For able readers looking for the unusual.
Hoping to find her lost guardian, Doctor Professor David Ezratty, 12-year-old Ever Indigo Nikita Stein teams up with a pair of detectives battling the forces of the evil ColdCorp Corporation.
When Doc disappears, a crow from the future brings Ever a message: save the detectives. But who are they? Following a holographic message left in her guardian’s laboratory, Ever solves this first mystery by going through a formerly forbidden tunnel that takes her to the office of Harry Snowize, in denial about his imperfect memory, and Snitch, a giant African pouched rat that communicates in sign language. These are the defective detectives. This elaborately constructed and bizarrely detailed adventure is full of slightly off-kilter references and scene changes. From South Africa to Zimbabwe, Japan, and Spain, and back to Cape Town, the unlikely trio pursues the problem of disappearing scientific minds. Occasionally they’re joined by Doc’s perpetually angry robot refrigerator. Ever has a useful photographic memory, but she also has an attitude problem of her own. Struggling in school, the sarcastically nicknamed “Einstein” believes she’s “a magnet for bad luck.” Briner plays with quest-adventure tropes, but it’s the elaborate vocabulary and play with words that will appeal to her audience. Ending with a grand semantic twist, this convoluted caper even offers a satisfying solution to the mystery of Ever’s missing parents. Finished interior illustrations were not seen, but the cover depicts Ever and Snowize as white.
For able readers looking for the unusual. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: May 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3567-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans.
Only children, rejoice! A cozy mystery just for you! (People with siblings will probably enjoy it too.)
Debut novelist Cornett introduces the One and Onlys, a trio of mystery-solving only kids: Gloria Longshanks “Shanks” Hill, Alexander “Peephole” Calloway, and narrator Paul (alas, no nickname) Marconi. The trio has a knack for finding and solving low-level mysteries, but they come up against a true head-scratcher when the yard of a resident of their small town is covered in rubber ducks overnight. Working ahead of Officer Portnoy, who’s a little on the slow side, can Paul, Shanks, and Peephole solve the mystery? Cornett has a lot of fun with this adventure, dropping additional side mysteries, a subplot about small businesses, big corporations, and economics, and a town’s love of bratwurst into the mix. Most importantly, he plays fair with the clues throughout, allowing astute readers to potentially solve the case ahead of the trio. The tone and mystery are perfect for younger readers who want to test their detective skills but are put off by anything scary or gory. The pacing would serve well for chapter-by-chapter read-alouds. If there are any quibbles, it’s the lack of diversity of the cast, as it defaults white. Diversity exists in small towns, and this one is crying out for more. Hopefully a sequel will introduce additional faces.
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3003-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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