Diverting but unanchored, this is training wheels for Waiting for Godot.
This ocean adventure reads fast and clever but remains what it says on the jacket. Without backstory, identities or context to moor the boy or the bear to the rest of the world, off floats the story on its own.
At first, the sly abstruseness in Shelton’s witty prose is intriguing, even exciting. A boy steps into a rowboat. The rower, a bear, asks “Where to?” The boy waves his hand “vaguely out across the water” and answers, “Just over to the other side, please.” A mystery! But clearly there’s another “side,” a place “where he was going,” even if its distance is farther than expected: “I thought you’d be able to see it [from here].” The diction is unflaggingly clean and clear, droll and mischievous (“A boringly gentle breeze thought about blowing, but decided in the end not to bother”). However, despite storms, sea-monster hazards and an ever-shifting bear/boy dynamic, this book never feels complete. There’s no journey’s end, nor disclosure of destination; hunger somehow becomes a conquerable philosophical challenge: “[H]is hunger had been there for so long that… [i]t was normal now and he didn’t really notice it.” Whatever the message—overcoming obstacles? staying at sea forever? overcoming the need for… food?—this is more allegory than any story form with closure.
Diverting but unanchored, this is training wheels for Waiting for Godot. (Fable. 8-12)Pub Date: June 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-385-75248-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another zippy charmer—no Quibbles here.
The mad scientist Porch sisters finally face off against the abominable (and newly reanimated) Talon Sharktūth.
Following their escapades at the titular hotel in Secrets of the Purple Pearl (2025), sisters Dee-Dee, Eugenia, and Gertrude, who are adopted, find themselves swept up in another adventure with the Lavinias, Aunt Desdemona, and their 98-year-old Grantie Lettuce in ParisToo, which is “like Paris but smaller, and it’s in upstate New York.” Of course, the girls’ beloved mentor and teacher, Millicent Quibb, pops in and out, both warning and helping the trio. The Porches are Apocryphs, and each one has a unique power. Their sightseeing trip around ParisToo feels a bit too convenient, and as suspicious coincidences mount (along with sightings of members of the KRA, the shadowy cabal that revived Sharktūth), the girls suspect that something sinister is afoot. They eventually learn the truth of Sharktūth’s scheme, but can they stop him and the KRA before it’s too late? This third series entry satisfyingly answers many of the lingering questions of its predecessors. With all the zest and zeal of a caffeinated squirrel, this installment delivers the series’ patented quirkiness and giggle-generating plotlines, footnotes, and illustrations. Millicent Quibb wisely opines that “it takes much bravery, to be different…but really, if no one dared to do it, who would save the day?” This is an endearing tale of found family and believing in oneself, with an ending that hints at further adventures.
Another zippy charmer—no Quibbles here. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780316555814
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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