Fresh from an encounter with ghost mastodons (Six Haunted Hairdos, 1997), Miss Earth’s fifth-grade class readily takes on a new challenge in this eccentric holiday story from Maguire. When Mayor Timothy Grass disappears, all of Hamlet, Vermont, is abuzz with rumors; in Miss Earth’s class opinion is about evenly divided between the Tattletales (girls), who think he fell into a time warp, and the Copycats (boys), who blame Bigfoot. Neutral Pearl Hotchkiss’s suggestion that he was abducted by aliens is discounted, but she’s right. Having glimpsed a Christmas movie on the visor screen before their crash landing, five aliens from planet Fixipuddle are out to free the slaves from “Santa Claw’s” workshop and end his evil domination of the world; when Mayor Grass strolls by, still in his Santa suit from a school visit, they tie him up and apply tickle torture to make him reveal the location of his Fortress of Fear (the workshop). After an unsuccessful attempt to disguise themselves as Keebler-style elves, the aliens recruit Lois Kennedy’s beagle, Reebok, to spy for them, equipping him with a universal translator that allows him to talk. Their mistake: Reebok’s a double agent. The Tattletales and Copycats accept Reebok’s story, put aside all rivalries, and spring into action, converting the classroom into a “workshop” of broken toys for the aliens to “liberate.” This clever comedy, with humor both broad and sly, has the odd combination of hilariously fractious aliens and a generous measure of Christmas cheer—but it works. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1998
ISBN: 0-395-83894-0
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
For all its dystopian setting, this satisfying trilogy closer is full of pluck
The postdiluvian Flooded Earth trilogy concludes as it began, with high-seas derring-do.
Ever since Will and Annalie’s father, Spinner, vanished at the onset of The Flooded Earth (2018), they’ve been searching for him along with their friends Essie and Pod (and of course Graham, their cybernetically enhanced talking parrot. Their dystopian world, flooded not from climate change but due to the hubris of weather-controlling scientists, is ruled by the wicked Admiralty. Spinner was studying the work of the scientists whose research created the Flood, and the Admiralty will stop at nothing to capture him—because they want to use his research to create weapons. The children must fight not only the Admiralty, but the many dangers that dot their world’s coastlines and oceans, beginning with a fight with pirates at the onset of this adventure. Along the way they rescue Pod’s young enslaved sister, cross the dangerous Outer Ocean, escape from deadly shadow whales and wild dogs, and repeatedly escape from the wicked Admiralty commander. And perhaps, they discover, not everyone in the Admiralty is wicked; once, “they were a force for good in the world.” If only the good members of the Admiralty can be convinced to see the horrors of the refugee camps, perhaps things can change. Race is unspecified, though there is some indication of whiteness among the Admiralty and the wealthy.
For all its dystopian setting, this satisfying trilogy closer is full of pluck . (Science fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77278-099-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pajama Press
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Great for those kids who’ll happily read about teddies and who enjoy genuinely scary monsters
A sweet tale of a cuddly teddy come to life…or a thrilling adventure about monster fighting?
Spark takes being Loretta’s teddy bear very seriously. At 11, Loretta will soon be too old for her teddy, though she and older brother Matthew, dedicated amateur filmmakers, create movies starring plush toys. Spark knows that being a bear is about more than childish snuggling at night, for Spark is a proud member of the League of Ursus, the society of warrior stuffed toys that since some long-ago era has protected humans from monsters. But even Spark’s bearish demeanor is barely enough to fight off the horrific monster in Loretta’s bedroom, with its massive scorpion tail and horned human head. Could the monster be connected to the disappearance of Loretta’s friend Sofia? Spark and the other neighborhood toys are unlikely heroes, but their fight is hardly adorable or safe. When a bear is nearly disemboweled by the monster, the description of trailing innards consisting of “an enormous bundle of brown thread” somehow increases the violence of the injury. As in Matthew and Loretta’s YouTube movies, a “deadly serious story acted out by ridiculous stuffed animals” is attention-grabbing. The human children are of indeterminate race. Matthew has a genetic condition that has led to mobility issues, and another child has a disability that’s mentioned in passing.
Great for those kids who’ll happily read about teddies and who enjoy genuinely scary monsters . (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68369-166-2
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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