This YA sci-fi debut sees an alien criminal exiled to Earth with dire—and hilarious—consequences.
Ixdahan Daherek (also spelled Daharek), an eight-tentacled Snaldrialooran, has illegally downloaded information from the Ministry of Defense and sold it to the Vrukaari, a rival species. He only did so because his father cut his allowance in half. As punishment, Ixdahan is placed in a transmog chamber, turned into the 17-year-old human Derek Dixon, and sent to live on Earth. There, robot parents will help him pass for a normal teenager. Derek’s arrival by spaceship, however, is witnessed by Lena Gabrilowicz. She’s on her dad’s boat in Felicity Bay when she loses consciousness, only to wake with empty beer cans in hand and a note nearby saying, “No one will believe you.” But she eventually meets the socially inept Derek and, at Skudderton High School, bonds with him despite his stilted speech and crush on her best friend, Callie Ann. Things don’t get truly weird until Lena is hospitalized for a fungal infection on her hands and extra “mutant” mailboxes begin appearing all over Skudderton and the world. Once Derek’s robot parents start malfunctioning, he suspects that the belligerent Vrukaari plan to invade—and it’s all his fault. Author Laporta sets up his snarky epic quickly, establishing Earth as a backwater “Level 2 civilization,” full of “ape-descended, gas-breathing bipeds.” Derek’s robot parents are equally amusing, often speaking with exaggerated cheer: “Finally made it up, Sleepy Head?” But the real joy of this narrative is watching Derek grow to care for the supposedly inferior earthlings, especially Lena, who’s a “sentient creature like himself, curious about the texture of the universe and the meaning of life.” And, holding it all together is Laporta’s spot-on portrayal of life as a teen; while Lena looks forward to a career in either oceanography or metal sculpting, high school is a “snarling beast that devoured her time, slurped down her energy and roared for more.” A bittersweet ending rounds off this fabulous read.
An irresistible blend of wonky science and heartfelt storytelling.
Pub Date: June 11, 2013
ISBN: 9780692239841
Page Count: 191
Publisher: Chickadee Prince Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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