Ludicrously juvenile, just the way its audience likes it.
A boy and his friends—including a robot dog—face off against the villainous Dr. Crazybrains.
New kid Marty Fontana wants to avoid the dreaded dork label at his new school—so naturally, everything goes wrong in comedically humiliating ways. But standard dork-versus-cool tropes (such as lunch-table–codified social hierarchy) are freshened by amplifying the silliness to new heights (archetypal cool kid Shades sleeps wearing sunglasses to “look cool in his dreams”). The Zeroes Marty ends up befriending are genuinely nice: upbeat, friendly, fact-loving Ralph Rogers and proud-to-be-different daredevil Skyler Kwon. Even better, they like Marty’s favorite video game, Sheriff Turbo-Karate, and they all find virtual success via team-up. Celebrating, they discover Awesome Dog 5000, a robot left behind by a mysteriously vanished scientist. When Awesome Dog and Marty accidentally wreck Dr. Crazybrains’ birthday party, the pernicious potion-maker (so evil he dubs his butler Mr. Poopsie) vows vengeance. Said vengeance has a few hiccups, but once he captures Marty it’s up to the Zeroes and Awesome Dog 5000 to save him. The final battle is cartoonishly ridiculous. The binary moral (coolness is bad/dorkiness is good) is expected, so it’s good the jokes are so far out there. All characters appear light-skinned in the black-and-white illustrations; Skyler is coded Asian. The cartoon art (with a surprise at the end) emphasizes the cockamamie, fart-joke–heavy humor.
Ludicrously juvenile, just the way its audience likes it. (Science fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-64481-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face.
Four misunderstood villains endeavor to turn over a new leaf…or a new rap sheet in Blabey's frenzied romp.
As readers open the first page of this early chapter book, Mr. Wolf is right there to greet them, bemoaning his reputation. "Just because I've got BIG POINTY TEETH and RAZOR-SHARP CLAWS and I occasionally like to dress up like an OLD LADY, that doesn't mean… / … I'm a BAD GUY." To prove this very fact, Mr. Wolf enlists three equally slandered friends into the Good Guys Club: Mr. Snake (aka the Chicken Swallower), Mr. Piranha (aka the Butt Biter), and Mr. Shark (aka Jaws). After some convincing from Mr. Wolf, the foursome sets off determined to un-smirch their names (and reluctantly curbing their appetites). Although these predators find that not everyone is ready to be at the receiving end of their helpful efforts, they use all their Bad Guy know-how to manage a few hilarious good deeds. Blabey has hit the proverbial nail on the head, kissed it full on the mouth, and handed it a stick of Acme dynamite. With illustrations that startle in their manic comedy and deadpan direct address and with a narrative that follows four endearingly sardonic characters trying to push past (sometimes successfully) their fear-causing natures, this book instantly joins the classic ranks of Captain Underpants and The Stinky Cheese Man.
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-91240-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Thought-provoking and charming.
A sophisticated robot—with the capacity to use senses of sight, hearing, and smell—is washed to shore on an island, the only robot survivor of a cargo of 500.
When otters play with her protective packaging, the robot is accidently activated. Roz, though without emotions, is intelligent and versatile. She can observe and learn in service of both her survival and her principle function: to help. Brown links these basic functions to the kind of evolution Roz undergoes as she figures out how to stay dry and intact in her wild environment—not easy, with pine cones and poop dropping from above, stormy weather, and a family of cranky bears. She learns to understand and eventually speak the language of the wild creatures (each species with its different “accent”). An accident leaves her the sole protector of a baby goose, and Roz must ask other creatures for help to shelter and feed the gosling. Roz’s growing connection with her environment is sweetly funny, reminiscent of Randall Jarrell’s The Animal Family. At every moment Roz’s actions seem plausible and logical yet surprisingly full of something like feeling. Robot hunters with guns figure into the climax of the story as the outside world intrudes. While the end to Roz’s benign and wild life is startling and violent, Brown leaves Roz and her companions—and readers—with hope.
Thought-provoking and charming. (Science fiction/fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-38199-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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