by Janice Poon & illustrated by Janice Poon ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2009
Fresh from solving her last crime (Claire and the Bakery Thief, 2008), the bespectacled young sleuth is on the case again. Claire and her best friend Jet are ready to start the school year. After winning a camera in an essay contest, Jet is welcomed into the popular clique. Feeling left out, Claire befriends Sky, and the three girls end up working together on a school project. As the old axiom goes, three really is a crowd, and adolescent melodrama escalates. The fussing abates, however, when Jet goes missing. Claire and Sky stumble upon her camera and discover that she has unearthed a group of slimy polluters contaminating the lake near Sky’s house. Line-based bland grayscale illustrations do little to help a transparently sputtering plot. Simplistic panels pay scant attention to background or setting. The girls’ conflict is horribly banal; coupled with the flimsy mystery and the uninspired art, it makes this a hard sell to even the most dedicated female reader. (craft instructions) (Graphic novel. 9-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-55453-381-7
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2009
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More by Janice Poon
BOOK REVIEW
by Janice Poon & illustrated by Janice Poon
by Dav Pilkey & illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 2012
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 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More In The Series
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey
More by Dav Pilkey
BOOK REVIEW
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey with Jose Garibaldi
BOOK REVIEW
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey
BOOK REVIEW
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 2013
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More In The Series
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey
More by Dav Pilkey
BOOK REVIEW
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey with Jose Garibaldi
BOOK REVIEW
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey
BOOK REVIEW
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey
© Copyright 2021 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!