An entertaining romp highlighting the wits of a clever young hero.
In this trilogy opener, an orphan competes in a game to inherit her grandfather’s fortune.
Every three years, on April 13, a Devlin dies. Both of 13-year-old Kit Devlin’s parents have been taken by the curse, and she’s been passed from relative to relative ever since. Now she’s left the U.S. to live in the U.K. with her English Aunt Sora. But when everyone gathers in Scotland for her grandfather’s funeral, his lawyer informs them that the entire estate will go to whoever can crack the various puzzles Grandpa Amos set up. Kit swiftly sets to work, trailed by her cousin Harlow, who’s afraid of everything but kind and helpful nonetheless. Each riddle she solves unlocks a vision of Grandpa Amos, in scenes that explain family history, how the curse began—and how she might break it (with help from Harlow and Carmine, “a persnickety curse creature” in cat form). Short excerpts from A Guide to Curses by Ambrose E. Devlin, Kit’s great-uncle, appear throughout. The stakes are high: Without the money, none of Kit’s greedy relatives will take her in, and she’s naturally desperate to break the curse. This fast-paced magical mystery, which centers on the importance of family, will entice fans of series like The Swifts and Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. Kit is cued white, and there’s diversity among the supporting cast. Khatkevich’s spot art adds to the gothic atmosphere.
An entertaining romp highlighting the wits of a clever young hero. (map, cast of characters) (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2026
ISBN: 9798217028351
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this...
Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar (Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).
Driven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories—but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Enter Stanley Yelnats IV, great-grandson of one of Kissin' Kate's victims and the latest to fall to the family curse of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; under the direction of The Warden, a woman with rattlesnake venom polish on her long nails, Stanley and each of his fellow inmates dig a hole a day in the rock-hard lake bed. Weeks of punishing labor later, Stanley digs up a clue, but is canny enough to conceal the information of which hole it came from. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-374-33265-5
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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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