A page-turner with an intrepid protagonist.
Thirteen-year-old Valor is determined to rescue her twin sister, Sasha, from Tyur’ma—a children’s prison resembling Siberian forced-labor camps.
There’s some nice bending of gender tropes right from the start: Valor has the excellent archery skills of her mother—the omnipotent queen’s first huntswoman—and Sasha, poised to be the princess’s adviser, has the intellectual skills and interests of their father—the queen’s top political adviser. Valor’s entire family has been disgraced by Sasha’s imprisonment for allegedly stealing a politically important music box, although the object has not been recovered. In order to free her sister, Valor deliberately gets herself arrested and sent to Tyur’ma. Valor relates the action-packed, suspenseful tale in present tense. Her first hours at the juvenile hall from hell convince her that she must trust a few other inmates to help with her breakout plans. Enormous, tattooed guards called Peacekeepers, a warden whose eyes and personality match the icy landscape, ferocious wolves, heart-racing action scenes, and frequent, impossible brushes with death give the text a feeling of fantasy, although there are no allusions to magic. Valor is both true to her name and resourceful. She also humbly acknowledges her shortcomings, especially errors in judgment, as the plot twists and turns. The satisfying ending includes an easy lead toward a sequel: the real music-box thief has suddenly disappeared. Russian names and words are abundant; the world appears to be populated by light-skinned characters.
A page-turner with an intrepid protagonist. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68119-131-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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
Move over Ramona Quimby, Portland has another neighbor you have to meet!
Ryan Hart is navigating the fourth grade and all its challenges with determination.
Her mom named her Ryan because it means “king,” and she wanted Ryan to feel powerful every time she heard her name; Ryan knows it means she is a leader. So when changes occur or disaster strikes, budding chef Ryan does her best to find the positive and “make sunshine.” When her dad is laid off from the post office, the family must make adjustments that include moving into a smaller house, selling their car, and changing how they shop for groceries. But Ryan gets to stay at Vernon Elementary, and her mom still finds a way to get her the ingredients she needs to practice new recipes. Her older brother, Ray, can be bossy, but he finds little ways to support her, especially when she is down—as does the whole family. Each episodic chapter confronts Ryan with a situation; intermittently funny, frustrating, and touching, they should be familiar and accessible to readers, as when Ryan fumbles her Easter speech despite careful practice. Ryan, her family, and friends are Black, and Watson continues to bring visibility to both Portland, Oregon, generally and its Black community specifically, making another wonderful contribution that allows Black readers to see themselves and all readers to find a character they can love.
Move over Ramona Quimby, Portland has another neighbor you have to meet! (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0056-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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