Just too bizarre.
A girl discovers a spectral world of jovial abandon when all she wanted was a cure for somnambulism.
Sam is a sleepwalker—has been for most of her 13 years. The bully at her middle school constantly makes fun of her sleep-deprived state. Lately, her nightly escapades are getting more and more dangerous (think: waking-up-in-a-tree-with-a-running-power-tool level of danger), so her anxiety-ridden mother takes her to an unorthodox specialist. His treatment works, and Sam can finally get a good night’s sleep—but she’s shocked to discover that now her soul separates from her body as she slumbers! Guided by another “detached” person, the oh-so-cute Byron, she learns about the many other young SleepWakers, who are divided into like-minded subgroups, with one that threatens to ruin the nighttime freedom for the rest. The rosy moral lesson: Bullies have stories, too, and, once seen and forgiven, they will turn into unlikely friends. While this can be true, the book’s bullies—one at school, one at nighttime, and several others—come across as so mean that something more than apologetic words are really needed as an apology. Aside from Byron’s light brown skin and an Indian tertiary character, the remaining cast is presumed white. The fantastical plot tries to keep one foot planted in realism, but hokey dialogue and the flippant treatment of the fundamentally unsettling premise throw it off balance.
Just too bizarre. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-00761-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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