A tender tale featuring a young protagonist who possesses equal parts yearning and spunk, to great effect.
Like a Thumbelina with agency, a tiny girl winds her way through a great, strange world.
DiCamillo’s latest Norendy Tale opens on a poor cobbler who’s always dreamed of going to sea. One day, he discovers a minuscule baby in the toe of a boot and raises the girl, whom he names Evangeline, as his own. The two dream of setting sail someday, but before that can happen, the child is stolen away and sold to a rich old widow, setting off a series of adventures. Through it all, searching father and lost daughter meet a host of strange characters—an immensely self-possessed marmalade cat, a nasty sideshow proprietor—as they attempt to find one another. Will they? In true DiCamillo fashion, the ending is suffused with the gentlest melancholy, allowing readers to either believe in their reunion or dismiss it entirely. Illustrator Blackall once more joins forces with DiCamillo to bring the more fairy tale–like elements of the book to gentle life, softening some of their harsher aspects. There are no easy answers in a Norendy tale, but there is great courage, even when it comes in the smallest of packages. The characters are pale-skinned.
A tender tale featuring a young protagonist who possesses equal parts yearning and spunk, to great effect. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781536225525
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
With plenty left to be resolved, the next entry will be eagerly sought after.
Drake has been selected by the king to serve as a Dragon Master, quite a change for an 8-year-old farmer boy.
The dragons are a secret, and the reason King Roland has them is a mystery, but what is clear is that the Dragon Stone has identified Drake as one of the rare few children who have a special connection with dragons and the ability to serve as a trainer. Drake’s dragon is a long brown creature with, at first, no particular talents that Drake can identify. He calls the dragon Worm. It isn’t long before Drake begins to realize he has a very strong connection with Worm and can share what seem to be his dragon’s thoughts. After one of the other Dragon Masters decides to illicitly take the dragons outside, disaster strikes. The cave they are passing through collapses, blocking the passageway, and then Worm’s special talent becomes evident. The first of a new series of early chapter books, this entry is sure to attract fans. Brief chapters, large print, lots of action, attractive illustrations in every spread, including a maplike panorama, an enviable protagonist—who wouldn’t want to be a Dragon Master?—all combine to make an entertaining read.
With plenty left to be resolved, the next entry will be eagerly sought after. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-64624-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Branches/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
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