A well-told Amazon story with an appealing young hero but some puzzling details.
When his village is threatened, a boy joins a quest deep into the rainforest in this debut children’s book.
Born in Winiperu, a small village in the Amazon rainforest, 10-year-old Tiberius is the grandson of the Grand Chief; his grandmother is a healer; and his parents are spiritual leaders and teachers. As for Tiberius, a fortuneteller foretold at his birth that he’d become a village chief at only 14 “thanks to his bravery, young wisdom, and leadership.” He has a chance to demonstrate these qualities when a “Monster Eel” takes over the nearby lake, eating all the fish and endangering the village. Tiberius and his best friend volunteer to join adult villagers in making a long and perilous journey to bring back the arapaima fish, the only creature large and fierce enough to defeat the giant eel. The expedition runs into trouble several times, and Tiberius always saves the day. Four years later, the fortuneteller’s prediction comes true. In his tale, London deftly captures the heady atmosphere of the Amazon, with its colorful birds, beasts, plants, and natural beauty. His storybook cadence helps cast a spell, as with the description of the “Monster Eel that was bigger than a chicken, bigger than a rabbit, bigger than a sheep, bigger than a cow, and bigger than an elephant.” The author draws on his own experiences growing up in the Amazon basin, and the work is often richly evocative of the rainforest and Indigenous culture, portrayed in the lovely, uncredited colored-pencil illustrations. But it’s impossible to tell the story’s era; dress is traditional, but technology (such as blacksmithing) often isn’t. The name Tiberius; elephants; travel by horse and cart; pajamas; fireworks—all seem extremely out of place in the jungle.
A well-told Amazon story with an appealing young hero but some puzzling details.Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5255-5466-7
Page Count: 56
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Epic lunacy.
Will extragalactic rats eat the moon?
Can a cybernetic toenail clipper find a worthy purpose in the vast universe? Will the first feline astronaut ever get a slice of pizza? Read on. Reworked from the Live Cartoon series of homespun video shorts released on Instagram in 2020 but retaining that “we’re making this up as we go” quality, the episodic tale begins with the electrifying discovery that our moon is being nibbled away. Off blast one strong, silent, furry hero—“Meow”—and a stowaway robot to our nearest celestial neighbor to hook up with the imperious Queen of the Moon and head toward the dark side, past challenges from pirates on the Sea of Tranquility and a sphinx with a riddle (“It weighs a ton, but floats on air. / It’s bald but has a lot of hair.” The answer? “Meow”). They endure multiple close but frustratingly glancing encounters with pizza and finally deliver the malign, multiheaded Rat King and its toothy armies to a suitable fate. Cue the massive pizza party! Aside from one pirate captain and a general back on Earth, the human and humanoid cast in Harris’ loosely drawn cartoon panels, from the appropriately moon-faced queen on, is light skinned. Merch, music, and the original episodes are available on an associated website.
Epic lunacy. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308408-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Most children will agree the book is “smafunderful (smart + fun + wonderful).” (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)
In this entertaining chapter book, the first in a series, readers meet kind Sir Sidney and the gentle performers and hands in his circus. But Sir Sidney is tired and leaves the circus under the management of new-hire Barnabas Brambles for a week.
That Sir Sidney is beloved by all is quickly established, presenting a sharp contrast to the bully Brambles. The scoundrel immediately comes up with a “to do” list that includes selling the animals and eliminating the mice Bert and Gert. (Gert is almost more distressed by Brambles’ ill-fitting suit and vows to tailor it.) Revealed almost entirely through dialogue, the put-upon animals’ solidarity is endearing. The story, like the circus train now driven by the Famous Flying Banana Brothers, takes absurd loops and turns. The art is fully integrated, illustrating the action and supplementing the text with speech bubbles, facsimile letters and posters, Brambles’ profit-and-loss notes, examples of Gert’s invented vocabulary and more. Brambles’ plans go awry, of course, and he gets his comeuppance. With Bert and Gert acting as his conscience, along with a suit from Gert that finally fits and a dose of forgiveness, Brambles makes a turnaround. Sensitive children may doubt Sir Sidney’s wisdom in leaving his animals with an unscrupulous man, and the closing message is a tad didactic, but that doesn’t blunt the fun too much.
Most children will agree the book is “smafunderful (smart + fun + wonderful).” (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-61620-244-6
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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