Unsuccessful; readers may be more pleased with Charles Gilman’s Lovecraft Middle School series for sci-fi fun or The...
Four motherless siblings embark on an adventure that leads them through the memories—and nightmares—of the past.
The Rothbaum siblings—Janice, Zack, Sydney, and Alexa, all white—are having one of the worst days of their young lives. Their father has been badly burned in a fire and is in a coma, leaving the foursome to be raised by their peculiar aunt. Living with Aunt Gladys means following her unusual rules, the most important of which is to not touch the doors. This rule itself seems odd, as the rooms of Gladys’ house have archways, not doors. Equally strange is that although the rooms have no doors to close, several are filled with unattached doors in arbitrary piles. The children soon learn of the connection between doors and the memories of the people who use them, setting them on the path to unlock the mysteries of their father’s accident and their mother’s disappearance. Neilsen’s premise is better than its execution. The Rothbaum siblings’ character development is superficial, and their voices frequently run together with little distinction for individual personality. Neilsen haphazardly interjects broad humor through the story, primarily through unusually named one-dimensional adult characters. A subplot concerning the foster system is misleading and outdated, causing the humor to fall flat.
Unsuccessful; readers may be more pleased with Charles Gilman’s Lovecraft Middle School series for sci-fi fun or The Mysterious Benedict Society or A Series of Unfortunate Events for mystery and humor. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93582-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
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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