Plucky kids, the spice of danger, the lure of treasure, and an ever-so-happy (if remarkably improbable) conclusion all...
After being sent to a mountain camp for grieving teens, impoverished Lucas learns of a multimillion-dollar treasure that may be buried nearby and can be found only by breaking a difficult cipher.
With his father recently killed in Afghanistan, his grandparents have decided to sell their beloved West Virginia mountain to strip miners. This tragedy, on top of the recent loss of his only parent, is almost unbearable for Lucas. At camp, the white country boy befriends cabin mates George, white, overweight, exuberant, and absolutely refusing to be bullied, and Salvadoran-American Alex, who is grieving for his dead mother. He also makes an immediate, persistent enemy of angry, even vicious, white rich-kid-stereotype Zack. On an overnight hike, the threesome spots a cave and sneaks off to look for treasure, then—as a consequence of Zack’s scheming—get lost in the wilderness. After Alex is injured, Lucas hikes down the mountain and enlists the reluctant aid of a surly recluse, Mr. Creech, who turns out to have just the clue needed to solve the mysterious cipher. Action-driven and with character development lagging, this fast-paced tale is based on a real, partially solved 19th-century cipher that could lead to actual treasure, adding a nifty element.
Plucky kids, the spice of danger, the lure of treasure, and an ever-so-happy (if remarkably improbable) conclusion all combine to make this an enjoyable if undemanding read. (Mystery. 10-14)Pub Date: May 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-8063-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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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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