A rollicking, charming historical thriller
Set in Scotland and northern England, BBC journalist Kerr’s middle-grade debut is based on the true story of a marketing stunt in 1872, when an elephant called Maharajah was ridden from Edinburgh to Manchester.
When brown-skinned orphan Danny, a mute, mixed-race street urchin, is dispatched to an Edinburgh auction by a criminal gang leader, he accidentally helps Mr. Jameson, owner of the Belle Vue menagerie, buy Maharajah. Maharajah is owned by a rival traveling circus that is closing down. When Jameson accepts an impossible wager—to walk Maharajah from Edinburgh to Manchester in less than seven days, or lose everything—he offers Danny the job of doing so, as he observes that Danny and Maharajah seem to immediately have a special connection. He transforms Danny into a bejeweled “Indian prince,” or Prince Dandip. As he rides Maharajah from Scotland to England, even Queen Victoria takes an interest. Danny becomes a celebrity, but his past entanglements, including a notorious gang leader, are following, desperate to ruin him. Given that the novel is based on true events, readers may know Danny and Maharajah do reach Manchester (a skeleton of the real Maharajah is on display in Manchester Museum). Yet Kerr provides ample historical detail and fictional twists to keep readers engaged to the end. Her measured third-person narrative develops Danny and the secondary cast with affection and nuance, Danny’s consciousness of his difference and the slights he suffers because of it ever present.
A rollicking, charming historical thriller . (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18843-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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
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