When his Aunt Phil flies to the western Sudan to recapture an escaped basilisk, she takes Nathaniel Fludd along, reassuring him that he is only to “watch and learn.” Instead, he and his gremlin friend, Greasle, play important roles. This satisfying middle-grade adventure features a hesitant, unskilled hero, a miniature sidekick straight from Where the Wild Things Are and an exotic setting in colonial British West Africa in 1928. The basilisk is appropriately scary, and straightforward storytelling leads to an exciting climax. Readers won’t get and don’t need the entire back story from Flight of the Phoenix (2009), the first in the Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist series, but those who have read it will surely enjoy the return of the supposed orphan and his formidable aunt. Murphy has provided a full-page pen-and-ink illustration as well as several smaller sketches for almost every chapter, and Nathaniel contributes drawings, too. Sharp-eyed readers will realize that the chapter numbers are counted in animal bones. This story is complete in itself, but the ending promises more adventure to come. (Guide to People, Places, and Things) (Adventure. 7-10)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-547-23867-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
What is it about dragons that so appeals to children and fantasy readers? While visiting his cousin Daisy, Jesse finds a geode that even a geologist’s band saw cannot open. It’s no geode, of course, but a dragon’s egg, which hatches volcanically in his sock drawer. Of the two children, Daisy is the more active and adventurous, while Jesse tends toward thoughtfulness, but they are both determined to hang onto their new pet. Of course, all babies grow larger and Emmy, the dragon, who talks in a staccato English (One. Word. At. A. Time.) becomes a handful to feed, entertain and hide. All would go smoothly if not for a new professor at the college, the very unpleasant and dangerous Professor Saint George, who has terrible breath and who will stop at nothing to have the dragon for his very own. Some tense moments occur as the children rescue Emmy from the evil professor before all ends well. The characterization is black-and-white in this mild adventure story for readers who have not yet graduated to fuller fantasies. (Fantasy. 7-9)
Pub Date: July 22, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-375-85587-0
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2008
Using underlighting and close shadows to give the art an air of fire-lit mystery, McPhail strands the bookish protagonist of, most recently, Edward and the Pirates (1997) in Tarzan territory, where he’s rescued from a crocodile by the Lord of the Jungle himself. After other encounters with wild animals, Edward in turn rescues the croc from a pair of collectors, then the adventure draws to a close when Tarzan’s yell turns into Edward’s dad calling him home for dinner. Children with a taste for danger will be happy to follow Edward wherever his reading takes him, or to take the hint and get lost in their own favorite stories. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-316-56391-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
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