What do you do after nearly breaking the universe? Run for president!
Seventh-grader Jacob Wonderbar and his best friends Sarah and Dexter had one wild adventure across space and time last year (Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space KAPOW, 2011). Jacob discovered that his missing dad might be in space among the Astrals, but after he caused the great space kapow, the king of the universe sent the trio back to Earth. Now the king has nominated Jacob to run for president of the universe against Prince (and erstwhile space pirate) Mick Cracken, who hates Jacob. Jacob promises to clean up his act and avoid his signature pranks, but Mick promises corruption and lies. Both candidates must compete in three trials and make appearances and speeches across the cosmos. Jacob also has to dodge Mick's "Earther"-hating soldiers from the planet Valkyrie. When Princess Catalina declares herself Jacob's running mate and Sarah leaves Jacob's campaign for Mick's, it's anyone's game. Who will win? And will the Space Chimps ever get their bananas? Bransford's second slapstick space saga is as much fun as the first. Couched in the space silliness is a surprisingly sharp satire of American electoral shenanigans, making the book especially timely.
The final pages definitely set up volume three, so a sequel can't be far... far away. (Science fiction/humor. 8-12)Pub Date: April 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3538-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Dial
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Roz, a robot who learned to adapt to life among wild creatures in her first outing, seeks to return to the island she calls home.
Brown’s sequel to The Wild Robot (2016) continues an intriguing premise: What would happen to a robot after challenges in an unexpected environment cause it to evolve in unusual ways? As this book opens, Roz is delivered to a farm where she helps a widower with two young children run a dairy operation that has been in his family for generations. Roz reveals her backstory to the cows, who are supportive of the robot’s determination to return to the island and to her adopted son, the goose Brightbill. The cows, the children, and finally Brightbill himself come to Roz’s aid. The focus on Roz’s escape from human control results in a somewhat solemn and episodic narrative, with an extended journey and chase after Roz leaves the farm. Dr. Molovo, a literal deus ex machina, appears near the end of the story to provide a means of rescue. She is Roz’s designer/creator, and, intrigued by the robot’s adaptation and evolution but cognizant of the threat that those achievements might represent to humans, she assists Roz and Brightbill in their quest. The satisfactory (if inevitable-feeling) conclusion may prompt discussion about individual agency and determination, whether for robots or people.
If not as effervescent as Roz’s first outing, it is still a provocatively contemplative one. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-38204-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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