An uplifting collection of fast-paced tales that champion resilience and understanding, while staying irresistibly fun.
The Mystery Force kids and their new allies confront plots to take over the world in Neill’s latest set of three rapid-fire illustrated middle-grade adventures.
In “Missing Person,” Rasheed, Jonathan, and Jojo, along with their animal companions, fire fox Maximilian and karkadan Dan, hunt for their missing friend Dexter. Along the way, they uncover a scheme, hatched by an old antagonist, to turn beloved Robbie Robot toys into malevolent mechanical armies. “The Stone Mountain Mystery,” told in two parts, first introduces Cole and Swathy, both sorcerers-in-training at the Magesterium. They deal with an evil scam at an amusement park involving captured magical creatures, including sabretooth squirrels. The second part introduces shy Danika, who joins Rasheed, Jonathan, and Jojo on a camping trip, which leads to a quest for a powerful stone. Along the way, they face the question, “What is the opposite of love?” The answer is “fear,” and the importance of overcoming fear threads through every story. “Doppelgangers” introduces Lila, a Dragon Rider, and unites all the characters and magical creatures to save a city from villains wielding fear and fakery. Neill’s adventures cleverly blend magic and cutting‑edge technology, but his dedication to character diversity sets his stories apart: Rasheed uses a wheelchair (with cool gadgets); Jojo manages anxiety and depression (with the help of a magical scarf); Jonathan uses a cane (also full of tech); Cole has diabetes; Swathy lives with HIV; and Lila has vitiligo. Neill effectively weaves these realities into the action, as when Cole and Swathy crack a clue while fetching medication. Medical asides, such as Cole explaining his glucose pump, may feel abrupt, but they may help spread invaluable awareness among young readers. Spooner’s bold comic book-style grayscale illustrations amplify the action and intensify the portrayal of characters’ emotions.
An uplifting collection of fast-paced tales that champion resilience and understanding, while staying irresistibly fun.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9798268288735
Page Count: 446
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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