A fresh, funny adventure and the best installment in the series so far.
In the third book of the middle-grade Chelldrah-Ham series, von Clinkerhoffen (The Hidden City of Chelldrah-ham: War of Chaos, 2015, etc.) brings its protagonists to a different world: Earth.
After following the evil human Anet through a rift to her home planet, Stig and Meg (aliens known as Manna) are astonished by their new surroundings. Earth is populated by giants who talk into mysterious black boxes, drive “strange enclosed carts,” and arm themselves with “fire sticks.” Although the two Manna are invisible to most humans, it’s not long before they find themselves hunted by “smelly copters” in the sky and police officers on land. As they try to shake their pursuers, they steal from a bar, scare people in a church, and accidentally wreak havoc on the English countryside in misadventures that include vehicular crashes and explosions. In between, they follow a series of obscure clues leading to an ancient, golden temple underground, which guards the entrance to their homeworld. With the help of allies, both human and Manna, they try to defeat Anet before she unleashes an army of mutant creatures on the Manna and plunders their city’s gold. Nothing breathes new life into a series like a change in setting, and von Clinkerhoffen plays up the dramatic irony of the two Manna viewing the human world from the outside, with frequently humorous results. For instance, Stig and Meg refer to television as “ohnomorerepeats,” having heard humans use that phrase repeatedly. By now, the author’s habit of italicizing sound effects is no longer distracting; instead, the clunks and whirs merely draw attention to Stig’s mechanical obsession. As in the previous books, the Manna encounter various vehicles and machinery, and von Clinkerhoffen discusses in depth how they work, which some young readers might find tedious. Aspiring mechanics or engineers, though, will enjoy solving problems right along with Stig.
A fresh, funny adventure and the best installment in the series so far.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5395-1542-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers will delight in discovering the joyous time pumpkins have when it’s Halloween.
Magical moonbeams awaken a pumpkin patch to raucous Halloween-season revelry.
A moonbeam illuminates and energizes a smiley-faced pumpkin sitting alone on a stair; it promptly takes off to find a friend with whom to have a good time. An entire pumpkin patch, also sparked by the magical moon, instantly comes alive. And what merriment all the grinning gourds get up to! Their playful shenanigans include piling high on top of one another, bouncing on a trampoline, dancing, marching, and drumming, wearing costumes, and competing in games. They even engage in activities usually reserved for other holiday-themed icons—flying on brooms and making magic, for instance. As dawn approaches, the pumpkin leader escorts the cavalcade back home. At sunrise, each one takes up residence on a different house’s front porch and awaits that evening’s moonbeams to work their magic again. Liveliness and good cheer abound in this frisky rhyming tale in which the perennial holiday symbols naturally take center stage. Perky couplets that read and scan very well appear on most pages and are accompanied by energetic, expressive illustrations that highlight vivid oranges, yellows, blues, purples, and greens with touches of other bright shades.
Readers will delight in discovering the joyous time pumpkins have when it’s Halloween. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-56332-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Good-hearted fun—great for fans of Kit Feeny and Babymouse.
It’s a Bigfeet family reunion!
Everyone’s favorite frosty, furry cryptid, the yeti, actually has a name: Blizz Richards. From his supersecret HQ in Nepal he keeps in touch with his fellow cryptids, all of whom have sworn an oath to keep themselves hidden. That’s not always easy, especially when there are cryptozoologists, like the nasty (but bumbling) George Vanquist, who are always trying to expose the secretive creatures. Vanquist got a picture of Blizz’s cousin Brian near his home in British Columbia, causing the mortified Brian to disappear entirely. When Blizz receives an invitation to a Bigfeet family reunion in Canada, he calls his buddies Alexander (one of Santa’s elves), Gunthar (a goblin) and Frank the Arctic fox to help him get ready. When they arrive in Canada, Brian is still nowhere to be seen. Can Blizz and his skunk ape and other sasquatch cousins find Brian, have the reunion and evade Vanquist? If anyone can, the Bigfeet clan can. Illustrator Sherry’s first volume in the Yeti Files is a fast and funny graphic-prose tale full of labeled pictures and comic-style panels. Those just starting chapter books may have some trouble with a few big words, but they’ll enjoy the big friendly monsters and immediately ask for the next tale—which looks to be about the Loch Ness monster.
Good-hearted fun—great for fans of Kit Feeny and Babymouse. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-55617-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
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