A mild but enjoyable adventure.
Young Sophie Washington has fun and faces challenges at a sixth grade class retreat in this 11th children’s book in Ellis’ series.
The story takes place over two days as Sophie’s private school in Houston brings its students to Camp Glowing Spring for outdoor activities. Sophie is looking forward to spending time with her friends, but she’s also apprehensive about being in the woods after watching Finding Big Foot, which gave her nightmares. She knows that Bigfoot is a hoax, but she still worries—especially after seeing glimpses of a tall, unkempt, hairy man in baggy clothes around camp. She’s also anxious about heights and swimming in the lake, but once she gives the retreat’s activities a try, she has fun. On the other hand, another school’s campers sling racist insults at her and her friend Mariama, both Black, and Christy Chen, who’s Asian American. Sophie discovers that she enjoys playing pranks on racist jerks, and she eventually learns the truth about the hairy man. Ellis shows insight into the doubts and joys of middle school in this latest outing. Although Sophie is part of the popular crowd, she sometimes feels like the odd one out, even within her tight group of friends. The author also effectively relates how Sophie doesn’t appreciate her friends’ interest in boys and how they don’t share her wariness about trying new things. Later, Ellis shows Sophie’s growth when she takes some risks but still has fun. The book encourages appreciation for the outdoors and includes a nature scavenger-hunt list. The tale does seem rather slight, overall, though, and it could have treated the issue of racism with more depth. Uncredited black-outline illustrations economically convey characters and settings.
A mild but enjoyable adventure.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73533-892-7
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Page Turner Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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