. At each stop except the last they return an ancient figurine or other small treasure taken from the locale while also touring archaeological sites, encountering giraffes, riding camels, foiling elusive thieves, solving riddles, receiving cryptic texts and email messages from unknown parties, and wondering why their expected contact Tricia has suddenly gone on the lam. The new authors tuck in summary infodumps designed to fill readers in on the Aldens’ long history and the current scenario, but this outing ends as abruptly as it starts and leaves its all-white central cast entangled in unresolved conundrums. Caveat lector.
On go the Aldens from one exotic locale to the next, through experiences more exciting than dangerous. (cast gallery, afterword, bio of original author) (Adventure. 8-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8075-0698-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Uncomplicated gateway fare for readers still working up to Percy Jackson or Jane Yolen’s Young Heroes series.
White teenage cousins discover that they have four days to reconstitute a magic shield that will save Earth from fiery destruction. First stop: ancient Greece.
The pseudonymous co-authors assemble tried-and-true, which is to say stock, elements into a plot-driven opener. When Trey and his gung-ho British cousin Samantha match up the halves of a disk dubbed the Heart of Light, they find themselves transported to a cave where they are immediately attacked by a harpy before just as suddenly snapping back to Trey’s basement. A wizardly figure appears to inform them that they are “Chosen Ones” tasked with finding the four long-hidden fragments of the Warrior’s Shield before an imminent “attack of the Dark.” They return to battle more harpies—or “winged filth” as the local satyrs repeatedly dub them—before tackling the “serpent woman” Medusa herself. Sam needs rescuing more than once by the boys, but her comically wild aggression (“I wanna kick some asp!”) both leaves the harpies in broken, bloody heaps and makes her a good match for cautious Trey, who recalls garbled bits of the legend of Perseus in time to snatch the Shield’s first piece and work an escape. De la Rue contributes occasional ink drawings that depict the skinny young heroes in battle with ragged mythological horrors; the author appends a follow-up miniquiz for “Greek Geeks.”
Uncomplicated gateway fare for readers still working up to Percy Jackson or Jane Yolen’s Young Heroes series. (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-349-12436-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Little, Brown UK
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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