High-appeal characters presented with plenty of laughs.
Vignettes about the spooky students of Stubtoe Elementary, located on the island of Creep’s Cove.
The first in Nichols’ new series The Terribles, this illustrated novel features an island full of creepy creatures—vampires, mummies, aliens, zombies, and cryptids—and a few humans. Nichols addresses readers directly, using a familiar tone much like that of an older kid sharing wisdom with the younger crowd. This book focuses on a class that includes Vlad the vampire, Frankie the mad scientist (a human with dark skin and black hair), Lobo the werewolf, and Bobby the gelatinous glob, among others. Each chapter features a different short story about an inhabitant of Creep’s Cove and their hijinks. The world is so well imagined that Bobby even has his own Glob Talk glossary included at the end. Many of the footnotes are funny asides, providing context but also adding to the conversational, storytelling tone of the book. The black-and-white illustrations peppered throughout read as cute more than creepy, which helps establish the book’s playful atmosphere. The characters are charming; the features that make them monsterlike also serve to make them endearing and true to their childlike characteristics. Who can resist a blob who can’t stop eating cruciferous veggies and swells to take over a town? Or Griff, an invisible kid who’s a master at hide-and-seek? The pacing, voice, and imaginative creatures will keep readers turning pages.
High-appeal characters presented with plenty of laughs. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-42571-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all.
Eleven-year-old Frank must solve a supernatural mystery to save his new home.
As fifth grade comes to an end, Frank Fernández is looking forward to finally staying put in Alabama for a second year, as promised, after a childhood spent following his parents’ home renovation work all across the country. Frequent relocation has made Frank wary of forming friendships or making plans, but his hopes for more stability are temporarily dashed when his parents announce plans to renovate a lighthouse in the Florida Keys, near where his mother grew up and his father’s home country of Cuba. Papi promises this will be their last move, though: The lighthouse will be theirs. But from their first day on Spectacle Key, things seem to go wrong: Tensions rise between his parents, and Frank’s hopes of a forever home are under threat from seemingly supernatural forces. In order to put down roots, Frank and new ghostly friend Connie, a White girl with freckles, must discover what secrets the island is hiding, uncovering Frank’s own family roots along the way. Frank is a fan of horror—he names his new Great Dane puppy Mary Shelley. But though there is some mild peril to be found, rather than a ghostly thriller, this is an appealing, lightly spooky family drama with valuable lessons for those who would hide from a difficult past instead of confronting and healing generational trauma.
Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all. (Supernatural. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-313481-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark.
An animal ghost seeks closure after enduring aquatic atrocities.
In this sequel to The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter (2020), sixth grader Rex is determined to once again use his ability to communicate with dead animals for the greater good. A ghost narwhal’s visit gives Rex his next opportunity in the form of the clue “bad water.” Rex enlists Darvish—his Pakistani American human best friend—and Drumstick—his “faithful (dead) chicken”—to help crack the case. But the mystery is only one of Rex’s many roadblocks. For starters, Sami Mulpepper hugged him at a dance, and now she’s his “accidental girlfriend.” Even worse, Darvish develops one of what Rex calls “Game Preoccupation Disorders” over role-playing game Monsters & Mayhem that may well threaten the pair’s friendship. Will Rex become “a Sherlock without a Watson,” or can the two make amends in time to solve the mystery? This second outing effectively carries the “ghost-mist” torch from its predecessor without feeling too much like a formulaic carbon copy. Spouting terms like plausible deniability and in flagrante delicto, Rex makes for a hilariously bombastic (if unlikable) first-person narrator. The over-the-top style is contagious, and black-and-white illustrations throughout add cartoony punchlines to various scenes. Unfortunately, scenes in which humor comes at the expense of those with less status are downright cringeworthy, as when Rex, who reads as White, riffs on the impossibility of his ever pronouncing Darvish’s surname or he plays dumb by staring into space and drooling.
Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark. (Paranormal mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5523-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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