A goofy, plot-driven saga with kid-friendly characters and scenarios.
A boy and his dog have an imaginative adventure in James’ chapter book.
After an unappetizing dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, Noah, who is White, uses colored pencils to draw his nightly “RADVENTURES.” Soon, he and Rufus, his dog, are transported into the drawing of Spaghetti Mountain, where Rufus has turned into a talking mule. They encounter Pete “Garlic,” a mustachioed garlic clove, on the trek up. Noah asks for directions home. Garlic says they must “survive the Swamp Bolognese without melting, cross the rickety old Fusilli Bridge without falling, paddle up the Ragu River without getting eaten by the killer mirepoix, and make it to Parmesan Peak to face the Extra Spicy Meatball and his army of mini meatballs who shoot flames out of their mouths.” Noah and Rufus get creative along the arduous journey. They use a disintegrating bay leaf as a boat on the hot swamp. Finally, the duo encounters the meatballs, and, holy smokes, they are shocked to discover that the Extra Spicy Meatball is a double-crossing Garlic. “Thousands of mini meatballs surrounded Garlic, creating the biggest, scariest, most maniacal meatball.” When Noah notices that the more the meatballs roar, the more their fiery breath melts the Parmesan Peak, he runs away, intentionally causing upset. Soon, an “avalanche of…cheese…engulfed every last meatball, sticking them in place forever.” Back in his room, Noah awaits his next “radventure.” This silly story will appeal to those looking to dig into a humorous, exciting tale. Noah’s quick thinking and clever ideas will keep readers engaged. The spaghetti, sauce, and food-related names and imagery (basil brush, herb paddle, etc.) are wacky and fun. Rodrigues’ cartoon illustrations nicely supplement the story. They show Noah’s escapades as he endures the elements, like crossing the crumbling bridge, using spaghetti as rope, fighting off the meatballs, and more.
A goofy, plot-driven saga with kid-friendly characters and scenarios.Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-52-559040-5
Page Count: 54
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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
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