A hit-and-miss trilogy closer.
Following the riddling prophecy of a seer, a werepenguin seeks a legendary silver tooth.
His mission: to battle the most powerful of all werepenguins and free penguin-kind from the clutches of evil. Bolt, the boy who is the chosen one destined to defeat the Stranger (the progenitor of penguin evil), can no longer run from danger or hide beneath his bed. He’s learned to control his violent urges, so now he must take his powers to new levels by harnessing the powers of the penguin-verse and stealing the tooth of the Ilversay Oothtay Ealsay, a silver seal tooth hidden somewhere in the depths of the whale dentists’ fortress. With his best friend, Annika (the world’s greatest bandit), and Capt. Blackburn (a borscht-loving pirate), he sails toward danger to face his greatest foe. Set in a parody version of Eastern Europe and narrated as a story within a story, this third installment brings the penguin caretaker’s tale to a downbeat resolution. An all-White human cast lessens the impact of the story’s message that everyone is “chosen” in some way. While the silly humor has moments of charm, it loses appeal when it relies upon mocking foreign accents and perpetuating cultural stereotypes, as with the fortuneteller who lives in a caravan and reads nonsensical, made-up tarot cards. Intermittent illustrations appear throughout the text to depict moments of drama.
A hit-and-miss trilogy closer. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11426-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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