Exciting action sneakily infused with points about the relationship between reality and story, delivered by a narrator who...
Barnett recalls another exploit from his childhood days as a secret agent for the queen of England.
Shortly after failing to convince the despicable Craig, his mom’s boyfriend, that the wrestling at WrestleFest Live is (spoiler alert) faked, young Mac receives a call from the worried monarch. It seems that the Tower of London’s ravens are being stolen, and as everyone has heard the old prophecy that if the ravens ever go so will the country, there will be general pandemonium when the news gets out. “Who cares whether the prophecy is real,” the psychologically astute royal cogently remarks. “The prophecy is true.” Following a trail of convenient clues—and learning along the way (this is likewise true) that the queen legally owns every British mute swan, sturgeon, dolphin, and porpoise—Mac travels to Iceland and then the North Pole, catches up with the “KGB Man” who did the dastardly deed, and scotches a scheme to kick-start the prophecy with a public TV announcement. He accomplishes this by ripping off his shirt and wrestling the thief on camera…thus indelibly remaking a real news story into the fake sort. Lowery shovels in further goofy notes with three-color cartoon drawings of various animals and the white-default human cast on nearly every page.
Exciting action sneakily infused with points about the relationship between reality and story, delivered by a narrator who can claim with literal truth that he saved the day “on porpoise.” (Spy thriller. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-14371-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale.
After a tsunami devastates their habitat in the Salish Sea, a young orca and her brother embark on a remarkable adventure.
Vega’s matriarchal family expects her to become a hunter and wayfinder, with her younger brother, Deneb, protecting and supporting her. Invited to guide her family to their Gathering Place to hunt salmon, Vega’s underwater miscalculations endanger them all, and an embarrassed Vega questions whether she should be a wayfinder. When the baby sister she hoped would become her life companion is stillborn, a distraught Vega carries the baby away to a special resting place, shocking her grieving family. Dispatched to find his missing sister, Deneb locates Vega in the midst of a terrible tsunami. To escape the waters polluted by shattered boats, Vega leads Deneb into unfamiliar open sea. Alone and hungry, the young siblings encounter a spectacular giant whale and travel briefly with shark-hunting orcas. Trusting her instincts and gaining emotional strength from contemplating the vastness of the sky, Vega knows she must lead her brother home and help save her surviving family. In alternating first-person voices, Vega and Deneb tell their harrowing story, engaging young readers while educating them about the marine ecosystem. Realistic black-and-white illustrations enhance the maritime setting.
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale. (maps, wildlife facts, tribes of the Salish Sea watershed, environmental and geographical information, how to help orcas, author’s note, artist’s note, resources) (Animal fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299592-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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