In a magical world, 12-year-old Hex Allen is used to being Undeveloped, or someone without magic.
Her family accepts and supports her, especially her 6-year-old brother, Spanner, who loves the stories she tells about No Magic Girl that include descriptions of her clever inventions. But Hex knows that she can never really be independent without magic—and her only chance to gain magical abilities is to visit the Wishing Wyrm, a volcano-dwelling dragon who lives in the middle of the Great Barren, a desert enveloped in a perpetual sandstorm. Approximately once a century, the storm ceases, offering people the chance to receive a single wish from the dragon. Fortunately, the timing is right, and the sandstorm clears. On her journey to find the Wishing Wyrm, Hex joins Fuse and Cam, two fellow Undevelopeds who teach her about clank, their name for nonmagical laws of nature—in other words, science. The Clanksmiths show her that there’s a lot more to the world than casting spells, and Hex wonders if wishing to be magical is really the right choice. Florentine’s STEM-positive debut is a delight. The story drives home the fact that science is all around us, and we only have to use some imagination, trial, and error to apply it to reality. Hex and Cam read as Black; Fuse has olive skin and turquoise hair.
A beautiful story of discovering science and self. (map, Hex’s sketchbook with science project instructions) (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-943147-77-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: The Innovation Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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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
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An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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