A delightfully zany time-travel tale.
Twelve-year-old Joe Jackson’s life in the dull English town of Highcross takes an unexpected turn from the ordinary to the extraordinary when he befriends Maxelon, an alien from the faraway planet Proxima Centauri b. The journey kicks off with a chance discovery at the site of a controlled explosion of a World War II bomb, where Joe finds Max, who’s been marooned on Earth for nearly a year. Max “looked like he was about 15 years old. His skin was very pale, and he had jet black hair…He wore a utility belt with lots of strange-looking gadgets hanging from it.” The alien is trying to thwart the nefarious ambitions of Dardan, a member of a warmongering species from Max’s home planet, intent on seizing control of Earth. As Joe and Max become fast friends and allies, the duo uses advanced alien tech to track Dardan back in time all the way to the Cretaceous era, when dinosaurs still roamed Earth. From then on, the friends gather more companions (including the Robinsons, a family stuck in the past whom the pals rescue) and continue their trek through time—from the Cretaceous era to Roman Britain and the early-medieval period. They eventually travel to an altered present to prevent Dardan from taking over Earth while attempting to protect their own timeline. Aliens, dinosaurs, Roman legionnaires, and even King Arthur intersect in Golding’s fun time-traveling story, which focuses on Joe and Max’s evolving friendship. Gradinariu’s vivid illustrations enrich the tale, capturing the whimsical essence of the novel’s wacky escapades, from the surreal sight of Roman legionnaires charging into battle atop dinosaurs to the SF and historical capers. This entertaining story is filled with adventures, twists and turns, and a mix of historical periods and extraterrestrial encounters, telling a yarn about two brave heroes on a mission to stop a dark timeline from taking hold.
A delightfully zany time-travel tale.Pub Date: June 29, 2023
ISBN: 9781839347580
Page Count: 190
Publisher: Olympia Publishers
Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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
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