Adventurous if not particularly venturesome.
Riddles, monsters, bullies, and buckets of slime challenge the Dungeoneer Academy trainees in their second quest.
Fresh from exploits in the opener’s Fungal Jungle, Green Team students find themselves in the frozen subterranean reaches of the Shimmering Shar, on the trail of a nefarious gang of academy washouts and facing all manner of hazards from deadly ice golems to a smothering avalanche of cheesy fries. Meanwhile the ongoing struggles of Coop Cooperson, the school’s only human, with schoolwork, envy of charismatic new student Kody, and foot-in-mouth awkwardness around girls add a substrate of more familiar challenges. Practically channeling a certain classic, the authors add a tin man and a witch—the latter, moody kobold Ingrid Inkheart, turns out to be the good sort—to the multispecies cast and set up wizardly hazards galore on the way to the climax. Monochrome illustrations on every spread both ease the visual weight of the narrative blocks and add comical reaction shots and banter to further lighten the load for newer readers. By the end, Coop has wrestled personal issues to a draw, inspired boggart teammate Dazmina to face up to her divorcing parents by reassuring her that her friends have her back, shown magnanimity by forgiving two repentant bullies, and even aced “Widdles and Wunes” (as the rhotacistic professor pronounces it). “Who can guess what’s next for Dungeoneer Academy?” Coop concludes. Well, one sequel at least, for sure.
Adventurous if not particularly venturesome. (Illustrated fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781665910712
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
File under “laugh riot.”
A rogue spell-check program’s bid to transform all life-forms into that eminently useful office item, the paper clip, touches off a fresh round of lunar lunacy.
Predicated on the entirely reasonable premise that eliminating all spelling and grammar errors everywhere would logically lead to the necessity of exterminating carbon-based life in the universe, this third series entry combines high stakes with daffy banter and daring exploits. CheckMate—a chipper, jumped-up editing program—has invented the Transmogratron, a giant laser that will fulfill its ultimate goals in both the cyber world and “meatspace.” Facing challenges as random as prankster lunar unicorns and a disarmingly motherly Motherboard, scowling First Cat joins a motley crew of diversely carbon- and silicon-based allies, led by the pearlescent Queen of the Moon. They’re in a race to the finish—diverted occasionally by, for instance, a relentlessly punny comic-book interlude featuring a pair of literal and figurative Pool Sharks. They ultimately triumph thanks to teamwork and moxie. Following a celebratory party and toasts to “new friends…and steadfast comrades” (and, of course, “MEOW”), the story’s energetic, brightly colored panels close with a reveal of the next volume. (“I always hate it when comics end by announcing a sequel. SO CRINGE!” declares an authorial stand-in.) It can’t come too soon.
File under “laugh riot.” (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063315280
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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