A worthwhile read about a strong girl who embraces the power of knowledge but also heeds Gran’s advice to “trust your gut.”...
Take bits from the worlds of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Nancy Drew, and set the story in New Orleans, and you’ve got this compelling tale of Evangeline.
Descended from a long line of haunt huntresses—women who aid people plagued by supernatural beings—Evangeline Clement will soon turn 13 and eagerly awaits the appearance of her animal familiar: confirmation of her destiny. Evangeline has lived with Gran, also a haunt huntress, since her mother was killed by a werewolflike rougarou when Evangeline was a tiny baby. Evangeline assists Gran with gathering herbs, mixing potions, and eradicating harmful supernatural creatures. On the current mission, Gran travels to the Midsomers’ home to save Mrs. Midsomer from transforming into a rougarou at the next full moon. Evangeline befriends Julian, the Midsomers’ son, who helps save his mother but who also exhibits characteristics that suggest he’s on the spectrum and that make him a difficult companion. Julian refuses to believe anything about why Gran and Evangeline have come…until he sees with his own eyes. Readers will enjoy learning about the magical creatures Evangeline encounters and will appreciate the challenge of foreseeing what Evangeline can’t. The closing glossary of haunts is amusing in its own right. The book adheres to the white default.
A worthwhile read about a strong girl who embraces the power of knowledge but also heeds Gran’s advice to “trust your gut.” (Supernatural mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-268034-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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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