Genetically engineered chicken eggs provide the narrative motor for this, the fifth, entry in the “Hamlet Chronicles,” as Miss Earth’s fifth-grade class lurches into spring. The eggs in question, stolen by an activist group from a lab outside of Boston, arrive in town on the same day as Thaddeus “Thud” Tweed, a student who challenges even the saintly Miss Earth’s sense of equilibrium. “I’ve tried every kind of schooling for Thaddeus except prison,” his mother tells Miss Earth, “and I’d try that if he were old enough to qualify.” Thud rapidly upsets the delicate balance of power between the Copycats and the Tattletales, founding the Three Rotten Eggs with Salim Bannerjee and Lois Kennedy III, disaffected former members of the established clubs, when they discover three mysterious eggs during Hamlet’s annual Spring Egg Hunt. Tongue stuffed firmly in cheek, Maguire (Four Stupid Cupids, 2000, etc.) deftly weaves together the strands of his story, from the hapless Professor Einfinger’s odyssey through small-town Vermont to recover the eggs, to the hatching of the extraordinary chicks (christened “Flameburpers A, B, and C”), to a benefit concert given by the legendary Petunia Whiner (“Baby Needs Burping”), and on to the slow emergence of Thud’s better self as well as Salim’s and Lois’s explorations of the nature of friendship. The tone throughout is characteristically deadpan, the humor thoroughly sophisticated; after five installments one might think the formula would wear thin, but, the title notwithstanding, this offering maintains a quirky freshness that fans and new readers alike will welcome. (Fiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: March 18, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-09655-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
Despite the exciting premise, an unexceptional SF mystery.
Based on the serialized mystery podcast of the same name, this novel follows the adventures of 11-year-old Manu “Mars” Patel and his buddies as they attempt to find Aurora Gershowitz and Jonas Hopkins, two of their missing friends.
When Aurora inexplicably is incommunicado for five days, Mars worries that something is amiss. But when Jonas does not return from an emergency trip to the restroom, Mars and his pals (and fellow delinquents)—the strong JP McGowan, the extremely smart Randall “Toothpick” Lee, and the psychic Caddie Pratchett—realize that they’re the only ones who are willing to admit that children in the Puget Sound area are going missing. As they pursue the mystery, the friends figure out that children have actually been going missing from around the world, and they begin to suspect brilliant billionaire Oliver Pruitt (who is vaguely reminiscent of Elon Musk) is the culprit. Transcripts from Pruitt’s podcast are interspersed throughout the text, offering clues to ardent listener Mars. Better-developed characters and a tighter narrative—especially in the first half of the novel—would have made for a more memorable and gripping read, especially given the intriguing plot points. The cliffhanger ending might result in fans anxiously awaiting what comes next. Some characters’ identities bring diversity to the cast—Mars is Indian; nonbinary JP uses the pronouns they/them.
Despite the exciting premise, an unexceptional SF mystery. (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0956-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers will need to strap on their helmets and prepare for a wild ride.
Disaster overtakes a group of sixth graders on a leadership-building white-water rafting trip.
Deep in the Montana wilderness, a dam breaks, and the resultant rush sweeps away both counselors, the rafts, and nearly all the supplies, leaving five disparate preteens stranded in the wilderness far from where they were expected to be. Narrator Daniel is a mild White kid who’s resourceful and good at keeping the peace but given to worrying over his mentally ill father. Deke, also White, is a determined bully, unwilling to work with and relentlessly taunting the others, especially Mia, a Latina, who is a natural leader with a plan. Tony, another White boy, is something of a friendly follower and, unfortunately, attaches himself to Deke while Imani, a reserved African American girl, initially keeps her distance. After the disaster, Deke steals the backpack with the remaining food and runs off with Tony, and the other three resolve to do whatever it takes to get it back, eventually having to confront the dangerous bully. The characters come from a variety of backgrounds but are fairly broadly drawn; still, their breathlessly perilous situation keeps the tale moving briskly forward, with one threatening situation after another believably confronting them. As he did with Wildfire (2019), Newbery Honoree Philbrick has crafted another action tale for young readers that’s impossible to put down.
Readers will need to strap on their helmets and prepare for a wild ride. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64727-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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