A suspenseful, multifaceted puzzler with a savvy girl sleuth.
Mabel tries to “be in control,” “trust her instincts,” and “anticipate surprises” after her secret-agent parents disappear.
A “curious, brave, and clever” (almost) 11-year-old white girl, Mabel lives near Mount Rainier in Washington, where her mother operates an antique-spoon museum. When her parents are away on secret missions for the Agency, Mabel’s aunt Gertie acts as her guardian. As soon as Mabel’s parents leave on another mission, her long-lost greedy uncle, his obnoxious wife, and their meddling daughter unexpectedly descend under the auspices of watching over Mabel because Aunt Gertie’s been falsely arrested. Taking control of Mabel’s house and life, they clearly want the museum as well. Meanwhile, duplicitous Inspector Montgomery accuses Mabel’s parents of international smuggling and interrogates her about a mysterious red suitcase. Learning from the Agency her parents are indeed missing and uncertain whom she can trust, Mabel follows her Rules for a Successful Life as an Undercover Secret Agent (reproduced in full in the backmatter) as she tackles each surprising element of the case. Mabel’s first-person narration reveals a clearheaded and resourceful but lonely and somewhat resentful girl whose efforts to protect her parents’ secrets deny her the normal social life she deserves.
A suspenseful, multifaceted puzzler with a savvy girl sleuth. (author’s note) (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62370-805-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
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