by Sarah Beth Durst ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 3, 2015
Funny, warm, and highly imaginative.
Sophie, whose overprotective parents run a bookshop but have a risky, secret side business collecting and selling people’s dreams, suddenly faces, on her 12th birthday, all the dangers of the dream trade.
As the cover art suggests, this fantasy tale is cinematic and madcap. Because her parents want to keep their daughter as inconspicuous as possible, Sophie’s only friend has long been Monster—a cuddly animal rescued from a nightmare and possessed of soft fur, tentacles, and a penchant for cupcakes and self-improvement. Monster has to keep an even lower profile than Sophie, but an unexpected visitor exposes both of them to possible harm from an entity called the Night Watchmen. Also, Sophie’s marginal involvement with certain classmates now endangers them as well. Sophie’s parents discuss the situation behind closed doors: “ ‘But what if the Watchmen—’ Mom cut herself off, then said loudly and clearly, ‘Sophie and Monster, if you are up there listening at the door, I will revoke all book privileges so fast, you will have whiplash.’ ” With similar humor throughout, the book lets readers know that, however dire the situation, Sophie will be all right—but will Monster? Readers will not want to stop reading this quirky, fast-paced adventure until reaching its satisfactory, heartwarming conclusion. The text happily borrows familiar genre elements but wraps them in an entirely fresh package.
Funny, warm, and highly imaginative. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-46497-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
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by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 26, 2014
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
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by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey color by Jose Garibaldi & Wes Dzioba
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by Rosanne Parry ; illustrated by Mónica Armiño ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2019
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey.
Separated from his pack, Swift, a young wolf, embarks on a perilous search for a new home.
Swift’s mother impresses on him early that his “pack belongs to the mountains and the mountains belong to the pack.” His father teaches him to hunt elk, avoid skunks and porcupines, revere the life that gives them life, and “carry on” when their pack is devastated in an attack by enemy wolves. Alone and grieving, Swift reluctantly leaves his mountain home. Crossing into unfamiliar territory, he’s injured and nearly dies, but the need to run, hunt, and live drives him on. Following a routine of “walk-trot-eat-rest,” Swift traverses prairies, canyons, and deserts, encountering men with rifles, hunger, thirst, highways, wild horses, a cougar, and a forest fire. Never imagining the “world could be so big or that I could be so alone in it,” Swift renames himself Wander as he reaches new mountains and finds a new home. Rife with details of the myriad scents, sounds, tastes, touches, and sights in Swift/Wander’s primal existence, the immediacy of his intimate, first-person, present-tense narration proves deeply moving, especially his longing for companionship. Realistic black-and-white illustrations trace key events in this unique survival story, and extensive backmatter fills in further factual information about wolves and their habitat.
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey. (additional resources, map) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-289593-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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