Lively writing and a smattering of line drawings make for an enjoyable adventure that will entice readers to go along with...
In the latest installment in the Mira’s Diary time-travel series, Mira pursues her missing mother, Serena, to 1917 London.
A postcard directs Mira to Room 40 of the Admiralty Building, center of British code cracking during World War I. Once there, she will supposedly know what historical moment needs to change, while steering clear of the mysterious Watcher, who is trying to thwart Serena’s attempts to change the future. The story gets a bit bogged down in strings of historical detail in the first chapters, but once established, it’s a ripping yarn that takes readers through a women’s suffrage rally and encounters with a German spy and the likes of authors H.G. Wells, Beatrix Potter and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Mira knows that she must do something about the Zimmerman Telegram, which precipitated America’s entry into the Great War, but it’s unclear whether it’s more important to help her mother change history or simply convince her to come home. Mira’s skills as a time traveler are growing, and she recognizes the Touchstones that allow her to leap to another time. She’s also learning that she may need to be more discriminating about her role in her mother’s plans.
Lively writing and a smattering of line drawings make for an enjoyable adventure that will entice readers to go along with Mira. (author’s note, bibliography) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-939547-12-5
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Creston
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
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 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series.
An orphaned street urchin is recruited into an elite school for thieves.
In an alternate world where France is the dominant world power, 13-year-old Tom Morgan has had to scrimp, starve, and steal on the streets of London to survive. Born into a workhouse, he doesn’t know anything about his father, while his mother may have been from North Africa. One thing he does know is the sort of cruelty that awaits the poor who are sent to the workhouse, and he’s determined not to go back. But when their camp is raided and his friends are captured by workhouse agents, the only thing Tom can think of is how to get them out. Enter the Corsair, a cunning and mysterious man with a proposition: He wants to recruit Tom into Beaufort’s School for Deceptive Arts. From nabbing treasures to forging identity papers, Beaufort’s promises to teach Tom everything he needs to know to become a Shadow Thief and a member of the Shadow League, the secret global organization that helps keep the world’s political power in balance. But Beaufort’s has its own rules and secrets, and if Tom is to survive long enough to help his friends, he’ll need to figure them out quickly. Clever and gripping, this fast-paced boarding school story will appeal to fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society and Spy School series.
A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series. (Adventure. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781665982283
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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