Cranking out the cases for his brainy, perpetually ten-year-old sleuth since 1963, Sobol dishes up ten more—from stolen cookies and rare stamps to faked photos (see title) and a bogus 18th-century diary. Though the plots are as formulaic as they come, that's partly the point, and the easy language and frequent pen-and-ink illustrations provide an enduring draw for fledgling readers; the entertainment value in winkling out the telling clue without having to turn to the solutions in the back is evergreen. There’s usually an artful joke or two to catch, too (“This time it was Flash Borden who came running up. Flash was in fifth grade, like Encyclopedia. His real name was Gordon. He had left Gordon Borden behind in kindergarten. Flash, he had decided, suited him better”—ba-da-boom!), plus some clever wordplay. Interchangeable the volumes may be, but young Brown remains a model for budding detectives everywhere. How pleasing to have a new clutch of mysteries for the rising generation thereof. (Crime fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-525-42210-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
A series kickoff with a promising mix of chills and chortles.
Monterrosa seems like an ordinary small town—until a resident is bitten by a strange-looking dog one night while taking a stroll past the graveyard.
When popular teacher Mr. Chu suddenly acquires a mean streak, superfast reflexes, and a weird giggle, worried fourth-graders Carlos and Benny (the Latino narrator and white best pal, respectively) rush off to do some research—in, where else, the local comic-book store. With help from store owner Mrs. Tamasese (known as the Samoan Slammer in her wrestling days, before an injury put her in a wheelchair), they reach the obvious conclusion that Mr. Chu will become a were-hyena unless he’s cured before the next full moon. Not so easy! Hale clearly crafts a main cast with an eye toward diversity, cued in the narrative with names, expressions in Spanish, references to hair and eye color and the like, and explicitly in the occasional line-drawn illustrations. He also unveils a supporting array of family members, shape changers, child-sacrificing cultists, and menacing strangers. Chucking in the odd gnawed corpse for atmosphere and butt references for laughs, the author provides narrow squeaks and plot twists galore. By the end, Carlos, Benny, and tough African-American classmate Tina “Karate Girl” Green emerge as a team of seasoned monster hunters—just in time for the next episode’s teaser.
A series kickoff with a promising mix of chills and chortles. (Light horror. 8-10)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1325-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
“Freakity freaking freakiness!” (to quote Carlos) on a high and gleeful level.
Seasoned fourth-grade monster hunters Carlos and Benny find heaping helpings of horror in the lunchroom.
Cued by a spectacular transformation on the lenticular cover, the sudden replacement of Monterrosa Elementary’s formerly motherly lunch ladies with thinly disguised giant praying mantises is just the beginning of disturbing changes. It seems that while the boys are now getting all the fattening fast food they can handle, the formerly well-adjusted girls, even monster-hunting ally Tina, are being fed a revolting glop made from bugs that has them mouthing off, becoming physically aggressive, and eyeing boys—hungrily. Further spurred by the disappearances of several younger (male) students, the sleuths enlist the help of gung-ho comics-store owner (and wheelchair-using Samoan ex-wrestler) Mrs. Tamasese in a desperate ploy to expose the culinary cabal. Along with trotting in a cast of exemplary diversity (in a departure, Latino Carlos narrates, while white boy Benny acts as best pal), Hale spins the scenario in such wild and hilarious directions that even the climactic release of whole garbage bags full of roaches in the crowded lunchroom isn’t the grossest thing that happens. By the end, though, all is set more or less right amid discussions of gender expectations and claims of mass hallucinations.
“Freakity freaking freakiness!” (to quote Carlos) on a high and gleeful level. (Horror. 8-10)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1324-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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