A strong second installment in a YA historical series that should please inquisitive and imaginative readers.
In the second volume of the action-packed Red Hand Adventures series (Rebels of the Kasbah, 2012), a trio of boys in early-20th-century Morocco team up with heroic rebel fighters to stop a bloodthirsty villain.
Teenage boys Tariq, Fez, and Aseem, as well as English tourist Margaret Owen, have been kidnapped to serve as slaves to the power-hungry Caid Ali Tamzali, but rebel leaders Malik and Sanaa storm the Caid’s casbah and free them. The Caid wants revenge, so he hires the most feared assassin in Morocco, the Black Mamba, to track the rebels down. He also hopes to build an alliance with France that will help him destroy the rebellion and become the next sultan. Tariq, Fez, and Aseem decide to spy on behalf of the rebels, but along the way, they encounter various obstacles. Back in England, Margaret finds it hard to readjust to the rigid rules of her country’s stuffy social hierarchy, particularly after witnessing horrible things during her brief time as a slave. Meanwhile, Margaret’s missing father lives a secret life as a Robin Hood–esque pirate alongside the good-hearted Capt. Basil, but both are unaware that there may be a traitor in their midst. It’s fortunate that O’Neill includes a character list at the start of the story; the already large cast keeps expanding, and it can be hard to keep track of who’s who. The author also doesn’t skimp on details, packing every page with vividly drawn scenes that take readers to a mysterious circus in the Australian Outback (“Two clowns juggled knives back and forth, and a really short little man practiced every manner of somersault”), an island inhabited by French anarchists who worship Napoleon, an uptight English girls’ school, and the dangerous, bustling streets of Tangier. Young readers will enjoy reading about exotic cultures that they may not have heard about in history class, although they will need strong stomachs to handle some of the graphic violence that liberally, albeit realistically, peppers the story.
A strong second installment in a YA historical series that should please inquisitive and imaginative readers.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0985196967
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Black Ship Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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