An appealing early entry for the pandemic fiction list: light in tone but grounded in serious incidents and themes.
The Covid-19 lockdown brings changes to nearly every part of Cymbeline Igloo’s life and London neighborhood.
Minor triumphs like scoring the last bottle of ketchup from the grocery’s half-empty shelves notwithstanding, most of those changes are for the worse—Cym’s prospective stepsisters and stepdad are stranded in New Zealand; suddenly he’s distance schooling and can’t even meet his friends just to kick a ball around; and in a disastrous fit of housecleaning, his mum has thrown out his priceless signed soccer jersey. Worst of all, though, is the news that octogenarian school lunch lady Mrs. Stebbings been taken to the ICU. Cym is a lad of deep feelings and sharp sensations, traits that both lighten the load (describing the taste of Mrs. Stebbings’ sticky toffee pudding: “like a thousand very small angels climbing into your mouth and setting off a million golden explosions on your tongue”) and prime readers for the heartfelt and emotionally climactic get-well video he goes on to orchestrate. But along with yet another near-death experience for the resilient protagonist of Boy Underwater (2022), Baron tucks in a subplot involving newly arrived refugees from Syria and Eritrea on the way to an upbeat, if not tragedy-free, ending. The refugees and some established characters add diversity to the largely White-presenting cast.
An appealing early entry for the pandemic fiction list: light in tone but grounded in serious incidents and themes. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-00-849965-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper360
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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