Ultimately, this European import is clumsy and uninteresting.
Set in London, England, two monster mysteries in graphic-novel format.
Kyle, who blogs his passion for ghosts and monsters, is actively on the lookout for a mystery to solve. In “Wild Werewolves,” the first of the two stories, a stranger named Lon Chaney approaches Kyle and his friend Zoey at the library. He believes that a few nights ago he turned into a werewolf, and he asks them to find a solution. Kyle and Zoe team up with Ashley and Tyler, two more friends, to work out why werewolves have suddenly appeared in the city. In “Mummy Mischief,” the four friends read an online news article about a mummy on the subway (the text has been Americanized) and go to the British Museum’s mummy exhibit to get more clues. Both stories are reminiscent of Scooby-Doo, and Robert’s bright illustrations offer a lot of potential. However, the stories lack conviction, and although the book tries (very hard!) to be funny, the wordplay is clunky and the jokes often fall flat. (For instance, the answer to the question “Why would a mummy travel on the subway?” is “Because taxis don’t give rides to mummies!”) Most importantly, perhaps, the allegedly teenage characters read like 8-year-olds. Zoey is the only character of color, but her identity does not come into play at all during the course of the stories.
Ultimately, this European import is clumsy and uninteresting. (Graphic mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: July 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-52848-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Alas, nary a zombie in sight—but budding “braaaiiinnns” may be tempted to repeat some of the experiments for themselves.
Following cryptic clues left by a counselor, a quartet of young campers track down the source of mysterious noises in this science-laden series kickoff.
The instruction begins before the story does, with a disquisition on the nature and states of matter, and continues after the denouement with a pair of experiments and a page of explanations. In between, 9-year-old twins Angie and Alex settle in at Camp Dakota, where they’re treated to successive scientific demonstrations. These include: air pressure in action, with an overturned glass in a bowl of water; comparative density, with eggs in fresh and salt water; and heat-related expansion and contraction with a suspended weight. They’re also treated to eerie nighttime moans ascribed to a local zombie that turn out to have a natural cause. Helmer places a multicultural cast with oversized, rolling-flashlight eyes in neatly drawn sequential panels—between which Beauregard occasionally shoehorns further science facts—and tries to crank up the suspense with lots of atmospheric fog and night scenes. The fictional plot is really just a vehicle, and if the science is largely extraneous and sometimes simplistic (gravity doesn’t just pull objects “toward Earth’s surface”), at least there’s plenty of it. The load-out continues in #2, The Nighttime Cabin Thief: A Mystery About Light, and two more Summer Camp Science Mysteries.
Alas, nary a zombie in sight—but budding “braaaiiinnns” may be tempted to repeat some of the experiments for themselves. (further experiments, glossary, scientific principles) (Graphic fiction/instructional blend. 8-10)Pub Date: March 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7613-8544-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More evidence that Squish is anything but a Wimpy Kid, for all his diminutive size.
Summer swim camp and a reckless new friend test a young amoeba’s courage and moral compass alike.
Squish has been left to face the scary pool alone because his buddies Peggy and Pod have gone to ballet camp. He is delighted to meet Basil, an equally water-averse hydra with the same taste in comics (which is to say, Super Amoeba) and the cool ability to detach portions of his body. But Basil also sports stingers at the ends of his tentacles that he meanly uses to trip up not only unwary fellow campers but even the camp leader. Squish is inspired by his revered comic-book superprotozoan, who in a parallel plot deals briskly with a visiting superhero, a self-serving fluke named Parasite whose arrogance and outsized sense of entitlement lead to some bad behavior—and also by Pod’s demonstration of how to open a black hole with a pirouette. Squish mends fences with the counselor, sends Basil packing (or most of him, anyway) and even finally nerves himself to dive into the pool. Blobby but clothed figures pose beneath big balloons of clearly lettered dialogue and side commentary in the Holms’ thick lined, minimally detailed panels, and the suburban backdrops make it even easier for younger readers to transpose the microbial cast to their macroscopic world.
More evidence that Squish is anything but a Wimpy Kid, for all his diminutive size. (science demo, drawing page) (Graphic novel. 7-9)Pub Date: May 22, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-84391-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012
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