A fun and galvanizing series-starter starring a classic character for fans new and old.
Speed Racer and his crew are on the trail of a suspicious new race entry and face a candy conundrum in Franco's middle-grade graphic novel.
Speed Racer has just won another exciting race, but instead of the press flocking to interview him, they’re chasing down Nole Sauvor, one of the richest men in the world, who’s just appeared on the track to announce his newest product: the Cyber Speedster. The mysterious Racer X has been picked to drive the Cyber Speedster in a special, private race. When Nole offers to let Speed in on the contest, he’s not about to turn him down—it’s a chance to show off his Mach 5 car, to race against Racer X, and to get more brand deals that could help his family keep their motor shop open. But Racer X warns Speed away from the event (“I can’t go into why”), and even Speed’s friend Trixie tells him she’s getting bad vibes from the situation (and from Nole’s behavior). If that wasn’t enough to contend with, Speed’s younger brother, Spritle, is up to hijinks of his own, breaking into Nole’s office in search of the candy that’s made the entrepreneur his fortune. It’s not just candy he finds; Nole has many more secrets locked up in his vault—including a monster. Something suspicious is going on with the Cyber Speedster, the race, and the monster behind the scenes; can Speed secure a victory, solve the mystery, and keep his family’s shop open? In this middle-grade graphic novel, the much-beloved character Speed Racer gets a fresh series start. New readers will find a solid introduction to the character and his team, and longtime fans will not be overloaded with information they already know. The illustrations are rendered in the classic colors—plenty of red, white, and blue—and all the characters are distinct and easy to tell apart. Spritle’s subplot adds an extra layer of Scooby-Doo–level humor to the excitement of Speed’s races.
A fun and galvanizing series-starter starring a classic character for fans new and old.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781545823781
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios/Papercutz
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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