Snaps briskly on the gridiron but fumbles the handoffs between games.
A talented young quarterback takes advantage of an unexpected chance to play on a larger stage to pursue his dreams of football glory.
Eleven-year-old Zeno, who has Greek and Jewish ancestry, jumps on the offer of a full ride to an expensive athletic boarding school with nationally ranked teams. But hardly has he arrived before he’s thrown into a maelstrom of distractions ranging from comical (a roomie who farts toxic clouds) to romantic (a dazzling classmate persuades him to sneak out at night to dig for buried treasure) to outright fantastical (his coach makes serious physical injuries magically disappear through “voodoo,” or hypnotic suggestion). Is it all intended to play out as a light fantasy? Perhaps, but some unresolved elements suggest otherwise, such as the way Coach Lamb comes across as uncomfortably handsy with his new star player and Zeno’s father’s emotional bullying: He’s seldom “angry enough to cow [Zeno’s] mom, but when he did have her on the ropes, look out.” Though Green’s writing is sharp when capturing on-field heroics and strategy, it’s less smooth when the action moves elsewhere; readers are likely to feel jerked about by the sudden changes in tone from one very short chapter to the next. Coach Lamb, who presents white, speaks with an exaggerated Cajun drawl (“An’ nobody got more on da line den me….You know it, an’ I know it, an’ da kidz know it, too”).
Snaps briskly on the gridiron but fumbles the handoffs between games. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780062796899
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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
Fresh exploits in a series notable for its engaging characters and high quality of detective work.
The game is afoot as the Sherlock Society’s four middle school detectives are hired to track down elusive Miami graffiti artist Funky Munky.
In their third caper, the savvy young sleuths engage in another round of expert clue gathering and clever analysis as they seek their gifted quarry, “an activist and street artist” known for painting “graffiti monkeys alongside quotes protesting everything from real estate developments to environmental issues to accusations of government corruption.” Chaperoned and kept from doing anything really dangerous by a strict lawyer mom and a flashy grandpa driving a classic Cadillac convertible, siblings Alex and Zoe, plus their friends Yadi and Lina, nonetheless again prove themselves smart and able investigators with the inner stuff to rise to the occasion when the going gets tricky and the stakes mount. The growing suspense breaks for occasional, well-timed comic relief, including some fiendish (if harmless) pranks—one of which prompts Alex to remark good-humoredly to his big sister, “I still can’t decide if you’re an evil genius or just plain evil.” Along with lots of eye-opening exposure to the secretive, part-legitimate, part-outlaw world of graffiti art (South Florida–style, anyway), readers will be swept up in the closely knit quartet’s lively dynamics as well as the details of the investigation as the tale progresses to its climactic denouement. Yadi reads Latine, and the other leads present white.
Fresh exploits in a series notable for its engaging characters and high quality of detective work. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781665983563
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
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