A warm, loving family and the lure of dragon secrets boost a somewhat muddled portal fantasy.
A uniquely talented seafaring girl steps up to save those she loves.
Ottilie Jo Maul, better known as Otter, has grown up aboard her fathers’ ship, the HMS Tempest, the only boat licensed to seek out dragons. Otter uses her gift of telepathically sensing the presence of dragons to gather their shed skin for the queen and protect the secret of the dragons’ existence. Meanwhile, Sofia finds herself uniquely positioned to demand the queen halt the use of the “relocation ships” responsible for the losses of many parents and children. When the Tempest becomes dangerously damaged, London, a stowaway-turned-friend, tells Otter of a place called the Netherwhere, where they may find the help their sinking ship needs along with the answers to other mysteries. While the plot is at times unclear, with too many different threads and subjects, an array of both common and more unusual fantastical creatures and a cheeky, lovable main character, supported by a close-knit family, will please readers. However, though chapters are brief and action is plentiful, frequent perspective changes are somewhat distracting, and separate storylines take too long to weave together. While this title is not billed as a sequel or part of a series, background knowledge of the Netherwhere and inhabitants would provide illuminating depth for readers. Though Otter is described as having multihued hair, physical descriptions of most characters are limited, implying a White default.
A warm, loving family and the lure of dragon secrets boost a somewhat muddled portal fantasy. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-525-51855-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
PROFILES
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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