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BROWN

Name: BROWN
Author: Håkon Øvreås
ISBN: 978-1-59270-212-1

From the My Alter Ego Is a Superhero series

by Håkon Øvreås ; illustrated by Øyvind Torseter ; translated by Kari Dickson ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 4, 2019

Chucklebait for Wimpy Kid fans.

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Bullies spur a lad and two new friends to dress up as secret superheroes in this trilogy opener from Norway.

Encouraged by the spectral figure of his just-deceased grandpa, Rusty sets out for payback after three punks—identified throughout as “Anton, Ruben, and the minister’s son”—wreck the clubhouse he and his friend Jack have laboriously constructed from scrap. As “Brown,” dressed in a brown cape and mask, he sneaks out into the night to slap brown paint on Ruben’s bicycle. Shortly after Rusty tells Jack about the feat, another masked marauder, “Black,” repaints Anton’s bike. Joined by a third confidante, styling herself “Blue, or the Blue Avenger,” the trio sets out on one more nocturnal mission…only to discover that most of the stash of blue paint has disappeared. Still, there’s enough to repaint the bikes of all three foes blue. The next day Rusty, overcome by guilt, is on the verge of confessing…when he learns that his nemeses are now in deep doo-doo for several acts of mischief, notably splashing the local church’s spire with blue “rude words.” Off the hook! Small, fine-lined ink drawings with color highlights on nearly every page supply this tongue-in-cheek escapade with evocative vignettes depicting Rusty’s flights of fancy, quizzical-looking parents and other grown-ups, and masked prowlers in homemade outfits. The cast defaults to white.

Chucklebait for Wimpy Kid fans. (Fiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: June 4, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-59270-212-1

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
BLACK
by Håkon Øvreås ; illustrated by Øyvind Torseter ; translated by Kari Dickson

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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

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At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.

Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the first week in August when this takes place to "the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning") help to justify the extravagant early assertion that had the secret about to be revealed been known at the time of the action, the very earth "would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin." (Fantasy. 9-11)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975

ISBN: 0312369816

Page Count: 164

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MOON OVER HIGH STREET
by Natalie Babbitt

- BOOK REVIEW
JACK PLANK TELLS TALES
by Natalie Babbitt

- BOOK REVIEW
PEACOCK
by Valerie Worth & illustrated by Natalie Babbitt

- SEEN & HEARD
Alexis Bledel To Read ‘Tuck Everlasting’ Audiobook

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DIARY OF A WIMPY KID

A NOVEL IN CARTOONS

From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 1

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2007

Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.

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First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.

Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.

Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)