A disappointing slump.
A superpowered class pet faces off against a mysterious new foe.
In this third graphic installment, something is disturbing the peace in Classroom C at Sunnyview Elementary: A shiny new electric pencil sharpener has been installed over Super Turbo’s cage in Ms. Beasley’s room. While the students are delighted by the novelty of quickly sharpened pencils, the noise and intrusion of shavings into his cage are making the hamster miserable. He calls a meeting of the Superpet Superhero League, his team of neighboring class pets with superpowers. They deduce that this sharpener must be the work of evildoer Pencil Pointer. As they investigate, it is apparent that a second mystery is also occurring: An undefined “trial” in the cafeteria has emptied it of their favorite sugary snacks. Could past nemesis Whiskerface be responsible for all these crimes? Unsurprisingly, the classroom pets realize that perhaps they may have made an error by jumping to conclusions too quickly; readers will be able to solve the case long before Super Turbo and his pals do. While the bright colors and adorable animals are quickly recognizable to those familiar with earlier installments, this volume manages to feel both rushed and bland, and its resolution comes across as disappointingly saccharine. A two-page teaser for the next adventure is included. Human students are diverse, but the only two named human characters are White.
A disappointing slump. (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-7839-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
This is a rare book: joyful, ingenuous, playfully earnest, but without a whiff of studied cuteness.
Giraffe, bored and looking for a friend, becomes pen pals with Penguin in this illustrated chapter book.
Even though Giraffe has nice weather and plenty to eat in his home in Africa, he is bored because he doesn’t have “an extra special friend.” A notice from an also-bored pelican offering “to deliver anything anywhere” spurs Giraffe to write a letter introducing himself (“I’m famous for my long neck”), and he asks Pelican to deliver it to the first animal he meets on the “other side of the horizon.” After a long flight, Pelican sees Seal. Seal delivers the letter to Penguin, since Penguin is “the only animal…who got letters….Most were from his girlfriend.” This original, playful story unfolds with perfect pacing as Giraffe and Penguin start a pen-pal correspondence. (Penguin, not sure what a neck is, writes back: “I think maybe I don’t have a neck. Or maybe I am all neck?”) Giraffe and Pelican, reading Penguin’s letters describing himself, are just as confused about what Penguin looks like. Hilarious deductive reasoning ensues. Young readers will love the silliness. Older readers (including adults) will relax in this gentle, judgment-free world of curiosity and discovery. Takabatake’s fresh, unaffected line illustrations create a seamless collaboration of art and words.
This is a rare book: joyful, ingenuous, playfully earnest, but without a whiff of studied cuteness. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-9272-7188-9
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Gecko Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A feel-good tale of a clever and determined stallion set against a well-developed landscape.
In mid-19th-century Nevada, a colt named Sky grows up to lead his band of wild horses.
Parry’s moving story follows the pattern of her recent animal tales, A Wolf Called Wander (2019) and A Whale of the Wild (2020), chronicling a wild animal’s life in the first person, imagining its point of view, and detailing and appreciating the natural world it inhabits. As Sky grows from wobbly newborn to leader of his family, he faces more than the usual challenges for colts who must fight their stallions or leave their herds when they are grown up. Fagan’s appealing black-and-white illustrations help readers envision this survival story. Sky’s adventures include forced service with the Pony Express; being befriended by an enslaved Paiute boy; escaping to find his now-captured band; and helping them escape the silver miners who’d destroyed their world. Animal lovers will applaud his ingenuity and stubbornness. Although Sky’s band has suffered serious injuries (his mother is blind), he and Storm, a mare who was his childhood companion, lead them toward safety in a new wilderness. The writer’s admiration for these wild horses and her concerns about human destruction of their environment come through even more clearly in a series of concluding expository essays discussing the wild horses, the Indigenous Americans, the natural history of the Great Basin, silver mining, and the Pony Express.
A feel-good tale of a clever and determined stallion set against a well-developed landscape. (author’s note, resources) (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023
ISBN: 9780062995957
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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