A classic space adventure that rewards readers with a rousing journey through the cosmos.
In this love letter to the space opera genre, a daring young girl embarks on a quest to save those she loves.
In the distant future, in a distant solar system, 11-year-old Jonesy Archer has been eking out a life after surviving a pirate attack on her space station three years prior. She and the rest of the survivors, (all children of varying ages) scavenge what they can from the remnants of Canary Station while waiting for rescue. But when Jonesy accidentally discovers she has a strange power, the Gray Legion—a malevolent entity seeking to rid the galaxy of such powers—arrives at the station, taking her friends captive and leaving Jonesy stranded. This catapults Jonesy into an adventure across the galaxy, where she searches for answers, develops her abilities, and reunites with those she has lost. The novel treats its young audience with respect, assuming they can grapple with broad themes of war, violence, and danger without graphically depicting them on the page. Though the middle third of the book loses some steam in terms of pacing, Jonesy’s odyssey is mostly packed with action and fun, offering some solid and unpredictable twists along the way. Jonesy and her family are White. There is some racial diversity among her supporting cast of characters.
A classic space adventure that rewards readers with a rousing journey through the cosmos. (discussion questions) (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4549-3835-4
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey.
Separated from his pack, Swift, a young wolf, embarks on a perilous search for a new home.
Swift’s mother impresses on him early that his “pack belongs to the mountains and the mountains belong to the pack.” His father teaches him to hunt elk, avoid skunks and porcupines, revere the life that gives them life, and “carry on” when their pack is devastated in an attack by enemy wolves. Alone and grieving, Swift reluctantly leaves his mountain home. Crossing into unfamiliar territory, he’s injured and nearly dies, but the need to run, hunt, and live drives him on. Following a routine of “walk-trot-eat-rest,” Swift traverses prairies, canyons, and deserts, encountering men with rifles, hunger, thirst, highways, wild horses, a cougar, and a forest fire. Never imagining the “world could be so big or that I could be so alone in it,” Swift renames himself Wander as he reaches new mountains and finds a new home. Rife with details of the myriad scents, sounds, tastes, touches, and sights in Swift/Wander’s primal existence, the immediacy of his intimate, first-person, present-tense narration proves deeply moving, especially his longing for companionship. Realistic black-and-white illustrations trace key events in this unique survival story, and extensive backmatter fills in further factual information about wolves and their habitat.
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey. (additional resources, map) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-289593-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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