All the ingredients of a first-rate fantasy, disappointingly half-baked.
When life deals precocious, friendless Milton P. Greene a blow, he escapes into his hand-held video game.
Exploring the game’s island with intrepid naturalist Sea Hawk is impossible after Milton’s divorcing parents send him to visit his real-life naturalist uncle on an actual tropical island with no electricity and that used to be owned by Uncle Evan’s mentor, the late Dr. Ava Paradis. Still smarting from the loss of his only friend, Milton gets the chance at a friendship reboot after meeting the resident scientists’ children, Rafi and Gabe Alvarez and Fig Morris. Though unfriendly Rafi rebuffs him, Fig, if skeptical, welcomes his company. Dr. Paradis had described amazing flora and fauna, but despite scientists’ efforts, few have been verified, as the impenetrable Truth-Will-Out Vine closed off the interior after her death. When Milton discovers how to part the vines, he finds Dr. Paradis’ field guide—a mystery until Fig decodes it. Learning that the island will almost certainly be sold to a developer, Rafi and Gabe unexpectedly join the urgent quest to find species like the Push-Pull Centopus and Menu-You Bush and prevent the sale. The story is entertaining and fast-moving but suffers from slapdash execution and jarring shifts in tone. The silly flora and fauna, played for laughs, clash with potentially effective messages about bullying, loneliness, and family breakup and undercut the sincere environmentalist theme. Milton is presumed White; Rafi and Gabe are Latinx, and Fig is cued as Black.
All the ingredients of a first-rate fantasy, disappointingly half-baked. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-374-31471-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Affecting and hopeful.
A stray dog finds her destiny amid the chaos of a Southern California wildfire.
Wombat is a small dog with stubby legs and “silly ears / that look like furry cookies”—almost impossibly cute in Bricking’s occasional pencil-style vignettes. She’s mastered the art of survival, so when a mysterious internal voice prods her to go toward the fire, she resists. “The wrong way is the right way. / The right way is the wrong way,” the voice insists. When she tells fellow stray Silas about it, he tells Wombat she’s a “destiny dog,” bound to “find their person / before their person / can find them.” Convinced, she decides to follow the mysterious instructions. Meanwhile, Henry, a boy who’s leery of dogs, loves the bats at the wildlife rehabilitation center where Mama Ro, a veterinarian, works; his Mama J is a librarian. Henry and Barnabas, a fruit bat at the center, are both uprooted by the fire, and their paths converge with Wombat’s at an emergency shelter. The third-person perspective shifts from character to character in clusters of free-verse poems that fully immerse readers in each one’s experiences in turn. This extra-concentrated delivery of Applegate’s typically spare writing proves effective, balancing terror and sadness with heart and humor. Henry has light brown skin, Mama Ro has curly black hair and brown skin, and Mama J presents white.
Affecting and hopeful. (Verse fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780063221178
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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