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THOMAS

BOOK THREE OF THE DEPTFORD HISTORIES

A rousing tale of horror and heroism, this last prequel to the Deptford Mice trilogy stands well alone, as the doughty shipmouse Thomas Triton at last reveals his tragic past. Thomas, then surnamed Stubbs, and his best friend, the sensitive fieldmouse Woodget Pipple, are led through a romantic misunderstanding and a dockside scuffle into a wild seafaring adventure with the peg-legged Mulligan and the lackwitted Dimlon (neither quite what they seem). They are then drawn inexorably into the ancient battle between the noble Green Council and the vile Scale, plotting to restore the grisly domination of the serpent-demon Scaraphion. Deptford fans know just what to expect: overstuffed plots, dense with tragedy and treachery and true friendship, rife with occult allusions and an undercurrent of brooding menace. The heroes are stalwart and true; the villains sadistic and grotesque; and the nonstop action builds through gruesome gusts of shuddering violence to an apocalyptic climax and a bittersweet epilogue. Backwards are the sentences shaped, and deep the clauses piled; lush and vermilion are the adjectives thereof. The end result ought to be risible, but Jarvis pulls it off, to stunning effect. (Horror. 10-14)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-8118-5412-4

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006

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SEE YOU IN THE COSMOS

Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.

If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?

For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.

Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016

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CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE TERRIFYING RETURN OF TIPPY TINKLETROUSERS

From the Captain Underpants series , Vol. 9

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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