An excellent flashlight-under-the-blanket read.
A grieving boy goes up against a local ghost story.
Ruby was more than just Matt and Judy’s nanny; she was a beloved family member and indispensable to their struggling single mom. After Ruby’s sudden death, Matt withdraws into deep sadness, icing out his younger sister and isolating himself from friends. It’s that grief—and the belief that he’s hearing Ruby’s voice calling him—that leads him, with Judy following, into a forested area that is said to be the lair of the Witch of the Woods, someone who lures children in and then later comes to collect them. Then, a new nanny arrives. Miss Swan lets the kids (plus Matt’s friends Mario, Charlie, and Teo, who come over for a sleepover on her first night on the job) run wild, but Matt is convinced there’s something wrong with her, something evil. The ’90s setting captures the feel of vintage horror, and the genre-savvy kids manage to hit classic beats in a way that’s rewarding instead of derivative, especially as they have to take matters in their own hands to save one of their own. The themes—grief’s rendering a person unrecognizable, feeling forgotten, and the meaning of family—come through clearly, though some elements of the raven-themed witch and her magic don’t fit so neatly. The art’s blocking and framing enhance tension in quieter moments as well as action. Ruby reads as Black; other characters appear White.
An excellent flashlight-under-the-blanket read. (Graphic horror. 8-13)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11734-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
An entertaining, afterlife-themed addition to the pantheon of insecure, goofy tweens who could use a good friend.
His hellaciously embarrassing reputation drives a boy to try to transform himself in time for middle school.
Dante Nimrod Ferno, who hails from the fiery-hot town of Brimstone and has horns, like many other residents, is about to enter Purg Middle School. Accidentally dropping his pants in the school cafeteria when he was 6 made him a laughingstock, and thanks to his nemesis, Phillip, no one has forgotten the incident. Dante, who’s cued neurodiverse, has trouble focusing, but he means well and wants to get along, no matter how much teasing he gets from classmates like the cliquey unicorns. He does befriend a couple of nicer kids, including Virgil, a winged boy from the neighboring realm of Blisshaven, who acts as an accomplice to many of Dante’s plots. Every page features an illustration that breaks up the text, and varied fonts are frequently employed for emphasis, adding to the visual interest. Gordon’s scribbly black-and-white art is lively and expressive. Dante’s maturing personality and better nature come through as he interacts with friends and demonstrates his mastery of comic book superhero lore. He doesn’t solve all the problems in his life, but by the end of the book, his confidence and self-esteem have a fighting chance. Readers will have to wait for the sequel in order to see how he fares from here.
An entertaining, afterlife-themed addition to the pantheon of insecure, goofy tweens who could use a good friend. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780374395018
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
Fans of unbridled, melodramatic tomfoolery will be over the moon.
A taste of poisoned soup spurs the Queen of the Moon and her feline companion into embarking on a quest for a curative fruit from the orbiting orb’s only golden glumpfoozle tree.
In further exploits attended by the monosyllabic, spacesuit-clad titular feline (“Meow”), Harris and Barnett bring back the cast of The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza (2022), from diaper-wearing buccaneer Captain Babybeard to computerized toenail clipper LOZ 4000, for a lunar ramble past a pair of mysterious killbots, Psychic Flying Eyeballs of Death, and other hazards. Depicted in rolling arrays of changing palettes and panel sizes and led by the opalescent Queen of the Moon—who, ignoring her loudly rumbling tummy, stoutly declares that “my reign will not be cut short by soup”—the expedition fetches up at last on the edge of a bottomless crater for a last-minute save, appropriately over-the-top grandstanding by a familiar AI with futile protagonistic ambitions (“How many pages did I get this time? 73?”), and a closing celebratory soupfest, depicted Last Supper–style by a vermiform da Vinci. This volume continues the nonstop madcap fun; returning readers will not be disappointed, and new ones will quickly become avid followers of the world’s first feline astronaut.
Fans of unbridled, melodramatic tomfoolery will be over the moon. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780063084117
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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