Lively and self-aware. A fantasy escapade for readers of all ages!
In the fourth book of Wright’s middle-grade series, its teen protagonist journeys to a fantasy realm to save his crush from trolls.
Seventh grader Toby Baxter is on an end-of-school trip to Minnehaha Falls when he bumps into Rainie, his crush. Though they’ve never actually spoken, and Toby hasn’t seen her for a year, it seems that Rainie likes him, too. She gives him her phone number. Toby swoons! Then calamity strikes. A portal opens up to RiverHome, the magical world visited by Toby in previous adventures. Rainie is abducted by trolls. Toby runs to help, pursued by Derrick, the school bully. Both pass through the portal, though they end up in different parts of RiverHome, and Toby reunites with his river elf friends (a lengthy cast list is provided). Derrick joins Plythar, the troll leader, in his plan to destroy Toby once and for all. Rainie, meanwhile, finds herself locked up in a troll dungeon alongside the gnome Roxie, whose wedding (to Phoenix the elf) Toby is due to attend. Can Toby, Phoenix, and friends rescue their beloveds, or will Plythar and Derrick prevail in their villainy? Readers of previous Toby Baxter books will be familiar with Wright’s droll style, which layers frequent, italicized asides from Author (both a character in the story and the writer of books about Toby’s adventures) onto an omniscient third-person narrative told from various characters’ perspectives. These interjections often riff on notions of language and vocabulary. For example: “Deciding to remind Toby of who was the boss, he and his friends sauntered…sauntered? Is that like walking?…over to do a bit of friendly harassing of Toby.” Toby once again emerges as a typical teen boy, his reactions to kissing and romance a realistic blend of affected disgust and secret, burgeoning interest. As in previous volumes, the story contains a large number of superfluous characters. These may confound new readers, but they do provide a sense of familiarity when events stray into darker territory. Fans of the series will be well satisfied.
Lively and self-aware. A fantasy escapade for readers of all ages!Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
