Rich in adventure and Greek mythology, and with an ending sentiment that is thoroughly wonderful, this tale is a satisfying...
The third book in the middle-grade Secret Box series culminates the adventures of Jax, Ethan, and Tyler as they try to keep the magical urns of Faith, Hope, and Love from falling into the wrong hands.
Picking up from the cliffhanger ending of The Secret Cipher (2015), 13-year-old Ethan, his older brother, Tyler, and their new friend, Pyrrha, are attempting to retrieve the urn of Love from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts when their cousin Jax, waiting outside, is kidnapped by the villain Ricardo, introduced in Book 2. Ricardo, actually an immortal named Epimetheus (and Pyrrha’s father), wants all three urns in order to erase Zeus from humankind’s history through domination of the mortal world. Why he wants this is revealed to Tyler and Ethan when they go to the Realm of the Gods and meet Pandora, Epimetheus’ wife. It is a back story that is both poignant and thought-provoking, and it adds a fine emotional nuance to the overall narrative. Following the previous books’ formats, the story is narrated in the first person by Jax and Ethan in alternating chapters. While Ethan’s shy, insecure, but loyal character comes through strongly, Jax’s irreverent voice is sometimes watered down by too much information delivery.
Rich in adventure and Greek mythology, and with an ending sentiment that is thoroughly wonderful, this tale is a satisfying conclusion to the series. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-221620-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of unbridled, melodramatic tomfoolery will be over the moon.
A taste of poisoned soup spurs the Queen of the Moon and her feline companion into embarking on a quest for a curative fruit from the orbiting orb’s only golden glumpfoozle tree.
In further exploits attended by the monosyllabic, spacesuit-clad titular feline (“Meow”), Harris and Barnett bring back the cast of The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza (2022), from diaper-wearing buccaneer Captain Babybeard to computerized toenail clipper LOZ 4000, for a lunar ramble past a pair of mysterious killbots, Psychic Flying Eyeballs of Death, and other hazards. Depicted in rolling arrays of changing palettes and panel sizes and led by the opalescent Queen of the Moon—who, ignoring her loudly rumbling tummy, stoutly declares that “my reign will not be cut short by soup”—the expedition fetches up at last on the edge of a bottomless crater for a last-minute save, appropriately over-the-top grandstanding by a familiar AI with futile protagonistic ambitions (“How many pages did I get this time? 73?”), and a closing celebratory soupfest, depicted Last Supper–style by a vermiform da Vinci. This volume continues the nonstop madcap fun; returning readers will not be disappointed, and new ones will quickly become avid followers of the world’s first feline astronaut.
Fans of unbridled, melodramatic tomfoolery will be over the moon. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780063084117
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
Family, friendship, and shenanigan-filled bravery take flight in this Christmas tale.
Searching for a lost reindeer sends two new friends on an adventure they’ll never forget.
Grieving Virginia Kay spots a reindeer out her car window during a move from Arizona to Colorado just three days before Christmas in 1955. She tries to tell her dad what she saw, but he gets distracted and almost crashes the car. When they arrive at Aunt Frances’ apartment, Virginia meets her friendly new neighbor, the chatty Benny Alvarez, who’s always up for snacking. After they spend the day together, Virginia decides she can let Benny in on her secret. Benny declares “We’re in this together,” and the magical twists and turns begin as they team up to search for the reindeer. The Continental Air Defense Command Center is tracking it, too, trying to identify the suspicious flying object. Meanwhile, another plotline following a separate reindeer tracker unnecessarily complicates matters. Still grappling with her mother’s loss, Virginia hopes she can reunite the lost reindeer with Santa. Will she and Benny find it in time to save Christmas? The fast-paced story comes to life on the page through Podesta’s artwork, which features expressive facial expressions, vividly rendered action scenes, and the effective use of color. Virginia and her family present white, and Benny and his family are cued Latine.
Family, friendship, and shenanigan-filled bravery take flight in this Christmas tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781250838230
Page Count: 352
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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