Hijinks ensue when a clandestine “carnivorous bioengineering experiment” escapes on a space station.
This effervescent tale begins as Sanity Jones, a budding scientist, gets a tongue-lashing from her best friend’s mom—and Wilnick Station’s senior scientist—Dr. Vega, after the discovery of her completely unauthorized experiment, which involved a modified stasis chamber and other illicitly procured materials. Best friends Sanity and Tallulah have tried to keep the experiment, Sanity’s brainchild, under wraps: a white, three-headed kitten they’ve named Princess Sparkle, Destroyer of Worlds. Although she’s been grounded for aiding and abetting, after this bioengineered kitty escapes, Tallulah helps Sanity search the space station for Princess Sparkle, Destroyer of Worlds. (The repetition of the cat’s three names—one for each head—is just one of the many funny jokes that run through this graphic novel.) Meanwhile, the space station is experiencing technical problems that seem to point to the escaped kitty—but Sanity and Tallulah discover a much bigger vermin problem that has the potential to destroy the entire station. Sanity Jones, who is black, and Tallulah Vega-Davisson, who is biracial (Latinx/white), headline a thoroughly diverse supporting cast (Sanity’s dad, who’s also black, is station director; Tallulah’s has a leg prosthesis), creating a fresh, realistic representation of future space exploration.
Interlaced with spot-on dialogue that is full of humor, this page-turner delivers. (Graphic science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-368-00844-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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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
Categories: GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
Categories: GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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