Fast-paced, anarchic fun for reluctant and avid readers alike.
With his father in Antarctica and his brothers enjoying adventurous summers elsewhere, Brian endures his in aptly named Boring, Illinois, beta testing Uncle Gary’s educational software (Summer’s Cool) alongside his unfriendly cousin, Nora, until a discovery in the woods changes everything.
Uncle Gary’s risk-averse parenting is a far cry from the comfortably laissez-faire style Brian’s used to, and unlike the town, Summer’s Cool doesn’t live up to its billing. A tussle with Nora ends in a chase into the woods. Lost, they stumble upon the peculiar Matchstick Castle, crowned by a boat on the roof. They’re warmly welcomed by a boy, Cosmo van Dash, who needs help tackling giant wasps currently infesting the premises. With Cosmo’s aviatrix mother last heard from in Borneo, his father and uncles run an all-male household. The impulsive, impractical, high-spirited, and resilient van Dashes—and their castle—are far from boring. Offering badly needed problem-solving skills, Brian and Nora help control the wasps and locate Uncle Kingsley, lost inside the castle. Discovering that the Boring City Hall intends to demolish the castle within days, the van Dashes are defiant—while Brian and Nora counsel a practical approach, the van Dashes favor breaking into City Hall. Enjoyable mayhem ensues. Graff neatly contains his wacky plot within narrator Brian’s Everykid voice, unspooling the looniness with transparent glee.
Fast-paced, anarchic fun for reluctant and avid readers alike. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-99622-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Unforgettably quirky, fast-paced fun.
In a race against their enemies, the Porch girls must find a peculiar pearl in order to foil a fiendish plot.
After defeating a monstrous Kyrgalops in The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science (2024), Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee Porch find themselves (after a series of madcap events) at Lake Kagloopy’s Purple Pearl Hotel with their mentor, Millicent Quibb. Quibb informs the trio that they must find the titular pearl before the members of their evil mad-scientist rivals, the KRA, do. If they fail, the KRA (whose members include the malevolent mayor, Majestina DeWeen, and her slimy sycophantic lawyer, Ashley Cookie) plans to use the gem to bestow the Gift of Endless Vibrancy on the villainous Talon Sharktūth. Hilarity ensues as the Porches attend the annual Shrimp Ball, encounter Umbrella Turkeys, search for Cloudite (floating cloud rocks), and don invisible but smelly woolen coats. Jokes aside, the girls’ story is intriguing, offering more clues to their mysterious backgrounds and tantalizing tidbits promising later adventures. McKinnon offers bountiful backstory (alongside a running joke to encourage readers to pick up the preceding volume) and enough guffaw-inducing jokes, zany footnotes, and creative jargon to enthrall readers both new and old with her delightful sophomore effort. Mixing humor, found family, and well-wrought worldbuilding, this sequel is a certain crowd pleaser. Final art not seen; in the previous book, the grayscale illustrations showed the girls with varying skin tones.
Unforgettably quirky, fast-paced fun. (appendices) (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780316555296
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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