As Freddie aptly puts it: “It was gross, but it was also pretty cool.” (Fantasy. 9-12)
A newly formed alliance of monster keepers tackles a plague of designer bugzillas in this ichor-splashed sequel to Monsters Unleashed (2017).
Freddie Liddle’s talent for drawing realistic monsters literally comes back to bite him when insect-loving classmate Trevor tricks him into creating a fearsome fantasy “entomon,” then uses a very special 3-D printer to bring it—and, in next to no time, zillions of its voracious progeny—to life. Time for Freddie, his four friends, and the pet monsters tamed by each in the previous episode to spring into action. The ensuing gorefest rolls on amid near-continual stomping, indiscriminate spraying, and bursts of flame (“Pop! Pop! Pop! Freddie could hear their guts exploding and bursting into the air,” etc.) to a final desperate stand featuring, in deference to monster-movie tradition, a gigantic kaiju. Along with heroic exploits galore, Kloepfer folds in bits of science and further bonding in the physically and racially diverse cast (Freddie himself is white), Trevor is welcomed into the circle and everyone gets back home in time to throw Freddie’s Latinx best bud, Manny Vasquez, an impromptu birthday party. Finished illustrations not seen.
As Freddie aptly puts it: “It was gross, but it was also pretty cool.” (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-242753-3
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Convincing, humorous, warm, and definitely spooky.
Henry, the new boy in Barbara Anne Klein’s Seattle fifth-grade class, dresses oddly, but that isn’t the strangest thing about him.
Henry and narrator Barbara Anne (or Bitsy as her parents and grandmother call her) bond over their need to escape their assigned lunch table, and Barbara Anne soon discovers the subject of Henry’s absorbed sketching at recess: the boy who seems to be haunting him. Irrepressible, strong-minded Barbara Anne is not always aware of her limitations, and Siebel’s voice for her is both funny and warm. Henry battles a respiratory infection throughout much of the story even as he and Barbara Anne begin to realize that young Edgar, Henry’s ghost, did not survive the Spanish influenza pandemic in 1918. A session with a Ouija board and a letter and yearbook discovered in Henry’s attic tell part of the story. Edgar’s father’s journal, found in the public library archives, reveals the rest. Siebel cleverly weaves together the story of the developing friendships among Barbara Anne and her classmates and the story of Edgar’s friendship with Henry’s neighbor, Edgar’s playmate as a small child and now a very old woman. Henry, Barbara Anne, and Edgar present white; classmate Renee Garcia, who looks forward to eventually celebrating her quinceañera, and Barbara Anne’s teacher, Miss Biniam (“she looks like an Ethiopian princess”) are the only main characters of color.
Convincing, humorous, warm, and definitely spooky. (Ghost story. 9-12)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-101-93277-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Though readers may root for “Team Everybody” (and perhaps crave some pancakes), the heavy-handed lessons make this feel-good...
Cooper (Sticks and Stones, 2016) revisits quirky maladies and middle school friendships.
Brown-skinned, mixed-race (Latina/white) 12-year-old Sophie Mulvaney and her mother used to be “Adventurous Girls.” But ever since Sophie’s mother broke up with her boyfriend, Pratik, and lost her job, she’s been depressed, and Sophie blames herself. Worse, Sophie suddenly notices comic-strip–style bubbles above people’s heads that broadcast their thoughts—or so she thinks. Her friends, anxious Kaya, described as having dark-brown skin, and “hyper” Argentine-American Rafael, miss her adventurous nature. Fortunately, a social studies group project conveniently addresses Sophie’s situation: risk-taking. As the friends tackle their respective fears to train for a triathlon, Sophie’s mother faces her depression. Meanwhile, Sophie addresses the thought bubbles she sees with the aid of a therapist, which the author handles straightforwardly. Sophie’s bubbles are never diagnosed; like Sophie’s frequent allusions to historical events, they’re simply a vehicle for a moral. Even Sophie’s interest in history itself becomes a metaphor for her development as she learns people aren’t always what they seem; her only unscathed trait is her obsession with pancakes. Her friends are barely developed, and a snooty white classmate is a lonely cliché. Though the author inserts a few roadblocks, the ending is almost too pat to be believable.
Though readers may root for “Team Everybody” (and perhaps crave some pancakes), the heavy-handed lessons make this feel-good story a bit of a slog. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-30290-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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