A story whose idea has potential but that needs characters with real depth and a more complex and consistent plot to have...
The peculiar residents of Eldritch Manor return.
In what is basically a rerun with a few more characters, 12-year-old Willa once again interacts with the odd senior citizens (actually mythical creatures in human form) that she first encountered at their retirement home in Book 1. As in the first book, the plot revolves around forces of evil in the form of spreading dark holes from which unpleasant creatures emerge. Willa, the quarrelsome senior citizens, and myriad fantasy beings engage in battle with the evil creatures. While the story’s bones have potential, the members of the plot’s too-large cast of characters are too thinly sketched to engage readers’ connection, and even Willa, the protagonist, comes across as more flat than intriguing. A weak plot twist carries little resonance, as the character it involves is one-dimensional, and its overall theme—anger contributes to evil—is presented in a tension-killing, obvious, didactic manner. While the story contains much action, it relies heavily on telling rather than showing, which has the effect of coming across as repetitive and confusing rather than heart-racing. A promising storyline—that of Willa’s grandmother, begun in Book 1—does not develop here.
A story whose idea has potential but that needs characters with real depth and a more complex and consistent plot to have impact. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4597-3205-6
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Dundurn
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
