Just the right mix of mystery and kooky fun.
Ben Braver: superhero or superzero?
With best friend Finn moved away, Ben Braver has spent the summer binge-watching Adam West–era Batman, playing video games alone, and reading comics…and wishing to be a hero. When he responds to a cry for help, the resultant conflict with school bully (and evidently supervillain) Dexter Dunn leaves Ben frozen—literally. Ben is whisked away from the hospital by mysterious, old Donald Kepler, who invites Ben to Kepler Academy, “a secret school for kids with special abilities,” hinting Ben may have “abilities” of his own. Once Ben’s sure it’s not an elaborate prank, he agrees, wondering what his superpower…er, “ability" will be when it manifests. However, Kepler Academy is no school for training heroes à la the Xavier Institute of X-Men fame; aside from ordinary classes, Kepler trains its students not to use their powers. While Ben tries to figure out why Kepler recruited him, he and his fireball-belching roommate, Noah, and their small-animal–controlling friend, Penny, uncover a mystery. Can they figure out what’s causing students to act like zombies (and eat worms!)? With this title, Emerson launches a new series narrated by sarcastic sixth-grader Ben. The inline comics proffer punchlines and extra laughs (some are metacomments on the action of the tale); in the illustrations, black-haired Ben and blonde Penny are depicted with light skin and Noah with dark. Fans of superhero fiction will laugh out loud and identify with the aggressively regular Ben.
Just the right mix of mystery and kooky fun. (Graphic/adventure hybrid. 7-12)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62672-710-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
Thought-provoking and charming.
A sophisticated robot—with the capacity to use senses of sight, hearing, and smell—is washed to shore on an island, the only robot survivor of a cargo of 500.
When otters play with her protective packaging, the robot is accidently activated. Roz, though without emotions, is intelligent and versatile. She can observe and learn in service of both her survival and her principle function: to help. Brown links these basic functions to the kind of evolution Roz undergoes as she figures out how to stay dry and intact in her wild environment—not easy, with pine cones and poop dropping from above, stormy weather, and a family of cranky bears. She learns to understand and eventually speak the language of the wild creatures (each species with its different “accent”). An accident leaves her the sole protector of a baby goose, and Roz must ask other creatures for help to shelter and feed the gosling. Roz’s growing connection with her environment is sweetly funny, reminiscent of Randall Jarrell’s The Animal Family. At every moment Roz’s actions seem plausible and logical yet surprisingly full of something like feeling. Robot hunters with guns figure into the climax of the story as the outside world intrudes. While the end to Roz’s benign and wild life is startling and violent, Brown leaves Roz and her companions—and readers—with hope.
Thought-provoking and charming. (Science fiction/fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-38199-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey.
Separated from his pack, Swift, a young wolf, embarks on a perilous search for a new home.
Swift’s mother impresses on him early that his “pack belongs to the mountains and the mountains belong to the pack.” His father teaches him to hunt elk, avoid skunks and porcupines, revere the life that gives them life, and “carry on” when their pack is devastated in an attack by enemy wolves. Alone and grieving, Swift reluctantly leaves his mountain home. Crossing into unfamiliar territory, he’s injured and nearly dies, but the need to run, hunt, and live drives him on. Following a routine of “walk-trot-eat-rest,” Swift traverses prairies, canyons, and deserts, encountering men with rifles, hunger, thirst, highways, wild horses, a cougar, and a forest fire. Never imagining the “world could be so big or that I could be so alone in it,” Swift renames himself Wander as he reaches new mountains and finds a new home. Rife with details of the myriad scents, sounds, tastes, touches, and sights in Swift/Wander’s primal existence, the immediacy of his intimate, first-person, present-tense narration proves deeply moving, especially his longing for companionship. Realistic black-and-white illustrations trace key events in this unique survival story, and extensive backmatter fills in further factual information about wolves and their habitat.
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey. (additional resources, map) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-289593-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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