Relentless action will either entertain or overwhelm readers.
History, steampunk, and fantasy abound in the third installment of the Section 13 series.
Readers new to it would fare best by starting with The Lost Property Office (2016) and The Fourth Ruby (2017). Protagonist Jack is reeling, with his father in a coma and himself on trial, accused by the villainous Undersecretary for Things Unknown at the Ministry of Secrets, Ignatius Gall. Gall claims Jack is in violation of Section Eight, “the mixing of tracker bloodlines,” and demands that he be “destroyed” and the Ministry of Trackers disbanded. While the trial is adjourned, Jack still struggles to control both his “sparks,” the memories he sees trapped in objects, and his new skill of conjuring fire. Accompanied by companion Gwen, he decides to seek the “zed,” an artifact that could possibly cure Jack’s father. Eventually their search leads them to China and the hope that they may thwart Gall’s quest for immortality. The packed plot has a quick pace, but that results in quick resolutions and a lack of suspense. Gwen is white, and there’s nothing made of white-presenting Jack’s iota of Mongolian heritage, revealed in the previous book. There is diversity in secondary characters, and the second half of the story takes place in China, and here the book falters culturally. Hannibal stretches Chinese history with Jack’s claim that the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, became a “raving lunatic,” and, regrettably, the most prominent Asian character, the biracial (Asian/white) Liu Fai, is a math champion.
Relentless action will either entertain or overwhelm readers. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6715-5
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
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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