An agreeably quick-paced time-travel romp.
Double the adventure continues in this stand-alone sequel to The Twinning Project (2012).
Plenty of back story updates previous readers and catches up new readers to the dilemmas of the first novel. The father of identical (and half-alien) twin brothers Eddie and Tom still remains the prisoner of evil Dr. Traum. Both Earths (the original, where Tom lives, and a second planet, created by aliens and running about 50 years behind in the year 1958, where Eddie lives, in the same New Jersey town) are on a course for destruction, but whether it will be the result of human negligence, government interference or alien demolition remains a mystery. When an alien with a penchant for quoting Mark Twain visits the boys on their respective Earth homes, Eddie and Tom begin a zany escapade to save both planets. Told in a variety of voices, including those of the boys’ loyal and diverse friends, who have issues of their own, the chapters capture modern and 1950s pop culture and history—which Eddie and Tom hope to exploit. Lipsyte doesn’t always give much detail along the way, but in this case it works, keeping the story light and uncomplicated for reluctant readers.
An agreeably quick-paced time-travel romp. (Science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-547-97335-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series.
An orphaned street urchin is recruited into an elite school for thieves.
In an alternate world where France is the dominant world power, 13-year-old Tom Morgan has had to scrimp, starve, and steal on the streets of London to survive. Born into a workhouse, he doesn’t know anything about his father, while his mother may have been from North Africa. One thing he does know is the sort of cruelty that awaits the poor who are sent to the workhouse, and he’s determined not to go back. But when their camp is raided and his friends are captured by workhouse agents, the only thing Tom can think of is how to get them out. Enter the Corsair, a cunning and mysterious man with a proposition: He wants to recruit Tom into Beaufort’s School for Deceptive Arts. From nabbing treasures to forging identity papers, Beaufort’s promises to teach Tom everything he needs to know to become a Shadow Thief and a member of the Shadow League, the secret global organization that helps keep the world’s political power in balance. But Beaufort’s has its own rules and secrets, and if Tom is to survive long enough to help his friends, he’ll need to figure them out quickly. Clever and gripping, this fast-paced boarding school story will appeal to fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society and Spy School series.
A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series. (Adventure. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781665982283
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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
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