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THE PROMISE

Name: THE PROMISE
Author: Hank Ellis

DISCOVERING THEIR GIFTS

by Hank Ellis ; illustrated by Joseph Szarek ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

While it offers elements of a superb adventure, this tale becomes overstuffed with inessentials.

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Two brothers discover more about using the spectacular abilities they have developed in this middle-grade sequel.

In Ellis’ (The Promise: A Perilous Journey, 2017) series opener, Peter Wilson, 12, and his brother, David, 10, encountered Eli, one of a fellowship of enigmatic “caretakers” devoted to protecting Earth for “the Maker of the universe.” Also mysterious were certain artifacts, such as a great room with a "window-in-time" and a 12-foot-tall globe of colored glass panels. Now apprentice caretakers, the boys continue to learn about their responsibilities and develop their gifts of telepathy, time travel, invisibility, healing, flight, and more. They’re educated about science and natural history, but some lessons are experiential, such as taking a bullet ant test—which can cause hallucinations—in the Amazon jungle. Throughout the book, the brothers learn about humanitarian concerns related to vulnerable people, animals, and ecosystems. They make friends and perform rescues, putting their values into place at home, at school, and across the globe. By the end, the brothers commit themselves to becoming caretakers and look forward to solving more mysteries. Readers unfamiliar with the first book in the series will be confused if they begin with this second novel, which offers no précis of previous escapades, although several maps do help with orientation. The tale has a timely environmental message made more exciting by the theme of developing special powers. But the story is too often saddled with dry information uploads: “A rhinoceros is an animal in the Chordata phylum. An ant is also an animal, but it is in the Arthropoda phylum.” Also burdensome are granular discussions of things that have no bearing on the plot, such as the caretakers’ food-storage arrangements: “Eggs, fresh juices and milk were separated into a special cupboard...while meats and ice cream were kept frozen in a third cupboard.” The black-and-white pencil images by debut illustrator Szarek have charm, although they’re more skillful in depicting animals than people.

While it offers elements of a superb adventure, this tale becomes overstuffed with inessentials.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Manuscript

Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2020

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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WRECKING BALL

From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 14

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.

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The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.

When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Amulet/Abrams

Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019

Categories:

GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S CHRISTMAS

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2014

Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...

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The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.

The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.

Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)