Easy, slick and silly; it’s Saturday-morning-cartoon hijinks between the covers of a book.
Hiding out’s easy; forcing 150 pounds of former guard dog to hide out—not so much.
Thirteen-year-old "Man With The Plan" Griffin Bing and his five friends are celebrating the fifth birthday of Savannah's rescued Doberman, Luthor, when S. Wendell Palomino, or "Swindle," as they came to know him during their first adventure, arrives to say he is suing to get Luthor back. The kids know it's because Swindle heard that Luthor nearly won a ton of money at a recent dog show. When the dog pound fails to produce Luthor’s release-for-adoption paperwork, Swindle wins him back. Rather than surrender her beloved fur-friend, Savannah prevails on the group to help her hide him...but all of them are headed to different summer camps in a few days. Griffin must devise his most complex plan to date, and when that goes south (as most of his plans do), it’s on to yet another scheme, since Swindle’s promised to use his dog-show winnings to make the kids' lives miserable forever. Korman's fifth caper is wholly unbelievable from start to finish but a ton of fun nonetheless. Kids will be too busy laughing at the antics of Griffin and his pals to mind their implausibility.
Easy, slick and silly; it’s Saturday-morning-cartoon hijinks between the covers of a book. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-44866-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
This quiet, heartfelt story will stay with readers long after the tide goes out.
What begins as an octopus rescue mission becomes a summer of life-changing friendship and self-discovery.
Max is tired of being Little Max, always in the shadow of Big Max, his glad-handing, big-shot city council member father. He’s ready for a fresh start, spending the summer with his mom on her graduate school research trip. They’re headed to a place on the Gulf Coast of Texas called Lafitte Island, which for Max feels full of possibility. During his first exploration of the island, Max comes across a beached octopus on the shore, barely alive. His quick thinking and empathetic determination set the course for his entire summer. Max enlists Emmett, a YouTuber with a channel called “Stuff I Found on the Beach,” for help with octopus transport. Emmett leads him to Ollie Mae and her family, who run a vet clinic on the island. But Max’s bond with his octopus—whom Ollie Mae names Ursula after the sea witch from The Little Mermaid—becomes the most transformative part of his summer. As he cares for Ursula at the clinic, he also figures out how to care for himself—learning to speak up, be himself, and let go. Full of heart, a dash of science, and plenty of octopus antics, this story is a tender, bittersweet reminder that growth can come from the most unexpected of places. Primary characters present white.
This quiet, heartfelt story will stay with readers long after the tide goes out. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593898390
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
Reflective children will revel in this thought-provoking world.
The journey to find a child becomes an existential quest for an abandoned teddy bear.
Buddy is not just any stuffed bear, but a blue Furrington Teddy with a Real Silk Heart. So why did he wake up in a landfill with other Furringtons of varying hues? A more pressing matter, however, is escaping Trashland and its murderous gulls and bulldozers. Yearning to connect with a child and achieve a state of peaceful Forever Sleep, Buddy and his new friends of differing temperaments and gifts set out on a harrowing journey through the city to find children who will want them. As they encounter other Furringtons in disarray, this opener in The Teddies Saga series becomes a mystery about why these teddies are being harmed in the first place. While the visceral narrative follows the teddy troupe’s adventurous challenges and survival, its focus is on Buddy’s inner struggles as he ponders identity, leadership, and other existential dilemmas. Kraus doesn’t shy away from anger, fear, death, and other dark subjects; instead they become opportunities for growth in difficult environments. Cai’s intense, slightly nightmarish grayscale illustrations add immeasurably to the text. Reminiscent of Watership Down in theme and structure, the novel’s intermittent teddy creation stories also become parables of a moral code and extend the epic story arc. A cliffhanger ending sets the scene for the next installment.
Reflective children will revel in this thought-provoking world. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-22440-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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