Perhaps there is appeal for dyed-in-the-wool fans, but it’s not likely to make converts
A misfit toy strives to fit in at his new academy.
A spinoff of the animated NEXO KNIGHTS and the eponymous toy line introduces Fletcher, a plucky country orphan off to train at the famous Knights' Academy. Once he arrives at the school, he quickly befriends Izzy, a precocious girl whose brother is a famous alumnus. On an academically mandated scavenger hunt, the pair unearths a strange shield that they believe harbors beneficial powers. Once in possession of the mysterious relic, they learn that the wicked Baron von Bludgeonous is pursuing them, determined to steal the shield and use its power to unleash an unspeakable evil. Will the two yellow underdogs (they are Legos, after all) be able to rise up and save not only their academy, but also the entire kingdom? Superficiality is the order of the day; for example, Fletcher has a mystical, innate force guiding his tough decisions—a gut feeling—that is literally in his gut. Short chapters carry the flimsy and predictable adventure, which seems better suited for its animated counterpart than a prose novel. Littered with name-dropping references to the many facets of the franchise, this feels like a protracted commercial lacking the visual interest of the cartoon or the creativity of the building sets. While certainly current, once the next Lego darling is introduced, this flash in the pan will be relegated to obscurity.
Perhaps there is appeal for dyed-in-the-wool fans, but it’s not likely to make converts . (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-338-04183-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Furnished with a light wash of natural science, a buggy, action-oriented adventure that goes light on the gore and gross...
Budding entomologist Max Darwin makes a wish—and finds himself on Bug Island, where the local insects are threatened by an invasion of hungry reptiles and amphibians.
With little preliminary ado, Patton hands his young protagonist a fascinating old insect encyclopedia and a very special magnifying glass that shrinks him to proper size and plunks him down amid Bug Island’s beleaguered arthropods. It seems a volcanic eruption has laid a land bridge between the island and the neighboring Reptilian Empire—allowing a horde of insect-eating creatures led by roaring Gen. Komodo to cross over. Can Max use his big brain to find a way to save new friends Barton, a titan beetle, genial emperor scorpion Spike, shy trap-door spider Webster, and the rest of the island’s diverse cast of six- or eight-legged residents from becoming a buggy banquet? And will he be able to get back to his original size and home? That would be yes and yes—following plenty of furious but fatality-free fighting and some ingenious further bridge building that puts a river between the bugs and their scaly nemeses. But the war’s not over yet; stay tuned for return visits in two planned sequels. Finished illustrations not seen, but in samples, Bean draws Max as a dark-skinned, black-haired boy.
Furnished with a light wash of natural science, a buggy, action-oriented adventure that goes light on the gore and gross bits. (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-70741-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
A sharp, ultimately appealing corrective to Disney’s better-known confection.
The classic tale of the wooden boy who wants to become real gets a 21st-century update.
McMullan presents readers with a straightforward retelling of Pinocchio’s lies and trials based on the Carlo Collodi original. Those unfamiliar with that text will undoubtedly be surprised by what they find here. McMullan pulls no punches, recounting every step of the puppet’s journey, even when it doesn’t make much sense. Some will find the herky-jerky nature and bizarre violence of Collodi’s original tale off-putting. Characters that die one moment (Cricket, Blue Fairy, etc.) may then walk about without any explanation for their resuscitations the next. Fortunately Lemaitre’s art goes a long way toward softening some of the harsher elements of the tale, his cartoonish style offering a humanity and pathos to a character that might otherwise prove too flawed to love. The episodic nature of Pinocchio’s adventuring (the original book was syndicated in newspapers) pairs remarkably well with this simple format for emerging readers. Despite the series title—Cartoon Classic—the text-to-picture ratio slots this squarely in the early-chapter category rather than the graphic-novel section.
A sharp, ultimately appealing corrective to Disney’s better-known confection. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9699-6
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
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