An ambitious adventure buried beneath too many timelines and supernatural detours.
Hockwater’s supernatural middle-grade adventure novel explores myths, history, and time travel.
Twelve-year-old Carter Knox has a very different life compared to other kids in Buffalo, New York: He and his father practically live at the history museum where his father works, and Carter has the ability to see ghosts, or what he calls “echoes,” tied to the museum’s artifacts. Among the figures Carter encounters are President Grover Cleveland and his wife, alongside the more recent addition of adventurer Percy Fawcett. Soon after the arrival of Fawcett’s journal, the ankh that Carter wears around his neck begins to glow and transports him to the realm of Osiris, who reveals that the journal is connected to the lost Scrivener, a powerful object capable of rewriting the Book of Life and altering the myths and legends that have shaped human history. Years earlier, Carter’s archaeologist mother disappeared while searching for the Scrivener in Egypt, and Carter now believes he may be able to use its power to bring her back. With the help of his friends Lincoln and Charlotte, Carter learns about the lost city of Atlantis, Mesoamerican myths, the Trail of Tears, and even the assassination of President McKinley while trying to hold true to the belief that “everyone’s story deserves to be told.” Hockwater’s core conceit—that rewriting myths, legends, and history will lead to dire consequences—is a clever setup for a middle-grade novel; the idea of a contemporary 12-year-old bantering with dead presidents, explorers, and gods feels ripe for a smart supernatural adventure. However, the author’s maximalist approach overwhelms the reader instead of providing a fun ride. The narrative jumps so rapidly between different continents, myths, historical figures, godlike powers, ghosts, and time-travel tropes that it will give readers of any age whiplash, and the numerous MacGuffins, secret cities, and enemies become difficult to follow. In the deluge of plot and mythology, Hockwater loses sight of his own strongest idea: Our most primordial and simplest tales often have the most lasting effect.
An ambitious adventure buried beneath too many timelines and supernatural detours.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9798999085177
Page Count: 241
Publisher: NFB Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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