A bomb threat leads to early school dismissal and leaves Stephen entangled in intrigue.
Stephen likes to count his mistakes and has a tendency to read too much into things. These qualities don’t make him a favorite of his grade-seven classmates, but they do make him especially fit to solve a crime involving a rogue Volkswagen Beetle and a bomb threat. Additionally, Stephen has just been entrusted with his first dog-walking job. The boisterous dogs, Ping and Pong, are mismatched in size, hard to control, and irresistible. When Stephen is an unwitting witness to a serious incident, the dogs become a target of threats. Stephen begrudgingly allows his classmate Renée, the only other student as brainy and perhaps less popular than he, to assist him in figuring out the culprit and protecting the pups. Counting his mistakes throughout the day as a kind of deductive reasoning, Stephen gradually arrives at the culprit from among the likely suspects of the all-white cast of characters. Stephen is a slightly older Encyclopedia Brown plunked into a modern-day, unsavory scenario. The school violence is treated oddly lightly, so the balance of tone versus content is off-kilter. The descriptions of canine exuberance, however, are delightful and the best parts of this quick read and first in a promised mystery series.
Readers who can get past the tonal quibbles will appreciate seeing how this class geek discovers that some of his brainy quirks make him a fine budding sleuth. (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4597-3625-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Dundurn
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
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Animal warriors band together against innovative corsairs in this 22nd novel set in the richly detailed world of Redwall.
Scarred and psychotic Razzid Wearat and his mutinous crew wreak havoc along the coast, but when they head inland and overland on the Greenshroud—having equipped the ship with wheels—the Long Patrol hares, the ruthless Rogue Crew otters and the Guosim shrews must race to save Redwall Abbey. Grim warriors outnumber peaceful Abbey beasts, and there is far more fighting than feasting. The many battle scenes and deaths—of disposable pirates and high-spirited heroes—are graphic but not gratuitous, and the action sequences are carefully choreographed. In contrast to earlier books, the villain faces an ensemble rather than a strong protagonist, which might account for the narrative’s rapid scene changes. Despite their species-typical behavior, the characters are distinctive; the squabbling shrew Queen Dukwina and her lizard husband Empraking Dibby, well-shod Dandy Clogs and the gluttonous Wiltuds are particularly memorable. Though the plot, characters and setting resembles those of the previous 21 books, the multi-stranded plot demands attentive reading. The mouthwatering descriptions of food, the various dialects and the detailed settings also make for an immersive experience.
Familiar, perhaps formulaic, but a nonetheless rousing read from the late Jacques. (Animal fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25416-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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Young ghost hunters barely start their search for a magical artifact in this fragmentary series opener.
In the wake of a destructive dustup with ghosts in the surprisingly rich rare-book room of their suburban public library, classmates Jay, Pam, Danni and Brian find themselves in a race with shadowy but plainly evil opponents. Their mutual goal is to track down a crystal that can summon and control the spirits of the dead. First, though, they have to secure a certain Key by puzzling out cryptic rhymes that lead in apparently arbitrary fashion to grave markers, nearby crop circles and a local medium. A climactic spectral attack adds a bit of drama, though it leaves the quartet at the end no closer to the Key—much less the sub-titular glass. Along with page images of stodgy background from an “Encyclopedia of the Paranormal” (evidently a fictional one, not to be confused with the two actual reference sources bearing that title), some illustrations look blank until a small, included (and easily lost) square of lenticular plastic is laid over to reveal hidden messages or pictures.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-934734-48-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Seven Footer Press
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT MYSTERY & THRILLER
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