A middle-grade debut fantasy-adventure novel about a student with a knack for getting in trouble.
After Albert Winter is reprimanded for calling his classmate, Lucy Dredgewater, a mean name and spilling water on another student’s art project, he manages to step in dog poop on the way home. He thinks he’s having a bad day, but things are about to get much worse. Soon, a mysterious voice sends him on a quest to rescue Lucy from a monster. Fortunately, he has some companions on his quest: his loyal Great Dane, Archie; and Stickman, a stick-figure drawing from the aforementioned art project. Together, they face an assortment of villains, including the stinky Squelcher and a bird of prey that bears a certain likeness to Albert’s teacher. They also meet some unlikely allies along the way, including some jelly babies and beautiful chickens that help them vanquish an army of thunder ants. They finally meet up with Lucy, who also turns out to be pretty helpful, and Albert realizes his true feelings for his classmate. The novel blends action and adventure with a healthy dose of humor. Stickman, in particular, provides a lot of comic relief, particularly with his smartphone obsession. In one funny scene, for example, he interrupts the action so that the three adventurers can pose for a selfie, which leads to the discovery of a giant tarantula just above their heads. Howick also provides flashbacks of Albert’s parents that provide some levity, including a memorable scene in which Albert’s father accidentally glues himself to a chair. Even the villains are more entertaining than threatening; as a result, the suspense isn’t likely to frighten youngsters. The book’s brief length may help draw in reluctant readers. Its clichéd conclusion, however, is a disappointment, although a surprise at the very end calls it into doubt.
A funny, exciting novel for young readers that’s likely to find many fans.
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2014
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
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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