An equally wholesome and amusing tale that celebrates friendship, nature, and curious inquiry.
In this middle-grade novel, a boy works with friends to investigate illegally caught lobsters.
Last September, Berend “Bear” Houtman stayed with his grandmother on Oxbow Island (near Portland, Maine) while he was suspended from sixth grade; he redeemed himself by helping to catch a poacher. This year, with Halloween approaching, Bear has gotten permission to carry out an ocean research project there. He also hopes to build a record-setting pumpkin pyramid, but for both projects, Bear runs into problems figuring out the proper equipment and procedures. For the science part, many recommend he ask Hiram Wiley, a battered old lobsterman and “practically an oceanographer.” But Bear feels uncomfortable around Hiram after he warned Bear about an especially large lobster claw he’d found: “Never tell anyone about that. Never. Do you hear me?” But more claws from lobsters that should have been thrown back keep turning up, indicating someone’s been catching them illegally, so Bear—wondering whom to trust—investigates with his friend Olivia Anaya, also a seventh grader. Whether building a pyramid, catching illegal lobster catchers, or thwarting Olivia’s sexist, racist track-team coach, the quirky island community comes together to make things right. As in her first novel, Chalmers conjures up the warmth, charm, and eccentricity of Oxbow Island’s widely diverse but close-knit residents (plus some Portlanders). It’s heartening to see how they creatively rally round each other again and again for problem-solving and protection. Chalmers also makes math and science attractive, as with Bear’s increasing enthusiasm for his project or when calculating how many pumpkins are needed for a pyramid. A satisfying conclusion ties things up. Hogan contributes monochrome chapter-head illustrations that reflect the island’s appeal and quirky characters.
An equally wholesome and amusing tale that celebrates friendship, nature, and curious inquiry.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 209
Publisher: Maine Authors Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 29, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thrilling conclusion to a beautifully crafted, heart-stopping trilogy.
This is the moment teens Seth, Anaya, and Petra have both been anticipating and dreading ever since aliens called cryptogens began attempting to colonize the Earth: the chance to defend their planet.
In an earlier volume, Seth, Anaya, and Petra began growing physical characteristics that made them realize they were half alien. Seth has wings, Petra has a tail, and Anaya has fur. They also have the power of telepathy, which Anaya uses to converse with Terra, a cryptogen rebel looking for human allies who could help stop the invasion of Earth. Terra plans to use a virus stored in the three teens’ bodies to disarm the flyers, which are the winged aliens that are both masterminding the invasion and enslaving the other species of cryptogens known as swimmers and runners. But Terra and her allies can’t pull any of this off without the help of Anaya, Seth, and Petra. Although the trio is anxious about their abilities, they don’t have much of a choice—the entire human race is depending on them for salvation. Like its predecessors, this trilogy closer is fast-paced and well structured. Despite its post-apocalyptic setting, the story is fundamentally character driven, and it is incredibly satisfying to watch each protagonist overcome their inner battles within the context of the larger human-alien war. Main characters read as White.
A thrilling conclusion to a beautifully crafted, heart-stopping trilogy. (Science fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984894-80-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
A few promising, even brilliant bits are lost in an ill-constructed jumble of warring plotlines and ambiguous agendas.
As fleets of hostile warships gather over a floating city, a young thief finds himself the object of an urgent manhunt.
Readers can be excused for coming away bewildered by Sheehan’s competing storylines, disconnected events, genre-bending revelations, and refusal to fit any of the major players in the all-White–presenting cast consistently into the roles of villain, ally, or even protagonist. Continually shifting through points of view and annoyingly punctuated with an omniscient narrator’s portentous commentary, the tale centers on the exploits of 12-year-old street urchin Milo Quick and his squad of juvenile ragamuffins (seemingly juvenile at any rate; one is eventually revealed to be something else entirely) in an aerial city of Dickensian squalor threatened by a multinational flying armada. Though a lot of people are after Milo, ranging from the swashbuckling crew of a flying privateer hired (ostensibly) to kidnap him and a vengeful punk bent on bloody murder to a sinister truant officer paid lavishly by mysterious parties to watch over him, he ultimately winds up—or so it seems—being no more than a red herring all along. The actual target is revealed piecemeal in conversations and flashbacks before the commencement of a climactic bombardment and an abrupt cutoff in which three side characters, miraculously shrugging off multiple knife and bullet wounds, themselves suddenly take center stage to set up a sequel.
A few promising, even brilliant bits are lost in an ill-constructed jumble of warring plotlines and ambiguous agendas. (Science fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-10951-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
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