After successfully delivering a pizza to himself in The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza (2014), the Glorkian Warrior and...
Silliness reigns supreme as the Glorkian Warrior finds himself on another goofy illustrated adventure that revolves around food and fart jokes.
After successfully delivering a pizza to himself in The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza (2014), the Glorkian Warrior and his trusty, sunshine-hued companion, Super Backpack, are back, battling a pie-factory–destroying, candy-colored space snake only to be beaten to the kill by a rival warrior, the daffily nefarious Buster Glark, who has a freeze-ray–shooting backpack. The Glorkian Warrior returns home to lick his wounds, rearrange his furniture and recharge Backpack. There, they are greeted by Gonk, a salmon-colored minidoppelganger of the Glorkian Warrior, and the lime-green Baby Alien. When the group finally realizes that the Baby Alien has been sucking out the Warrior's brains (readers will be way ahead of them, thanks to the “suck suck” sound effects), they must help revive him with energy crackers—which are promptly stolen by Buster Glark. Madcap whimsy runs rampant, and jokes about nothing, everything and flatulence abound against a vibrantly colored backdrop that would make even Willy Wonka's eyes hurt. Kochalka's intensely zippy and quirky humor never misses a beat and rolls fluidly from one wisecrack to another; maybe this isn't everyone's brand of comedy, but for those readers who enjoy silly for silly's sake, this will surely delight.Pub Date: March 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62672-133-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit.
Eleven-year-old Maria Russo helps her charlatan mother hoodwink customers, but Maria has a spirited secret.
Maria’s mother, the psychic Madame Destine, cons widows out of their valuables with the assistance of their apartment building’s super, Mr. Fox. Madame Destine home-schools Maria, and because Destine is afraid of unwanted attention, she forbids Maria from talking to others. Maria is allowed to go to the library, where new librarian Ms. Madigan takes an interest in Maria that may cause her trouble. Meanwhile, Sebastian, Maria’s new upstairs neighbor, would like to be friends. All this interaction makes it hard for Maria to keep her secret: that she is visited by Edward, a spirit who tells her the actual secrets of Madame Destine’s clients via spirit writing. When Edward urges Maria to help Mrs. Fisher, Madame Destine’s most recent mark, Maria must overcome her shyness and her fear of her mother—helping Mrs. Fisher may be the key to the mysterious past Maria uncovers and a brighter future. Alas, picture-book–creator Ford’s middle-grade debut is a muddled, melodramatic mystery with something of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feel: In addition to the premise, there’s a tragically dead father, a mysterious family tree, and the Beat poets. Sluggish pacing; stilted, unrealistic dialogue; cartoonishly stock characters; and unattractive, flat illustrations make this one to miss. Maria and Sebastian are both depicted with brown skin, hers lighter than his; the other principals appear to be white.
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit. (author’s note) (Paranormal mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20567-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series.
When Dr. Bunsen, Gabe, Laura, and Cesar's mad-scientist neighbor, tries out his growth machine on Gabe's plastic animal toys, there's an unexpected result—they come to life.
Second-grade whiz kids Gabriel Martinez, Laura Reyes, and Cesar Moreno meet their strange neighbor while fundraising for a science-club field trip. Known to their classmates as “the Data Set,” they each have individual passions: Gabe loves animals; Laura loves to tinker and invent; Cesar loves to read and eat. There’s room for all these activities in their well-equipped treehouse. Together, their fantastic adventures will be the stuff of four titles scheduled for 2016 and aimed directly at first- and second-graders already devouring books. This episode introduces the characters, sets up the problem (the cute but rapidly growing baby animals), and finds a solution (sneak them into the zoo) in 126 fast-paced pages written with plenty of dialogue and copiously illustrated with appealing drawings. With these Latino protagonists—Cesar has dark skin and curly hair, while Laura and Gabe have lighter skin and straight hair—and a STEM-infused plot, this would seem to have been made to order for today’s elementary school students. While the emphasis is far more on plot than STEM, the kid-friendly fantasy should captivate readers, who will certainly want to gobble up the next installment. (Tantalizingly, the opening pages are included.)
First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series. (Adventure. 5-8)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5729-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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