A very funny, solid little side quest with great characters.
A special solo adventure following The Midnight Blade (2019) for intrepid reporter June Del Toro.
During the middle of an equipment test, the “last kids” of the series title are interrupted by a band of banditlike Rifters chasing a mysterious creature. In the chaos, June’s DoomKart ends up dragged far away before she can liberate herself for a solo adventure—well, almost solo, as cute mascot-type character Globlet joins her. They follow a scream and find the creature, cornered by the Rifters—who plan to take it to Thrull, instrumental in the takeover of the Earth. After a daring, explosive rescue, June realizes the creature’s a baby Winged Wretch—but unlike other Wretches June’s encountered, he’s not evil, so she decides to help him get back to his kind. Along the way, her party is rounded out by comic-relief character Johnny Steve, an “oversized-owl dude” and a self-proclaimed expert on humans with hilariously wrong facts. They face dangerous obstacles and reversals before a strong theme of belonging and interconnection emerges to add heart to the jokes and action, a theme that emphasizes June’s separation from the original cast and harks back to the first book. The art is well integrated into the story, especially helpful in blocking the frequent action sequences. The ending pushes along the series’ overall storyline. June is implied to be Latinx; Quint appears black; Dirk and Jack seem white.
A very funny, solid little side quest with great characters. (Horror/adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11718-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey.
Separated from his pack, Swift, a young wolf, embarks on a perilous search for a new home.
Swift’s mother impresses on him early that his “pack belongs to the mountains and the mountains belong to the pack.” His father teaches him to hunt elk, avoid skunks and porcupines, revere the life that gives them life, and “carry on” when their pack is devastated in an attack by enemy wolves. Alone and grieving, Swift reluctantly leaves his mountain home. Crossing into unfamiliar territory, he’s injured and nearly dies, but the need to run, hunt, and live drives him on. Following a routine of “walk-trot-eat-rest,” Swift traverses prairies, canyons, and deserts, encountering men with rifles, hunger, thirst, highways, wild horses, a cougar, and a forest fire. Never imagining the “world could be so big or that I could be so alone in it,” Swift renames himself Wander as he reaches new mountains and finds a new home. Rife with details of the myriad scents, sounds, tastes, touches, and sights in Swift/Wander’s primal existence, the immediacy of his intimate, first-person, present-tense narration proves deeply moving, especially his longing for companionship. Realistic black-and-white illustrations trace key events in this unique survival story, and extensive backmatter fills in further factual information about wolves and their habitat.
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey. (additional resources, map) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-289593-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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