Earnest animal fantasy with exceptionally designed illustrations but uncomfortably set in a time and place undeserving of a...
A timid mouse goes on an inadvertent journey.
Cornered by a house cat, Celeste (A Nest for Celeste, 2010) spends the night nestled in a wagon laden with cotton. In the morning, the wagon departs with Celeste aboard, and her home disappears behind her. Her voyage is episodic, featuring new friends, myriad hiding places (a sewing box; a barrel of cornmeal), and dangers (a steamboat that sinks, fur trappers, a season that gets cold). The shy little rodent travels up the Mississippi River from “a long way south,” landing someplace with “brilliant fall colors and icicles and snowdrifts.” Other animals protect her, and then she’s adopted by a white boy named Abe (Lincoln, the author’s note confirms), who’s portrayed almost romantically as particularly kind, thoughtful, and hungry for education. Descriptions of nature are lush; Cole’s black-and-white pencil drawings touch almost every spread, soft and gentle, evocative, sometimes covering entire pages. Unfortunately, the piece ignores an underlying ugliness: in the early 1800s in Mississippi, Celeste’s cozy, “safe” original home—a plantation—almost certainly would have been a site of slavery, and the story’s only obviously black human—a friendly cook on the steamboat—might have been enslaved.
Earnest animal fantasy with exceptionally designed illustrations but uncomfortably set in a time and place undeserving of a rosy glow. (author’s note) (Animal fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-265812-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Disconcerting and possibly deadly dealings are afoot; certain to charm younger fans of the macabre.
In the latest installment of the delightfully disturbing chapter-book series, the mundane once more takes on supernatural qualities, this time in the form of veggies.
With this follow-up to Troubling Tonsils! (2025), our host, Jasper Rabbit, once more channels Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. As Jasper narrates, we meet our heroes: fourth graders Thaddeus Badger and Oliver Possum, who love nothing more than eating junk food, particularly the hamburgers at Hurt-A-Burger (a mildly brilliant corporate name on the author’s part). When Oliver’s parents trick the two into a dinner of salads at their favorite fast-food joint, Thaddeus feels betrayed, but Oliver experiences something a little more dire. Soon after, Oliver starts acting strangely, and his parents begin behaving even more oddly. What’s going on? And does it have anything to do with the full moon? Tone is the true star of the show in this series; the mystery unspools thanks to the buildup of unnerving moments. Reynolds combines suspense with a keen ability to artistically frame both sunny innocent sequences and those rich with dark foreboding. Notably, this is no morality tale about eating your vegetables—this tale is fully on the side of its child readers. Brown’s black-and-white images, punctuated with eerie pops of green, heighten both horrifying and comedic moments.
Disconcerting and possibly deadly dealings are afoot; certain to charm younger fans of the macabre. (Chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781665961110
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
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