Funny but flawed, this meandering adventure is an addition to the current crop of not-quite-superhero titles for middle...
James and Smith show how an unassuming boy can save the day: with equal parts heart and oddball jokes.
Murph is a quiet 11-year-old tired of moving from place to place with his chronically underemployed mother. There’s no room in this new town’s public schools for Murph, but a chance encounter with an unusually muscled administrator scores him a spot in a school curiously named The School. Murph soon learns that The School is only for children with Capes, or Capabilities, the modern term for superpowers. He’s allowed to stay on despite his total lack thereof, making friends with other marginalized kids including Nellie, quiet but powerful, and Mary, who flies using an umbrella. Supervillain Nektar is the absurd but menacing result of a lab accident involving wasp DNA; he is aided by his unctuous henchperson. The lengthy (300-plus pages) story is mostly carried by the goofy humor, including direct appeals to readers to shout things like “I AM THE KING OF THE PINEAPPLE PEOPLE” and other absurdist touches. The humor sometimes tips over into mean-spirited, as in the case of the motley cast of bullies depicted as ugly or fat. Brown-skinned Nellie and Asian Billy are two of the very few characters of color as depicted in Salcedo’s illustrations.
Funny but flawed, this meandering adventure is an addition to the current crop of not-quite-superhero titles for middle graders. (Adventure. 8-13)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-709-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A magic-filled treat.
A young witch needs to break a curse—or it will bring about her family’s demise.
There’s a rule that no more than three Goode witches can be in the town of Cranberry Hollow at a time without unleashing a curse. It has been 5 years since 12-year-old Adelaide Goode, a curvy, White, redheaded witch, and her mom have visited her mother’s hometown—where her estranged maternal aunt also lives. Feeling her mom is abandoning her at her grandmother’s house to go on a monthslong work trip, Addie does something that accidentally unleashes the curse, turning Addie’s bones to glass, awakening a witch hunter, and forcing her mom to stay. Set during Cranberry Hollow’s annual Halloween festival, the book follows Addie and new friend Fatima, a Pakistani American hijabi girl with a love of all things relating to monsters and the macabre, as they work together to try to reverse the spell. Featuring fast-paced action and high stakes, this novel also touches on Addie’s internal struggle as she strives to embrace her fat mother’s body positivity in a way that feels authentic to her age. Fatima is a crucial problem-solver for Addie, and though the friendship between the girls forms quickly, Fatima is bubbly and smart with her own goals and dreams, and she gets to be more than just a sidekick. The worldbuilding can be a bit rushed at times, but overall this is an enjoyable festive, autumnal adventure.
A magic-filled treat. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-80342-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Nonstop, action-packed, episodic exploits against the voracious undead.
Resourceful kids battle hordes of the walking dead.
Residents of several Northern California counties are being advised to evacuate and “flee to safety” in the wake of a zombie epidemic. Lucy Santifer and her family just make it to their car when they are attacked and killed. Nearby, Lucy’s best friend, 12-year-old Joule Artis, climbs into her treehouse, the better to seek her missing father. Elsewhere, 11-year-old Oliver Wachs is holed up in the Redwood Zombie Brigade Headquarters, stocked with weaponry and populated by dedicated zombiefighters. And Regina, 12, is haunted by her narrow zombie escapes even as her mother, Dr. Celeste Herrera, unveils Project Coloma, an ingenious system that uses a zombie treadmill situated in an abandoned gold mine to create much-needed energy for the region. Weinberger’s monster thriller is long on suspense, with several close calls but no graphic violence. The action pings briskly among the three young protagonists, and the punchy prose is suitably pitched to a preteen readership. The plot thickens with the forecast of a Rogue Wave of zombies headed to town. The trio eventually joins forces, promising further fights for freedom. If this horror thrill ride makes readers want to join the zombiefighters, note that there is a video game tie-in. Play at your own risk. Oliver reads white, Regina is cued Latina, and Joule is minimally described and racially ambiguous.
Nonstop, action-packed, episodic exploits against the voracious undead. (link to play the online game) (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781338881714
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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