Not even his encounter with a spectral Poltergoose (2002) prepares Jiggy McCue—or readers—for his next challenge: underwear with a mind of its own. Jiggy really has only himself to blame; discovering that he likes to wear each pair of briefs until it sloughs off, his Mom marches him to the flea market and buys him new ones that are both hideously ugly and, once donned, cling so stubbornly that nothing can pry them off. Worse yet, they not only bestow fierce, unscratchable itches, but at unpredictable times give anything Jiffy says the force of an irresistible command—as he finds out after blithely bidding buddy Pete to go flush his head in the toilet. As it turns out, the nasty knickers are the work of Neville the Devil, a junior Horned One out to make his mark on the world, “ ‘starting at the bottom,’ ” as he puts it. Luckily, Neville’s handiwork has an herbal Achilles’ heel, and Jiggy manages to lose the deadly drawers at last—only to see dismaying evidence that they’ve taken up residence within the trousers of brutish classmate Eejit Atkins. Replete with arch innuendo and pants-down misadventures that would make anyone but the irrepressible Jiggy want to crawl into a hole to die of embarrassment, this snappy episode will fly off library shelves on the, er, coattails of Captain Underpants. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-525-46897-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2002
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
“Hear, and listen well, my friends, and I will tell you a tale that has been told for a thousand years and more.” It’s not exactly a rarely told tale, either, though this complete rendition is distinguished by both handsome packaging and a prose narrative that artfully mixes alliterative language reminiscent of the original, with currently topical references to, for instance, Grendel’s “endless terror raids,” and the “holocaust at Heorot.” Along with being printed on heavy stock and surrounded by braided borders, the text is paired to colorful scenes featuring a small human warrior squaring off with a succession of grimacing but not very frightening monsters in battles marked by but a few discreet splashes of blood. Morpurgo puts his finger on the story’s enduring appeal—“we still fear the evil that stalks out there in the darkness . . . ”—but offers a version unlikely to trouble the sleep of more sensitive readers or listeners. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-3206-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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