A compromise tale any kid assigned a group project should understand.
In the same world as the Enchanted Pony Academy series, royal merchildren partner with magical seaponies in the elite Royal Mermaid Rescue Crew.
Princess Nixie’s excited for Selection Day, when she and her fellow Rescue Crew School classmates choose a partner from the Enchanted Seapony Academy. Nixie’s long awaited the day she’ll be a full member of the Rescue Crew, and though she doesn’t know which seapony’s the best match for her, she knows who isn’t: Rip, top of the seapony class but disliked for his rigid adherence to rules and preference for work over fun. When the ceremony comes, though, Nixie draws to pick last, leaving her with…Rip. Seeing his distress and confusion at his last-place selection, Nixie does her best to be positive about their partnership. She seeks common ground through shared adventure, but he’d rather study their rule book. Nixie’s nearly ready to refuse the match when she hears a distress call from her two best friends—stranded where they shouldn’t be—and so she rushes to rescue them. Luckily for her, Rip follows and the two work together—combining her flexible thinking-on-her-feet with the valuable information from his scholarship—gaining understanding and becoming a true team. This intelligent treatment of the emotional dynamic helps to mitigate the tendentiously sparkly worldbuilding and thin characterizations. Nixie appears with lavender hair and light skin on the cover; publishing simultaneously are three other titles in the series, each fronted by a different member of the diverse Royal Mermaid Rescue Crew: Cali Plays Fair, Cascadia Saves the Day, and Lana Swims North.
A compromise tale any kid assigned a group project should understand. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: March 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-26697-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
A sweetly encouraging look at the way friendship can mend heart and soul.
Reggie’s summer job as housesitter for a family away on travels turns out to be unexpectedly happy.
At a time that would normally be filled with exciting pursuits, Reggie is instead spending a quiet, solitary summer near the ocean. Reggie’s slightly unhappy and fearful vibe hints that all has not been going well in the monster’s life. There’s a pile of unanswered correspondence to deal with and an unsettling dream on the first night in the big house. Reggie is befriended by purple-spotted Emily, one of five sisters in a family of multihued, rabbitlike creatures. Emily is affable and talkative, ready to help Reggie overcome loneliness. Emily has her own misery at being dismissed by one sister who is scornful of her more whimsical sensibilities. Reggie and Emily find support in each other during a slightly scary adventure in a sea serpent’s lair. Reggie, who looks like an unprepossessing one-eyed, small blob with pointed ears, can, as demonstrated in the opening pages, stretch like rubber to reach a high shelf—and has other, even more impressive, abilities that make appearances later. Vandorn’s sunny, not-quite-pastel palette transforms the shadows that accompany Reggie’s arrival into a landscape of green fields, colorful gardens, and warm blue sea. Her rounded monster/animal characters are creatively varied and intriguing, and her storytelling simple but nuanced.
A sweetly encouraging look at the way friendship can mend heart and soul. (Graphic fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984896-82-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A decent start to a silly sci-fi series.
An extraterrestrial teen refugee becomes a Hollywood star.
Citizen Short Nose, a 13-year-old, blue-skinned, six-eyed, bipedal ET, has left his home world in an effort to escape the authoritarian forces that reign there. The teen runaway lands his spacecraft in the middle of Universal Studios and easily blends in among the tourists and actors in movie costumes. Citizen Short Nose quickly changes his name to Buddy C. Burger and befriends Luis Rivera, an 18-year-old Latinx actor who moonlights as Frankenstein on the Universal lot. Inspired to be an actor by his grandmother Wrinkle’s love of Earth culture, Buddy lands a gig on Oddball Academy, playing (of course) an alien from another world. On set, Buddy befriends Cassidy Cambridge, the brown-skinned teen star of the show. Buddy balances keeping his true identity secret (everyone just assumes he’s wearing an alien costume) with becoming an overnight sensation. The book is efficiently written, moving the story forward so quickly that readers won’t have time to think too hard about the bizarre circumstances necessary for the whole thing to work. This series opener’s big problem is the ending: The story just stops. Characters are established and plot mechanics are put together, but the book basically trusts readers to show up for the next installment. Those enamored with Hollywood gags and sci-fi plot boiling will probably be engaged enough to do so.
A decent start to a silly sci-fi series. (Science fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3369-7
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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