A dreamy, magical adventure harking back to the stories of an earlier era.
A young girl and her pixielike friends find danger and idyll in this sequel.
Suzy, nearly 13 years old, lives with her Nan and Grandad in Capel-le Ferne, a village perched atop the White Cliffs of Dover. Suzy is friends with the Paxteys, winged fairylike beings who inhabit a nearby cliffside warren and take care of the natural world. Sometimes Paxteys and humans can form a special bond—a symbiosis of sorts—and can hear one another’s thoughts. This has happened with Suzy and the Paxtey Scratch, her special friend, who is still recovering from the tribulations of Ralph’s previous volume, Voices in the Mist (2013). In that story, the loathsome Ogystone captured lots of Paxteys and held them prisoner. Thanks to Suzy and Scratch, those Paxteys were rescued. Ogystone was thought to have “puffed out” (died), but he is back. He has taken over the body of an osprey, mutating it beyond recognition and corrupting several nests of young ospreys to act as his henchmen. Ogystone’s one driving thought is to take vengeance on the Paxteys. Can Suzy, Scratch, and the others defeat him again? This middle-grade book is very much a continuation, and though the author writes with new readers in mind, there are still some elements (Little House, for instance) that pass wholly without account, leading to a measure of disorientation. Suzy is a throwback character, evoking the bygone days of early- to mid-20th-century children’s fiction, including tales by E. Nesbit and Enid Blyton. Suzy is innocent and loving and rather saccharine in her interactions. She is often overcome with emotion. While her lack of foibles may not be to everyone’s taste, one consequence of her sweet disposition is that the story takes on even more of a wistful, halcyon feel. The Paxteys are delightful creatures. Ogystone is the very essence of a frightful villain. The dialogue is slightly stylized—again, evincing the formality of yesteryear. The plot, though simple in both execution and resolution, moves along nicely and will keep young readers beguiled. The book contains a handful of black-and-white pencil drawings by Macklin that sufficiently depict the main Paxtey characters.
A dreamy, magical adventure harking back to the stories of an earlier era.Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-72839-211-0
Page Count: 170
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
