Young robot enthusiasts will surely be amused.
A mildly techy science-fiction series makes its debut.
When Jackbot, 11-year-old George Gearing’s rather clunky companion robot, is accidently run over by a car in which professor Droid’s daughter is a passenger, George’s access to the professor’s laboratory allows him to try out his new programming ideas for the repair. Jackbot acquires independent intelligence but is immediately stolen, and George and Anne Droid must dodge various murderous intelligent machines as they track down the missing robot. Terabyte Heights is a company town dominated by TinkerTech Enterprises. Everybody seems to own at least one robot, and character names are in keeping with the theme (Principal Qwerty runs the school; a policeman is Officer Dongle). Most of the robots are either stereotypically tinny and lumbering or inventively silly and menacing; specific allusions to challenges of software, hardware and programming are notably few. This first in the series has the narrative simplicity and pacing of a movie companion. A scattering of lively illustrations look like animation cels and add visual interest and cinematic feel to the undemanding, action-packed, occasionally comical narrative. Though immediate threats are resolved and an evil genius thwarted, the mystery of George’s parents’ long-ago deaths and the nature of “Project Mercury” are left for future development and explanation.
Young robot enthusiasts will surely be amused. (Science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-33936-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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