Abundantly illustrated fun for readers who are tired of the Wimpy Kid.
Detective Timmy Failure is on the case…probably not a good thing for anyone involved.
Timmy (formerly of Total Failure Inc., but he had to fire his partner, Total the polar bear) has a new case: someone stole the funds from YIP YAP, a charity created to raise money to buy books for the bookless tot Yergi Plimkin. Unfortunately, Timmy’s mother is forcing him to use his precious spring break to help her boyfriend, Doorman Dave, move to Chicago. The investigation goes on the road, with the help of Timmy’s best friend, Rollo Tookus, via telephone. Who will Timmy find as a scapegoat—er, discover to be the perpetrator? This case may answer these crucial questions: can Molly Moskins, criminal mastermind, be rehabilitated? Will Total the polar bear ever get enough bonbons? And what did Timmy actually hear his mother and Doorman Dave talking about that could change everything? Cartoonist Pastis brings his intelligent yet clueless, arrogantly overconfident detective back for a fourth nonsensical (and nonexistent) case. Some of the humor (such as the plays on song titles, quotes, and lyrics that name most chapters—“Rainy Days and Mothers Always Get Me Down,” for instance) will fly over the heads of all in the target audience. Nevertheless, for fans of the bestselling series, this one’s more of the same.
Abundantly illustrated fun for readers who are tired of the Wimpy Kid. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8092-3
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
A lighthearted caper.
This latest installment in the continuing comic adventures of 12-year-old fix-it artist Riley Mack (Riley Mack and the Other Known Trouble Makers, 2012) finds Riley trying to expose environmental polluters.
Megaclever Riley rights wrongs and thwarts evildoers. That’s good, since his town contains an assortment of evildoers, such as Mr. Paxton, the pompous head of the local country club and owner of Xylodyne Dynamics, a company that supplies pancake mix to American forces overseas. Riley’s helped in his endeavors by a trio of confederates. An actress and singer, Briana provides convincing voices that fool bad guys. Nerd extraordinaire Jamal supplies information, and Hubert, alias Mongo, adds the muscle. First, Riley needs to deal with Paxton’s daughter, who is trying to keep Briana out of a talent contest. Then the gang learns that their favorite swimming hole has been polluted by chemical runoff from Paxton’s golf course. Finally it’s revealed that the pancake mix in Afghanistan has been deliberately tainted. The authorities accuse Riley’s soldier dad, but Riley learns that the evidence lies buried in the golf course. Can Riley devise a plot to help Brianna win the talent contest, reveal the truth about the runoff and get his dad off the hook? Grabenstein keeps the comedy flowing and the pages turning. His characters are just goofy enough to entertain but not completely strain credulity—except, of course, for the over-the-top villain.
A lighthearted caper. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-202622-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Inconsistent voice and implausibility aside, middle-grade readers should respond to this perplexing puzzle and its...
The day following her grandmother’s funeral, butterflies begin visiting grieving 12-year-old Tara, who’s swept into a bizarre mystery involving her grandmother, butterflies and a small Pacific island.
Raised in a deteriorating Louisiana plantation house, Tara pretends her life is fine, but her impoverished Southern-belle mother hides from reality, her absent father has remarried, and her older sister is self-absorbed. When her beloved Grammy Claire dies unexpectedly, Tara feels like a “hole is shredding up” her heart. Then the first mysterious butterfly appears, followed by a special-delivery letter Grammy Claire wrote before she died. The letter leads Tara to Grammy’s house, where she finds 10 keys and more letters with cryptic clues urging her to protect the butterflies and trust no one. Progressing from clue to clue, Tara learns Grammy had made an amazing scientific discovery about the butterflies on Chuuk island, putting her life and the existence of the butterflies in peril. Suspense builds as Tara relies on her wits and follows her heart to Chuuk, where she risks all to save Grammy’s butterflies. Plucky Tara tells her implausible tale in a colloquial first person, present tense that slips occasionally, allowing readers to feel her grief, wonder, fear and surprise.
Inconsistent voice and implausibility aside, middle-grade readers should respond to this perplexing puzzle and its resourceful heroine. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-42513-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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