Rod Allbright returns for his second space romp (after Aliens Ate My Homework, 1993) with the crew of the spaceship Ferkel. He and his annoying cousin, Elspeth, are captured by a painfully ugly space-giant, Smorkus Flinders, who kidnaps them into another dimension and uses them as bait to trap Grakker, the captain of the Ferkel and a Galactic Patrol good guy. Grakker and his crew come to Rod's rescue, but they total the Ferkel in their escape and are forced to remain in Dimension X and seek the help of the local fauna and flora. (Don't laugh; some of the flora is pretty intelligent.) It's a good thing they do because, while they're there, they must save their own universe from destruction by Smorkus and his evil cronies. Rod apprentices himself to the warrior Tar Gibbons and, between his training and the inedible food he gets at Smorkus's place, this space jaunt starts looking like a spa vacation for our pudgy hero. Tar prepares to fight Smorkus, but at the last moment his apprentice must step in for him—they enlarge Rod for the fight—and in a scene worthy of ``American Gladiators'' Rod triumphs over his enemy. He also learns that his father, who ran out on Rod's mother three years ago, is not altogether a human being—which makes Rod himself half-alien. In the epilogue, Rod sets up for his next adventure: the rescue of his father. Hilarious antics with endearing aliens. Coville (Oddly Enough, below) is at the top of his weird, wonderful form. (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-671-89072-7
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Pocket
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1994
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
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
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