Young goths will be gleeful the creepy fun will continue.
Children recently weaned off Vampirina Ballerina books will sink their teeth into the adventures of Amelia Fang.
A British import, this series opener introduces readers to the city of Nocturnia, starting with a spiky, black-and-white map and a gallery of ghouls: Amelia, her family, and friends. In this turn-around world, readers find that the devilish charm is in the details. The only things to be feared in Nocturnia are Creatures of Light such as sparkly fairies, angel-kittens, and glittery unicorns. Amelia learns all about them at Catacomb Academy, which she naturally attends at night, along with friends Florence (not a beast but a yeti) and Grimaldi (middle name Death, last name Reaperton). Amelia’s got two problems: She has to attend her parents’ annual Barbaric Ball, a boring event for grown-ups, and she’s been saddled with showing around new student Prince Tangine, who’s been sequestered in the palace since his mother went missing, presumed eaten by a fairy. He’s “horrible”—“and not in the nice way.” Tangine even has the nerve to claim Amelia’s beloved pet pumpkin, Squashy, for his own! But these ghouls have hearts of gold. Anderson plays her premise expertly, creating giggleworthy, topsy-turvy scenarios that are just over-the-top enough. The cliffhanger ending sets up Volume 2, Amelia Fang and the Unicorns of Glitteropolis, which publishes simultaneously.
Young goths will be gleeful the creepy fun will continue. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-4839-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A visually polished print debut—with a teaser on the front flap for the app version in place of a blurb. Unsurprisingly,...
Hypercool paintings featuring alien school kids and elaborately detailed planetscapes juice up this weakly plotted tale of a young tinkerer transported to a galactic academy.
Tyler is mostly given to the sort of smarmy inventions that let him spy into his sister’s bedroom or splatter his dad with paint. Despite this, Tyler is promoted to an extremely multicultural orbiting school where he has a (sometimes literal) blast learning to use a jet pack and taking field trips to exotic planets. Cole, a digital artist with a hefty film résumé, plants an unrepentant smirk on his bright-eyed protagonist, surrounds him with heavily made-up but basically humanoid schoolmates, and places him in a series of atmospheric, dazzlingly finished high-tech or extraplanetary settings. Tyler’s overly expository first-person narration makes liberal use of exclamation points, an irritant that some readers may find mitigated by the cool sci-fi language. Readers of Mark Fearing’s Earthling! (2012), Aaron Reynolds and Andy Rash’s Superhero School (2009) and Dave Roman’s Astronaut Academy (2011) may feel a sense of déjà vu, but there’s more than enough eye candy to compensate.
A visually polished print debut—with a teaser on the front flap for the app version in place of a blurb. Unsurprisingly, also in development as a film. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-9334-9277-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Design Studio Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
A bland introduction to the pirate life manages to suck all the fun out of the subject. Likely to please only overprotective parents, this field guide tucks such provisions as, “The crew is your family, and you must look after them and love them,” into the Pirate Oath. It also claims that pirates “only steal from people who’ve got more than they really need,” and insists that male and female pirates “respect each other equally.” Similarly, though the watercolor illustrations are replete with hooks, peglegs, eye patches and like standard gear, many of the pirates on display sport inoffensive personae like “The Smiley Pirate,” “The Hunky Pirate” and even a grandmotherly “Pirate Captain’s Mum.” The translator lets a lookout shout “Land Ahoy!”—which only children who have never read another pirate book will accept. Production standards are equally careless, as a word is misspelled in the Pirate Vocabulary list (the “Pirat” flag), and there’s a blank space on the treasure map where a coded message is supposed to be. Shelve in Davy Jones' locker. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-84-937814-8-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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