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KAZU JONES AND THE COMIC BOOK CRIMINAL

Name: KAZU JONES AND THE COMIC BOOK CRIMINAL
Author: Shauna M. Holyoak
ISBN: 978-1-368-02267-5

From the Kazu Jones series , Vol. 2

by Shauna M. Holyoak ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 21, 2020

A suspenseful yet small-scale mystery for lovers of comics, art, and adventure.

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Gumshoe Kazu Jones and her detective friends are back in this sequel to Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers (2019).

Having solved the dognapping case, Kazuko Jones and her friends pick up a new mystery to solve after three comic-book stores are vandalized with anti-comic graffiti. With pal March’s uncle’s comic-book shop as a possible target, March wants to expose the villain. When March takes the lead and ex-bully Madeleine rejoins the group, the kids start butting heads. The team uncovers the vandal’s connection to a rare comic-book character, but when they keep running into dead-end clues, everything starts to fall apart. Kazu’s home life isn’t much better. Kazu’s mother is bedridden, and her grandmother from Japan, Baa-chan, has come to help around the house. No one will tell Kazu why her mom is sick, so she must uncover the truth on her own. This sequel is just as suspenseful as the first, but it also tackles more emotional issues, like adults keeping secrets, friend fights, and a parent’s mental illness. The characters are well developed and distinct, expressing feelings kids will recognize, like anger, confusion, uncertainty, and grief. With Baa-chan comes Japanese vocabulary and items that play an essential role in the story. Kazu is biracial, with a Japanese mom and white dad; March and CindeeRae present white, and Madeleine is Korean.

A suspenseful yet small-scale mystery for lovers of comics, art, and adventure. (author’s note) (Mystery. 8-12)

Pub Date: April 21, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-368-02267-5

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion/LBYR

Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S MYSTERY & THRILLER | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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CLUES TO THE UNIVERSE

by Christina Li ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 12, 2021

Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.

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An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.

Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.

Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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A WOLF CALLED WANDER

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.

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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)