Lucky Hart, ten, lives in the fictional 19th-century town of Cobtown, a village peopled with colorful characters. The story, told through Lucky’s diary, tells the tale of the day the Adapulgus, a horrifying, bloodthirsty monster came to town. Captain Ragg, a slick con man, and his sidekick Short Tooth announce to the town that they have captured a fearsome beast that they will display to the town for the small fee of 25 cents per person in a tent erected for just that very purpose. The excitement in Cobtown builds all day until most of the townspeople, some considerably nervous, are sitting inside the tent listening to frightening noises emanating from behind the curtain. Just as Captain Ragg is about to introduce the beast, a commotion occurs backstage and Captain Ragg, feigning panic, tells the crowd that the beast has disappeared and is on the loose and urges everyone to run for their lives. The people flee in terror and Lucky takes refuge in her friend Fliberty Jibbert’s shed. Unfortunately for Captain Ragg and Short Tooth, the two swindlers also decide to hide out at Fliberty’s, where Lucky overhears the two crooks gloating about how they’ve fleeced the townsfolk. But ever resourceful and creative, Fliberty has a plan of his own—he performs his famous hand shadows, creates a terrifying shadow monster on the wall, and scares the bejeezus out of the two rapscallions. Thinking the monster is real, Ragg and Short Tooth flee in fright, leaving behind the bag of coins they’ve cheated from the gullible townspeople. The title page and the last page with the hand shadows on it are the most visually interesting and attractive pages, more interesting than the rest of the illustrations, which are overly slick and clearly owe a great deal to Disney animation. Lengthy text makes this a fun story that works as a read-aloud for younger children and which older children will enjoy reading themselves. (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32565-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fun-if-flimsy vehicle for science lovers.
A fifth grade girl brings her love of chemistry to the school play.
Kate loves science so much she’s determined to breathe fire. Of course she knows that she needs adult supervision, and so, with her science teacher’s help, Kate demonstrates an experiment with cornstarch and a blowtorch that nearly sets her teacher’s cactus on fire. Consequences ensue. Can someone who loves science as much as Kate does find pleasure spending her fall break at drama camp? It turns out that even the school play—Dragons vs. Unicorns—needs a chemist, though, and Kate saves the day with glue and glitter. She’s sabotaged along the way, but everything is fine after Kate and her frenemy agree to communicate better (an underwhelming response to escalating bullying). Doodles decorate the pages; steps for the one experiment described that can be done at home—making glittery unicorn-horn glue—are included. The most exciting experiments depicted, though, include flames or liquid nitrogen and could only be done with the help of a friendly science teacher. Biberdorf teaches chemistry at the University of Texas and also performs science-education programs as “Kate the Chemist”; in addition to giving her protagonist her name and enthusiasm, she also seems represented in Kate-the-character’s love of the fictional YouTube personality “Dr. Caroline.” Kate and her nemesis are white; Kate’s best friends are black and South Asian.
A fun-if-flimsy vehicle for science lovers. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11655-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Nicely paced, with just the right number of red herrings to keep readers thinking; they will hope the number 1 on the spine...
Jerry and Maya, classmates and friends, spend their spare time solving mysteries in their hometown of Pleasant Valley in this Swedish import.
Things are not so pleasant for Mohammed Carat, the richest man in Pleasant Valley. His world-famous jewelry store is losing money; apparently, one of his employees is stealing valuable diamonds and gems. The police are no help, so Mr. Carat turns to the youngsters for help. Each employee is a suspect: Vivian is in money trouble, former owner Danny wants his store back, and Luke’s flashy spending is suspicious. Jerry and Maya are hired to help out around the shop—washing windows, taking out the trash and so forth—but really they are there to watch the employees, both from inside the shop and from the church tower next door. Young mystery aficionados will enjoy solving the puzzle along with Maya and Jerry and will admire their observational powers. Full-color cartoon illustrations add much to the story, helping readers to see what the young gumshoes do. A map of Pleasant Valley and an illustrated cast of characters are provided in the early pages, allowing new readers an excellent reference tool to keep the many characters straight.
Nicely paced, with just the right number of red herrings to keep readers thinking; they will hope the number 1 on the spine indicates that this is the first of many Maya and Jerry mysteries. (Mystery. 7-9)Pub Date: July 31, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48067-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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