by Jen Calonita ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 2, 2018
A disappointing spinoff to an inventive series.
An unconventional princess-in-training questions the status quo—and throws the kingdom for a loop.
When 12-year-old Princess Devin’s invitation to attend the Royal Academy arrives, she has reservations about her royal future, but Fairy Godmother Olivina assures her that her gifted way with animals, scorned by her mother, is not only acceptable, but will be nurtured. Still, there doesn’t seem to be much flexibility. Princesses are to be beautiful, to dance well, and to seek a good match with a prince. Most of all, princesses are never to take the lead in dangerous situations; they must wait to be rescued. But when harpies attack the school’s opening ball, the princes need help. Devin teams up with rakish Prince Heath to save the day. Nonconformity has its price, and Devin receives her first strike. After three, not only is she kicked out of school, but she’s altogether banished from Enchantasia. Olivina further isolates Devin from her classmates by warning them against fraternization. Though it expands on the world introduced in the Fairy Tale Reform School series, the Royal Academy unfortunately comes across as little more than a watered-down Hogwarts. While discussion of gender roles is thoughtful, racial and cultural diversity are limited; Devin and Heath present white. Characters are flat, the plot is predictable, and the fairy godmother as villain is a tired twist.
A disappointing spinoff to an inventive series. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-5128-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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by Elinor Teele ; illustrated by Ben Whitehouse ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2016
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 2013
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
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. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
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