The author leaves it to his imaginary friend Horris to squire readers through several dozen spread-sized excursions into the realm of the icky—from leeches, intestinal parasites and the spiny Candiru fish that makes sub-surface urinating into the Amazon so exciting, to the guillotine and the real Bluebeard. Featuring lurid headings (“Under Cover of Darkness, They Feed”), writhing, toothy computer generated silhouettes on nearly every page and heavily ironic commentary (“What a bunch of fun-loving folks those Romans were!”), this is tailor-made for the legions of cheap-thrills addicts that haunt fourth grades everywhere. Though speaking of cheap, some pages, particularly toward the end, are so poorly printed as to be illegible. (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-59258-148-X
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Hylas
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2005
Krull's second book about her irrepressible heroine takes up the excitement and disappointments of show business. Now happily ensconced with her father in California while her mother works for a year in Japan, Alex is given the chance to audition for a part in rock star Rox Rox's latest video after making a triumphant appearance playing the piano at the fourth- grade Christmas play. In a flash, Alex—who has never previously heard of Rox Rox—goes into overdrive about her coming stardom. When she actually gets the job, her extreme enthusiasm begins to lose her friends and get her in trouble at school for inattention. When she discovers that she has been replaced with Rox's little sister (except for a shot of her hands playing the piano), her disillusionment is total. Alex has much energy, if not common sense, and Krull has a good ear for dialogue—some compensation for routine characters, language, and plot. An acceptable, if undistinguished, addition to young readers' collections. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-316-50479-3
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1991
Outstanding full-color underwater photos of coral and an occasionally lyrical text make this intriguing for browsing, but it is more evocative than scientific. The photos are not captioned except by the text—and they're often superimposed on other photos so that it's not clear whether the same segment of coral is shown under greater magnification or whether it's a different coral altogether. Fine for eliciting a sense of wonder, but more facts would be helpful. For a wider-ranging, more scientific treatment, see Taylor's Coral Reef (below). Fragile binding; no index. (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: April 2, 1992
ISBN: 0-671-77068-3
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1992
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