Delightfully chaotic.
Is there anything worse than mayhem ruining your breakfast?
Dash Candoo is no ordinary elementary schooler. After he dispatches three fearsome Wrestle-Scallywags and a two-tailed Devil Cat that interrupted his breakfast, Dash heads to Swedhump Elementary to take classes like Vegetables and Paper Airplanes alongside English and math. But the morning’s mayhem was just the beginning: Items are mysteriously stolen from school grounds in broad daylight. Dash knows the Scallywags and Devil Cat are involved, and he immediately begins investigating. But he will need the help of his best friend, Rob Newman, some highly specific gadgetry, and several secret tunnels if he wants to figure out who’s behind the thefts and why before the villains carry out their final plan. With this series opener, Lazar has crafted a visual narrative that lands somewhere between a wacky cartoon and an increasingly outlandish group round robin. With Dash narrating all the background exposition and action play-by-play, readers don’t have much breathing room as the plot hurtles forward—something Lazar seems to anticipate with the inclusion of occasional double-page spreads to break up the momentum as well as the promise of a treat should a reader finish the book in one sitting. The underlining of certain terms to signal that readers can find further information in copious backmatter also offers the option to pause. Black-and-white illustrations render Dash and a few other characters as characters of color. Sequel Tuesday—The Curse of the Blue Spots publishes simultaneously.
Delightfully chaotic. (Graphic adventure. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-77037-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale.
After a tsunami devastates their habitat in the Salish Sea, a young orca and her brother embark on a remarkable adventure.
Vega’s matriarchal family expects her to become a hunter and wayfinder, with her younger brother, Deneb, protecting and supporting her. Invited to guide her family to their Gathering Place to hunt salmon, Vega’s underwater miscalculations endanger them all, and an embarrassed Vega questions whether she should be a wayfinder. When the baby sister she hoped would become her life companion is stillborn, a distraught Vega carries the baby away to a special resting place, shocking her grieving family. Dispatched to find his missing sister, Deneb locates Vega in the midst of a terrible tsunami. To escape the waters polluted by shattered boats, Vega leads Deneb into unfamiliar open sea. Alone and hungry, the young siblings encounter a spectacular giant whale and travel briefly with shark-hunting orcas. Trusting her instincts and gaining emotional strength from contemplating the vastness of the sky, Vega knows she must lead her brother home and help save her surviving family. In alternating first-person voices, Vega and Deneb tell their harrowing story, engaging young readers while educating them about the marine ecosystem. Realistic black-and-white illustrations enhance the maritime setting.
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale. (maps, wildlife facts, tribes of the Salish Sea watershed, environmental and geographical information, how to help orcas, author’s note, artist’s note, resources) (Animal fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299592-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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