A popcorn bucket of a book, full of flavor if not substance.
A spooky summer fueled by popsicle pancakes.
Wendell, ironically nicknamed Waffles by his mom for his love of pancakes, shares the tale of a summer spent at his grandfather’s house in Shriekport, Maine. Grandpa worked doing special effects on all kinds of horror movies back in the day, leading to a bond with his fanboy grandson. Waffles is helping Grandpa clean out his memorabilia-filled basement along with Tanya, a girl his age who is working to repay a window she broke. Beasties from Grandpa’s movie career, including zombie squirrels; Glaarg, a rampaging giant lizard; and their ringleader, a vampire clown named Count Wackula, come to life and antagonize the three of them. A resurrected mummy who dubs himself Mummy Man and a turtle sidekick named Frank arrive to help. The story, propelled by one narrow, lighthearted escape from danger after another, has frequent illustrations as well as pop-up boxes with trivia about the movies Grandpa worked on. Mummy Man does most of the fighting, though Frank the turtle participates and even steals the show a number of times. The invented movie trivia and menagerie of horror-inspired creatures are the rewards for following Waffles and Tanya’s wacky adventures; character development comes second to spectacle and humor. The human cast appears to be White. Final art not seen.
A popcorn bucket of a book, full of flavor if not substance. (recipe, movie list) (Humor. 8-11)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780063254848
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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