Could entertain a young audience, but more advanced readers will have moved beyond this simple style and plot.
In an illustrated, easy-to-read story with animal characters, Yang attempts to educate young children about fiscal responsibility.
The second in a series, this slim title follows the adventures of Earl and Eli, a lost pig and a young wolf with a special collar. The narrative establishes their initial meeting in the woods, Earl’s escape from the pig farm’s slaughterhouse and their journey together, as they escape two bulldogs sent to retrieve Earl. At the end of this installment, Earl and Eli end up working in a restaurant to pay off their dinner tab to the owner. Throughout the book, Earl’s love of reading and books is contrasted with Eli’s inability to read, which is portrayed as a key weakness that gets Eli into trouble when he cannot read the restaurant’s menu prices. The importance of literacy within the book is its greatest strength as a learning tool for young children. Via a cute allusion to Charlotte’s Web, Earl mentions that his “spider-friend Charlene” taught him to read, although this title has less depth and emotional impact than E.B. White’s classic. The format, featuring about a dozen black-and-white illustrations, is that of an early-chapter book. While the storyline here is fairly accessible, the brevity of the adventure may be disappointing to young readers eager to see Earl and Eli’s extended, meaningful adventures. It’s also unclear in this installment whether Eli is a wolf or a dog: Within the narrative, Earl refers to him as a dog, but Eli’s internal thoughts mention wolves, while the book’s illustrations portray him ambiguously.
Could entertain a young audience, but more advanced readers will have moved beyond this simple style and plot.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2011
ISBN: 978-1466407817
Page Count: 92
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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