While more stuffed bear than gruff bear, a fast adventure story.
Waiting for his parents after Secrets of Bearhaven (2016), Spencer deals with an imperiled member of his bear family.
Reports from Professor Weaver (bear) and Uncle Mark (white human) that Spencer’s parents will arrive safely at Bearhaven any day are all lies, which (olive-skinned) Spencer learns when he overhears them discuss the deception, which is to keep him from losing hope. Angry, Spencer plays hooky from bear school to go try to help his parents by himself—but he hardly gets out of their part of the forest before encountering Kirby, a lonely surveillance enthusiast determined to uncover the forest’s strangeness. But when his bear best friend, Kate, who has followed him from Bearhaven, attempts to protect him from Kirby, Spencer cruelly shoos Kate away so Kirby won’t spot her BEAR-COM. When Spencer returns to Bearhaven to apologize, he learns Kate never made it back—and the bears blame him. Mining Kirby for intel, Bearhaven learns Kate’s fate, and it’s very bad news bears. She’s been abducted by Moon Farm, a toy factory covering for a black-market bear operation that sells to private collectors, circuses, or, worse, for parts, making for a high-stakes mission. Once there, they discover even worse things, progressing the overarching series plot. With characterization separated from the plot, occasionally plot needs result in bearly believable reasoning.
While more stuffed bear than gruff bear, a fast adventure story. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-81304-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale.
After a tsunami devastates their habitat in the Salish Sea, a young orca and her brother embark on a remarkable adventure.
Vega’s matriarchal family expects her to become a hunter and wayfinder, with her younger brother, Deneb, protecting and supporting her. Invited to guide her family to their Gathering Place to hunt salmon, Vega’s underwater miscalculations endanger them all, and an embarrassed Vega questions whether she should be a wayfinder. When the baby sister she hoped would become her life companion is stillborn, a distraught Vega carries the baby away to a special resting place, shocking her grieving family. Dispatched to find his missing sister, Deneb locates Vega in the midst of a terrible tsunami. To escape the waters polluted by shattered boats, Vega leads Deneb into unfamiliar open sea. Alone and hungry, the young siblings encounter a spectacular giant whale and travel briefly with shark-hunting orcas. Trusting her instincts and gaining emotional strength from contemplating the vastness of the sky, Vega knows she must lead her brother home and help save her surviving family. In alternating first-person voices, Vega and Deneb tell their harrowing story, engaging young readers while educating them about the marine ecosystem. Realistic black-and-white illustrations enhance the maritime setting.
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale. (maps, wildlife facts, tribes of the Salish Sea watershed, environmental and geographical information, how to help orcas, author’s note, artist’s note, resources) (Animal fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299592-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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