With the emphasis on mystery and action rather than history, à la Magic Tree House, this new chapter-book series will appeal...
In this series opener, Cleo and Evan find themselves transported back in time to Victorian England to solve the crime of a stolen diamond.
In investigating the odd behavior of their new school librarian, Ms. Crowley, schoolmates Cleo and Evan discover a secret underground library. Lying on the table is an ornate book called The Case of the Mysterious Moonstone, with a key sticking out of its open, diarylike lock. They also find a note from their previous librarian, the beloved Ms. Hilliard, telling them, “If you have found this note, I am trapped somewhere between the covers of these enchanted books.” Opening the book, they suddenly find themselves in 19th-century London, where they realize they must help the bumbling young detective Artie Baker solve the case of a stolen diamond. Although the text has no physical descriptions of the young friends, the illustrations show Evan as black and Cleo as white. The mystery is set up much like a classic Agatha Christie (or a game of Clue): the suspects are all at the home of Col. Musgrave, and they must be questioned quickly. One of the suspects is Kumar, the bearded, turbaned butler; he speaks perfect English, but the illustration smacks of 19th-century exoticism.
With the emphasis on mystery and action rather than history, à la Magic Tree House, this new chapter-book series will appeal to junior detectives. (Mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: April 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-82205-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This fractured fairy tale features a hip contemporary voice but relies too heavily on relayed history. Opening with a line that captures both context and fabulously sardonic attitude—“Once upon a time, Jack wouldn’t have been caught dead in a princess rescue”—Riley quickly establishes his protagonists: Jack, pragmatic but mopey, waiting for any chance to rescue a princess, and May, sporting blue-streaked hair, a cell phone and a Punk Princess T-shirt, who has dropped in from another realm. Jack assumes that May’s a princess; May knows only that her grandmother was kidnapped. They set out to rescue grandma, picking up an elegant prince who annoys Jack by being competent. May’s voice is more often feistily modern (“Then you went and got eaten! What’s that about!?”) than stilted (she describes grandma as “[s]o full of life”), but she's positioned within the narrative mainly to be fought over and protected. Unfortunately, plot twists and revelations all derive their meaning from past events in Jack’s world, forcing the text to be so expository that emotional investment never quite catches up. (Fantasy. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-9593-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
Adventures and misadventures, Old West style—but with dinos.
Young Josh needs to up his ride if he’s going to win the Trihorn settlement’s 100th-anniversary Founders’ Day race and meet his hero, Terrordactyl Bill.
Set on the Lost Plains, where ranchers tend to herds of iguanodons, and horses (if there were any) would be easy pickings for the local predators, this series kickoff pits a brash lad and sidekick and schoolmates Sam and Abi against not only the requisite bully, but such fiercer adversaries as attacking pterodactyls. Josh’s first challenge after eagerly entering the race is finding a faster, nimbler steed than his steady but old gallimimus, Plodder. Along comes Charge—an aptly named, if not-quite-fully-trained triceratops with speed, brains, and, it turns out, a streak of loyalty that saves Josh’s bacon both here and in a simultaneously publishing sequel, How To Rope a Giganotosaurus, which prominently features T. Rex’s much larger cousin. Dare adds a map, as well as spot illustrations of rural Western types (Josh and Abi are white, Sam has dark skin and tightly curled hair) astride toothy, brightly patterned dinos. In both adventures Josh weathers regular encounters with dinosaur dung, snot, and gas as well as threats to life and limb to show up the aforementioned bully and emerge a hero.
Adventures and misadventures, Old West style—but with dinos. (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4668-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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