Lacking as a total package, but the interactive bits promise hours of undercover fun.
This interactive spy caper entices kids to concoct their own detective missions while helping the main character solve a sweet-tasting mystery.
The unnamed fifth-grade narrator of this short, spirited story is entrusted with an assignment—if he knows what’s good for him, says school bully Biff Vermin, he’ll figure out a way to snag the coveted but top-secret recipe of the cafeteria’s cupcake frosting. But first he must pitch a plan to get past the hilariously illustrated keeper of said treats—the Lunch Lady (think hairnet, crooked glasses, 200-pound sacks of flower under both arms, all on a behemoth of a woman with a gargantuan waistline atop toothpick legs). Unsure of where to start, the boy looks for tips in the latest book of his favorite series, The Adventures of Dash Danger (excerpts from the series begin each chapter). Following Dash Danger’s example, he creates an alias, develops a disguise and pencils a blueprint featuring directions on how he’ll sneak into the cafeteria’s kitchen. Although the boy’s strategy backfires, Biff still snags the cupcake recipe, leaving advanced spies to wonder why Biff couldn’t just find it on his own in the first place. Despite a jacket design and some illustrations that look suspiciously derivative of those that populate Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, the book’s black-and-white sketches possess all the cool, classic elements of an Inspector Gadget and Spy vs. Spy hybrid. While the play-by-play of the narrator’s dilemma might wear thin on seasoned snoops, and the 50 pages of lined paper included at the end of the book seem excessive, those glitches don’t matter in the long run. Kids—especially reluctant readers—might be too busy making up their own spy names and drawing themselves in undercover disguises to notice.
Lacking as a total package, but the interactive bits promise hours of undercover fun.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0982755204
Page Count: -
Publisher: Storybuilders
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
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 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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