The Forgotten Five—a ragtag team of youths with unique superpowers—partner with new allies to take down President Fuerte and his sinister plot that implicates the kids’ criminal parents.
Overnight, news of a daring escape by supers from the president’s palace spreads across Estero. Hiding from palace guards for their role in the breakout, Birdie, Seven, Tenner, Cabot, and Brix find refuge in an underground maze and, eventually, in a monastery. Much-needed support comes from former Estero spy The Librarian and Lada, a young super with cerebral palsy who uses crutches and a wheelchair. They help train and prepare the five friends for the fight ahead. The team’s first mission? To figure out what’s up with President Fuerte, the man behind Estero’s anti-super fervor, as rumors abound of his nightly excursions abroad for clandestine meetups with supernaturals and to plan more thefts. Then he inexplicably repeals the anti-super laws. It also seems that some of the Five’s parents have covertly joined forces with the president. Resuming right from the end of Map of Flames (2022), this volume packs in a whole lot of espionage fun and poignant family drama. McMann’s exploration of the Five’s conflicting feelings over their parents’ intentions works marvelously to stir an adventure that’s more of a gut punch than its predecessor. A bundle of shocking, slightly zany plot twists and political intrigue, this follow-up delivers the goods. Characters have a range of skin tones.
A spy-flavored romp. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-32543-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
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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 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
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