A hybrid format—part blocks of text, part graphic-novel-style cartoon panels—revs up this unvarnished karate adventure. Battling a sense of inadequacy, 11-year-old Max joins a trio of preteen black belts in doing battle with the evil Death Master, who has stolen the Tree of Life’s seven wheels, or energy centers, or (as the author explains in her afterword) chakras. This naturally entails much kicking, punching, and exercising of inner good qualities, interleaved with family issues, internecine bickering, and words of wisdom from both Sensei Dawn (a character, as well as the author) and a turbaned Sage. Veteran comics artist Chang creates simply designed black and white strips and single panels for every page, featuring young folk in karate gis squaring off against an array of oversized, over-muscled, often toothy adversaries. Though the closing gallery of karate blocks and attacks is hedged with dangerously perfunctory cautions, readers swept along by the nonstop action will have encountered compensatory doses of karate principles and dojo etiquette along the way. Future episodes, plus a feature film and other marketing ventures, are in the works. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-439-63935-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2005
There'll be no silence in the library once readers get hold of this somewhat classier alternative to Barf-o-Rama books and...
In the fine old tradition of James Marshall's Cut-Ups, Pilkey (God Bless the Gargoyles, 1996, etc.) introduces George Beard and Harold Hutchins, two usually responsible fourth-graders, as in ``whenever anything bad happened, George and Harold were usually responsible.''
Pranksters of the first order, George and Harold are finally nabbed by Mr. Krupp, the principal, whom they then hypnotize into believing he's Captain Underpants, a superhero of their own creation. Before they can stop him, he's out the window in cape and briefs, off to fight crime with Wedgie Power, taking on bank robbers, robot thieves—`` `You know,' said George, `up until now this story was almost believable!' ''—and ultimately the evil Dr. Diaper. Distracting Dr. Diaper with some ``fake doggy doo- doo,'' the boys save the planet, then hustle Krupp back into his clothes, just in time for—their next adventure, The Attack of the Talking Toilets, coming soon. Pilkey's stubby black-and-white cartoon figures appear on every page but can be animated in one chapter, thanks to ``Flip-O-Rama,'' where readers flip pages back and forth for the ``latest in cheesy animation technology.'' There'll be no silence in the library once readers get hold of this somewhat classier alternative to Barf-o-Rama books and their crude ilk. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-590-84627-2
Page Count: 121
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1997
SEEN & HEARD
Reports of children requesting rewrites of The Reluctant Dragon are rare at best, but this new version may be pleasing to young or adult readers less attuned to the pleasures of literary period pieces. Along with modernizing the language—“Hmf! This Beowulf fellow had a severe anger management problem”—DiTerlizzi dials down the original’s violence. The red-blooded Boy is transformed into a pacifistic bunny named Kenny, St. George is just George the badger, a retired knight who owns a bookstore, and there is no actual spearing (or, for that matter, references to the annoyed knight’s “Oriental language”) in the climactic show-fight with the friendly, crème-brulée-loving dragon Grahame. In look and spirit, the author’s finely detailed drawings of animals in human dress are more in the style of Lynn Munsinger than, for instance, Ernest Shepard or Michael Hague. They do, however, nicely reflect the bright, informal tone of the text. A readable, if denatured, rendition of a faded classic. (Fantasy. 9-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4169-3977-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2008
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