WILF THE MIGHTY WORRIER BATTLES A PIRATE

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WILF THE MIGHTY WORRIER BATTLES A PIRATE

Name: WILF THE MIGHTY WORRIER BATTLES A PIRATE
Author: Georgia Pritchett
ISBN: 978-1-68144-320-1

From the Wilf the Mighty Worrier series , Vol. 2

by Georgia Pritchett ; illustrated by Jamie Littler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2016

Wilf’s determined efforts to confront and overcome his fears add a bit of subtext, but the series is already treading water...

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Once again wimpy Wilf has to overcome some of his many phobias to save the planet from the “biddly boddly baddest most evil man in the whole wide worlderoony.”

In this sequel to Wilf the Mighty Worrier Saves the World (2015), the “biddly boddly…” etc., aka next-door neighbor Alan, has built a pirate ship in his backyard. Now, styling himself Long John Alan, he has set sail to: a) find buried treasure; b) attack passing ships, and; c) destroy the Earth with a “Big Gun Thingy” made from a submarine with the ends lopped off. As his crew consists of a snotty parrot, a dog, a drunken robot, some pirates more interested in crafts than crime, Wilf, and Wilf’s baby sister, it’s left to Wilf to do most of the work—however terrified he may be of heights, walking the plank, squid, fish sucking his toes, and other hazards of the sea. Being a narrator both intrusive and temperamental, Pritchett folds in several false starts and endings to the “kerfuffle” as well as snarky comments. Littler adds lots of cartoon drawings of Wilf and his visualized worries, of Alan leering or glaring, and of the ship’s other passengers flitting about. All the human figures are white.

Wilf’s determined efforts to confront and overcome his fears add a bit of subtext, but the series is already treading water in its second episode. (Farce. 9-11)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-68144-320-1

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Mobius

Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WILF THE MIGHTY WORRIER SAVES THE WORLD
by Georgia Pritchett ; illustrated by Jamie Littler

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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

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At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.

Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the first week in August when this takes place to "the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning") help to justify the extravagant early assertion that had the secret about to be revealed been known at the time of the action, the very earth "would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin." (Fantasy. 9-11)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975

ISBN: 0312369816

Page Count: 164

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MOON OVER HIGH STREET
by Natalie Babbitt

- BOOK REVIEW
JACK PLANK TELLS TALES
by Natalie Babbitt

- BOOK REVIEW
PEACOCK
by Valerie Worth & illustrated by Natalie Babbitt

- SEEN & HEARD
Alexis Bledel To Read ‘Tuck Everlasting’ Audiobook

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DIARY OF A WIMPY KID

A NOVEL IN CARTOONS

From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 1

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2007

Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.

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First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.

Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.

Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)