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TIME HEIST

From the Cat Ninja series , Vol. 2

Fantastic, frenetic fun for comics and kitty fans.

A barrage of baddies comes for Cat Ninja.

Mild-mannered Claude the cat lives with Leon and Marcie Kwon and their mother; but when the city is threatened, Claude becomes Cat Ninja! (Only the kids know his secret.) Aided by former criminal mastermind Mr. Squeak (once known as Master Hamster), Cat Ninja fights the mind-controlling King Crab. Things get complicated with the hatching of Hoot, a superstrong owlet that Leon brought home from school as an egg (he thought it was a chicken egg). With Hoot’s help, Cat Ninja bests Electric Eel, Mecha Mechano, and Rhino Blasty, but the thing about this new wave of villains is that they only seem to be interested in attacking Cat Ninja. Apparently there is a bounty on his head. When Hoot’s father, Chronowl, arrives from the year 3021 they find out who is behind the attacks, their true target…and that all the world is at stake. This second collection of Cat Ninja digital comics (Nos. 6 through 10) is, if anything, more fun than the first. Bright, action-stuffed panels drawn by Thomas and colored by Wucinich don’t skimp on the visual gags. The Kwons are cued as Korean, and their community is diverse. Backmatter includes a sketchbook and superhero and supervillain name generators.

Fantastic, frenetic fun for comics and kitty fans. (Graphic fantasy. 7-14)

Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-5248-6808-6

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021

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THE WILD ROBOT PROTECTS

From the Wild Robot series , Vol. 3

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

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CHARLOTTE'S WEB

The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...

A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.

Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.

The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952

ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952

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