“Go to Work with a Parent” Day proves an eye-opening experience for a journalist’s fact-loving son in this distinctively illustrated venture from the creators of Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice (2007). Hayward’s contemptuous conviction that his Dad works for a total rag takes increasingly hard hits after his parent is pulled off a Flying Spaghetti Monster assignment to cover a hatching dinosaur egg at the museum, then a report of a ten-foot-tall chicken dashing across Times Square and finally a giant cup-and-saucer that lands in Central Park to disgorge a huge robot octopus. Thanks to a found bottle of super solvent that dissolves the monster into a puddle of "nutritious green liquid," Hayward saves New York and earns a screaming headline (see title). Sepia-toned with highlights in pale green and yellow, Asch fils’s full-spread multilayered collages of heavily reworked photos and photorealistic elements hark back to the better-budgeted monster flicks of yestercentury and feature a cab-driving werewolf and a photographer who looks like Elvis, among other cameos. A pleaser for fans of Adam Rex’s Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich (2006) and like cineastic fare. (Picture book. 7-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55453-281-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
Despite missteps, this satisfying follow-up will leave readers hoping for more magical adventures with lovable Jax and...
Jaxon and his friends deal with the fallout from the theft of one of the baby dragons in his charge.
As this sequel to Dragons in a Bag (2018) opens, Kavita, the titular dragon thief, introduces elderly Aunty to stolen baby dragon Mo. Thankfully, Aunty knows someone in Queens who can help return Mo to the realm of magic. Meanwhile, and in alternating first-person chapters, Jax is trying to find Kavi and Mo, as Mo’s siblings have grown ill as a result of the separation, as has Ma, Jax’s magical mentor and grandmother figure. Jax again teams up with his best friend and Kavi’s older brother, Vik. A third is added to their crew with “huge” Kenny, “the biggest kid in [their] class.” (Unfortunately, much is made of Kenny’s size, which feels gratuitous and unkind.) Eventually the trio finds Kavi, Aunty, and Mo, who’ve been abducted by a magical con artist. All’s well that ends well when Sis, the powerful guardian of the magic realm, shows up, but readers may wonder why the narrative decides to grapple with her choice not to intervene in injustice in our world. Her argument that human-caused problems are for humans to solve feels undeveloped, especially in the face of a massive injustice like the trans-Atlantic slave trade (mentioned during the climax and at no other point). Jax is black; Vik, Kavi, and Aunty are Indian American (though Aunty has African ancestry as well); and Kenny is white. The rest of the cast is diverse as well.
Despite missteps, this satisfying follow-up will leave readers hoping for more magical adventures with lovable Jax and company. (Urban fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7049-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
Joyful and funny.
Three friends fight an evil developer who wants to tear down the magical library.
What should this trio of friends do during summer vacation? Outdoorsy Kit, a White girl, despairs of her friends, Alita and Josh, both kids of color, she really does. Why do they want to read when they could go to the cemetery and get muddy instead? But in the library, Kit discovers an ability: When she touches certain books, she travels to a magical place. Faith, the Black head librarian, her hair in locs, explains with some surprise that Kit is a wizard. It’s a puzzler, Faith tells her, because wizardry doesn’t typically show up until someone turns 18, and Kit is only 10. Faith wants Kit to keep her wizardry a secret, but good luck keeping the knowledge from Alita and Josh, who eavesdrop. So the friends tag along while Kit learns magic (a significant component of which seems to be librarianship), gains a wizard cloak, and befriends Dogon, the half-dog, half-dragon who lives in the magical library forest. With Josh’s and Alita’s attention to detail and Kit’s natural magic, maybe they’ll be able to defeat Mr. Salt, the pink-faced CEO who plans to tear down the library—if impulsive Kit learns to channel her inner chaos and trust her friends. Playful illustrations complement the witty dialogue, dryly ironic narrative voice, and comical villainy.
Joyful and funny. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1493-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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