Adventurous and action-packed but disappointing in execution.
A 13-year-old embarks on a quest to fulfill a cryptic plea for assistance in this work translated from Lithuanian.
Emma, who’s originally from Lithuania, has already been to 20 different countries. She’s currently living in Australia after a year in the Canary Islands. Back in Tenerife, Emma embarked on a mysterious scavenger hunt that began with her discovery of a sign reading “Please help the dogs” in Spanish. Emma soon discovered a map with unique symbols for each of the Canary Islands. A keen puzzle-solver and escape room enthusiast, she cracked clues, working out that she had to track down missing stone dog figurines and bring them to a mausoleum—aided by her French bulldog, Mars, and her friend Jake. The worldbuilding unfortunately sometimes fails to bridge the gap between realism and supernatural elements, and the puzzles vary dramatically in difficulty (some will be easy for young readers while others depend on deus ex machina resolutions, which may leave them feeling dissatisfied). Some adult characters feel like caricatures, and the book is marred by elements such as casual fatphobia and an imagined scenario of being kidnapped by Indigenous Guanche people (which is framed as humorous but comes across as tone-deaf given the history of their conquest and the protagonist’s identity as a curious world traveler). Some loose ends set up for a sequel, but they don’t feel compelling enough to carry another book.
Adventurous and action-packed but disappointing in execution. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9781963511611
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Flare Books/Catalyst Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
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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