For 12-year-old Jake Bannock, "Jim Ugly" seems like a good name for his buried father's wolflike dog, but that low opinion changes when Jake figures out that his father isn't dead after all and he and the dog set out on a hopeful search for him. Sam Bannock—who has stolen a fortune in diamonds from theater impresario C.W. Cornelius and his sinister confederate D. D. Skeats, and left beautiful actress Wilhelmina Marlybone-Jenkins waiting at the church—is also the object of other searches, all of which converge in San Francisco after the sorts of twists, turns, and chases you'd expect from the author of The Midnight Horse and The Whipping Boy. Flushed out at last, Sam explains that he hid the diamonds by feeding them to his niece's chickens; but when everyone arrives at the chicken farm, the birds are gone, scattered across the Nevada desert. Jake, at least, is happy in the end: he has his old father, a new mother, and a dog that now answers only to his call. Fine helter-skelter melodrama. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: April 14, 1992
ISBN: 0-688-10886-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1992
Prolific science-writer Simon provides a brief portrait of 24 animals he says nobody loves, noting in his introduction: "You may never love a rattlesnake, a cockroach, or an octopus—but this book may help you begin to understand and respect them for what they are." Included are the shark, bat, grizzly bear, cobra, spider, cockroach, piranha, and 14 other animals. Each gets a double-paged spread and a glossy, full-color photograph. The text provides odd facts and brief information, though without sources. For example, "In India, alone, cobras are reported to kill thousands of people each year, more than sharks all over the world do in fifty years." Or in discussing the vulture's powerful eyesight: "They can sometimes spot a dying animal forty miles away." Sometimes he gives advice: "If the bear is close or does see you, remain calm. Do not run. Instead, stand tall or back away slowly and wave your hands and speak loudly." Despite his introduction, Simon seldom notes the value of these disliked animals. For example, vultures and hyenas are extremely useful decomposers. While the eyeballs-to-eyeballs cover of a tarantula in full color will keep readers reaching for the title, it is useful for browsing rather than research. No index or sources. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-58717-079-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: SeaStar/North-South
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2001
More knightly shenanigans, tongue deeply in cheek.
Knights-in-training Tim and Belinda undertake a terrifying sea voyage to fetch a golden fleece and a few other treasures.
Mostly what’s terrifying is that they have Sir Fass, Sir Render, and the rest of the Kingdom of Merryland’s inept, aptly named, and, as it turns out, treacherous Knight Brigade as shipmates…though surviving such nautical hazards as sirens, not to mention Scylla and Charybdis, are (not unlike a monstrous bargleboar, whose allergy to paprika leaves everyone covered in snot) nothing to sneeze at. Cribbing blithely from ancient sources but working in some inventive twists of his own—the song of the sirens, for instance, is so awful that rather than luring sailors to their deaths, it results in them wrecking their ships to avoid hearing it—Gibbs steers his young adventurers from one near disaster to the next before doing readers the disservice of leaving the pair hurtling toward certain death on the last page. As in previous outings, Curtis adds comical line drawings of knights in armor grimacing or looking confused to nearly every spread, and the author pauses the action periodically to define relevant vocabulary building words like overcompensating, nauseous, and (irritatingly) cliffhanger. Most of the cast presents White in the interior art, though Belinda appears to be Black.
More knightly shenanigans, tongue deeply in cheek. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9781665917445
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
