An expertly crafted middle volume featuring a comfy crew of mostly familiar characters.
Spider-Man continues tackling schoolwork, romantic turmoil, and alien rage monsters in this middle-grade sequel.
Just for kicks (and punches) Chhibber spots 16-year-old Spidey a fresh villain du jour from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the main menace remains the not-quite-extirpated viral invaders from the opener, Spider-Man’s Social Dilemma! (2022)—who, in typical comics tradition, stage a major comeback at the abrupt end of this episode to string readers along. Before that, though, the webslinger tussles with the Spot, a resentful adversary dotted with portable interdimensional wormholes, and with girlfriend Mary Jane, who presents him with a demand to give her a way to rescue him if he ever gets into serious danger. Meanwhile, something shifty is plainly in play as the obviously evil techno-giant Oscorp impinges itself more and more on the lives of Peter Parker and his high school classmates, while the teens continue to develop a new social media app. Considering constant nighttime patrols, daytime huddles and chores, and all the threats to his world as well as his emotional equilibrium, it’s hard to see when Peter gets any sleep; still, the intertwined plotlines roll forward another inch or two. Peter and Mary Jane are white, and secondary characters are racially diverse.
An expertly crafted middle volume featuring a comfy crew of mostly familiar characters. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781368057707
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Marvel Press
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Fresh exploits in a series notable for its engaging characters and high quality of detective work.
The game is afoot as the Sherlock Society’s four middle school detectives are hired to track down elusive Miami graffiti artist Funky Munky.
In their third caper, the savvy young sleuths engage in another round of expert clue gathering and clever analysis as they seek their gifted quarry, “an activist and street artist” known for painting “graffiti monkeys alongside quotes protesting everything from real estate developments to environmental issues to accusations of government corruption.” Chaperoned and kept from doing anything really dangerous by a strict lawyer mom and a flashy grandpa driving a classic Cadillac convertible, siblings Alex and Zoe, plus their friends Yadi and Lina, nonetheless again prove themselves smart and able investigators with the inner stuff to rise to the occasion when the going gets tricky and the stakes mount. The growing suspense breaks for occasional, well-timed comic relief, including some fiendish (if harmless) pranks—one of which prompts Alex to remark good-humoredly to his big sister, “I still can’t decide if you’re an evil genius or just plain evil.” Along with lots of eye-opening exposure to the secretive, part-legitimate, part-outlaw world of graffiti art (South Florida–style, anyway), readers will be swept up in the closely knit quartet’s lively dynamics as well as the details of the investigation as the tale progresses to its climactic denouement. Yadi reads Latine, and the other leads present white.
Fresh exploits in a series notable for its engaging characters and high quality of detective work. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781665983563
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
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