by Todd Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2007
This first novel feels like one. Eleven-year-old Darren has always felt like an oddball, which is why he enjoys the annual visit to his oddball uncle’s cabin. Each year, a treasure hunt awaits, with obscure clues tucked away throughout the house and nearby town. This year’s hunt proves the most elusive ever, as Uncle Will has disappeared, leaving only a note about watering his plants and returning his library book. Darren eventually puzzles out a startling realization about his family’s origins and powers, but through a secret passage and into Tir na N’Og, the story sadly starts to lose its edge, becoming more predictable and less convincing as Darren has responsibilities thrust upon him. The cleverness and pre-adolescent questioning of adults that make him such an appealing and self-empowering character seem to fade away in the other world, where he just acts as all fantasy novels direct. Thankfully, a brisk pace carries readers to a satisfying enough ending. Though Mitchell’s complex and gripping set-up slumps through its lackluster resolution, it promises more polished progeny. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-439-82788-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2007
Share your opinion of this book
by Elise Broach & illustrated by Kelly Murphy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2008
Eleven-year-old James Terik isn’t particularly appreciated in the Pompaday household. Marvin, a beetle who lives happily with his “smothering, overinvolved relatives” behind the Pompadays’ kitchen sink, has observed James closely and knows he’s something special even if the boy’s mother and stepfather don’t. Insect and human worlds collide when Marvin uses his front legs to draw a magnificent pen-and-ink miniature for James’s birthday. James is thrilled with his tiny new friend, but is horrified when his mother sees the beetle’s drawing and instantly wants to exploit her suddenly special son’s newfound talents. The web further tangles when the Metropolitan Museum of Art enlists James to help catch a thief by forging a miniature in the style of Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. Delightful intricacies of beetle life—a cottonball bed, playing horseshoes with staples and toothpicks—blend seamlessly with the suspenseful caper as well as the sentimental story of a complicated-but-rewarding friendship that requires a great deal of frantic leg-wiggling on Marvin’s part. Murphy’s charming pen-and-ink drawings populate the short chapters of this funny, winsome novel. (author’s note) (Fantasy. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8270-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008
Share your opinion of this book
More by Elise Broach
BOOK REVIEW
by Elise Broach ; illustrated by Ziyue Chen
BOOK REVIEW
by Elise Broach ; illustrated by Barry E. Jackson
BOOK REVIEW
by Elise Broach ; illustrated by Eric Barclay
by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Dapo Adeola ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2019
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...
Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.
These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-46083-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Derick Brooks
by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Dapo Adeola
More by Lamar Giles
BOOK REVIEW
by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Paris Alleyne with N. Steven Harris ; color by Bex Glendining
BOOK REVIEW
by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Morgan Bissant
BOOK REVIEW
by Lamar Giles
More About This Book
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
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.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.