Enjoyably mysterious.
There’s something strange about Mellie’s foundling cat…is Bert a zombie?!
Nine-year-old Mellie has no interest in being a part of her parents’ food-and-family blog. Her mother and father (a former freelance writer and former chef, respectively) are so busy with the blog and her twin younger brothers that she’s pretty free-range. She spends a lot of her time helping her best friend, Danny, make horror movies. When the two of them discover a disheveled cat in a dumpster, Mellie feels drawn to the sickly feline; she sneaks him home, names him Bert, and doesn’t tell her parents. Meanwhile the Big Boss of a local lab is not pleased that two of his workers have allowed test subject Y-91 to escape, and he orders them to find it. Bert isn’t interested in cat food or even salmon, but he brings Mellie headless animal corpses…could he be a zombie eating only the animals’ brains?! When Bert’s accused of hurting the school bully’s pet rats (and thus brought to the attention of Mellie’s parents), she may not be able to keep him. This slim series opener feels like the start of a novel more than a whole book, as so much is left unresolved at the close. The parallel stories of Mellie’s discovery of Bert, the search for Y-91, and Bert, as he pursues a mission of his own, will keep young fans of the slightly spooky turning pages…and eager for the next installment. In Andrews’ illustrations, Mellie and her mom have dark skin while her dad and the twins have light skin.
Enjoyably mysterious. (Science fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: July 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0106-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
Whether this meets a real need is debatable, but the format has its appeal for children still working on reading skills.
Following successful graphic adaptations of Canterbury Tales (2011) and The Odyssey (2012), Chwast ups the ante with Hugh Lofting’s more challenging classic. Good luck.
The abridgment necessary to squash the full-length novel into 32 illustrated pages allows Chwast to avoid through omission some but not all of the original’s controversies—“Jolliginki” and its African prince, Bumppo, with his yen to be white, go unmentioned—and update its fustian language (“What do you want?” asks the Pushmi-Pullyu. “We want you to go to England with Dr. Dolittle and put on shows”). The illustrations, likewise sketchy, feature a nattily attired doctor and his animal friends drawn simply in ink and pale colored pencil, all placed in spacious panels with legibly hand-lettered captions, chapter heads, and dialogue. These days, the 1920 original makes uncomfortable reading (and, with Lofting’s illustrations, viewing) even in bowdlerized contemporary editions. In this boiled-down form, its parochial attitudes can still be discerned…but so can those lightly presented themes of compassion and respect for all living things that have given it enduring value.
Whether this meets a real need is debatable, but the format has its appeal for children still working on reading skills. (Graphic classic. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-56846-258-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
An optimistic series beginning for young mystery fans.
His atypical brain helps an aspiring, autistic sleuth crack a case.
Asked to write an acrostic of his name, Myron can't think of anything beyond the first word, "Mysteries." Myron is autistic, he tells a girl in his new class for kids with special needs; it means his brain works differently. It makes his head buzz when he's upset; it makes perfume and new situations overwhelming. It also makes him a persistent detective. Luckily, he encounters a mystery on his first day: someone has stolen the snacks from the school kitchen. With his reasoning skills and the help of his energetic new friend, Hajrah, Myron is determined to catch the snack snatchers. The simple mystery introduces deductive reasoning, and Myron's voice clues readers in to both his autism and sympathetic, occasionally humorous, earnestness. ("I don't see the point in kicking a ball across a field. It would be much easier to pick it up and carry it.") Like his acrostic, Myron's logical, literal narration reveals more plot than personality yet promises further development. He genuinely enjoys sleuthing (his affectionate dog is even named Columbo), deals with bullies, and makes friends; through Grand's animated illustrations, his facial expressions range from scowls and knitted brows to a wide grin. Autistic detective characters may have become slightly stereotypical, but O'Donnell gives Myron something they rarely get: opportunities to smile.
An optimistic series beginning for young mystery fans. (Mystery. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77147-069-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
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