A heartfelt human story on a not-so-lifeless Moon.
A lonely 12-year-old grieving his parents’ breakup finds his purpose on the Moon.
Leo Brightstar, his dad, and his dad’s friend Sally are the vanguard of a new lunar colony. As soon as they arrive, the adults are dispatched on a mission, leaving a confused, hurting Leo alone. He rapidly learns that the Moon has its own rules, both those enforced by the Constable, and those followed by the Moon’s indigenous life forms—who, by existing, break the Constable’s first rule: “There is no life on the Moon.” Swanson’s Constable could be the direct descendant of Lewis Carroll’s Queen of Hearts, and the Moon is as seemingly nonsensical as Wonderland. Leo befriends a Valrooten, an impossibly cute, tentacled creature whose destiny is to be eaten on its birthday by a Hortle, “an extremely large mouth with three stumpy legs.” This is the fate of all 354 Valrootens: One is eaten each day, resulting in an endless cycle since a new Valrooten is also born every day. Leo decides that saving the Valrootens from the Hortles will be his mission; mystifyingly, the Valrootens want none of it. Employing a light touch, Swanson tackles colonialism and ecological balance, but the story’s heart is Leo’s painful acceptance of what he cannot change. Behr’s plentiful, amiable cartoons depict most human characters with pale skin, and a key secondary character presents Black.
A heartfelt human story on a not-so-lifeless Moon. (discussion questions) (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9780593704721
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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