Substantially the best of the mystery/travelogue series to date, this one suffers from fewer credibility issues than the...
Middle schooler and television star Buck Bray is back for a third outing, this time bringing his intrepid detecting skills to Yellowstone National Park.
He’s accompanied by his partner in crime prevention, Toni, the daughter of the cameraman who films the national park–related documentaries. Shortly after the kids meet the twins Kale and Kayla Kolson, also middle schoolers, in the park, it becomes clear that someone is illegally flying drones there. Then coyotes and a wolf turn up dead from poison. Reviewing some of the show’s film, Kale and Buck realize the poisoner is using a large, expensive drone to deliver the lethal bait to the animals. Kale, who has Asperger’s, is a talented drone flyer. So is Jason, an older boy who’s also camping in the park. Finally, there’s Lyall, the president of the drone flying club, all of the fliers drawn to the area by a nearby drone competition. Young cleverly inserts ample red herrings, sustaining the suspense while including lots of information about both the park and the wolf packs that have been reintroduced there. None of the characters have physical descriptions (except for age), which combines with the cover depiction of light-skinned Buck and Toni to imply the white default. Information about drone flying adds additional appeal to this engaging tale.
Substantially the best of the mystery/travelogue series to date, this one suffers from fewer credibility issues than the previous entries. (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: March 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-53411-020-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride.
A new virtual-reality theme park goes haywire on a crowd of young victims, er, visitors in Alexander’s latest screamfest.
Having scored one of just 100 coveted preview tickets to a cutting-edge, kids-only venue dubbed ESCAPE, budding amusement park fan and designer Cody Baxter is looking forward to a life-changing experience. What he gets is more of a life-threatening one, as games and rides with names like Triassic Terror and Haunted Hillside not only pit him against a monster and then zombies—or sometimes a monster and zombies—as well as ruthless competing players, but seem tailored to play on individual personal terrors. And, in some never explained way, the VR quickly turns into real battles that inflict real wounds even as the real settings shift with sudden, dizzying unpredictability. Teaming up with loyal new friends Jayson Torn and Inga Andersdottir, the former described as being Japanese and White and the latter as Norwegian, Cody (who seems to default to White) struggles for survival, learning ultimately that ESCAPE was created by an evil genius with an ulterior motive who is convinced that he can teach children a salutary lesson. The plot’s no more logical in its twists and contrivances than the premise, but the author’s knack for spinning out nightmarish situations is definitely on display here as the tale careens toward a properly lurid outcome.
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride. (Light horror. 9-12)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-26047-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...
Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.
These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-46083-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
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