An entertaining story with sly humor and an old-fashioned vibe.
Wealthy, odious collectors of marine life pursue the last creature needed to complete their collection—a “genuine rainbow-scaled, green-skinned, fluorescent mermaid.”
This latest translated chapter book from Funke (Ruffleclaw, 2015, etc.) opens with a pair of Roald Dahl–type villains, Mr. and Mrs. Snorkel. Owners of many businesses, they devote their wealth to obtaining all sorts of sea creatures for their not-quite-so-well–tended collection. They’ve invested enough in their hobby to have their own “lightning-fast submarine” and to hire multiple underwater detectives to try to find them an elusive mermaid. Finally, the most famous of these underwater detectives succeeds, locating a secret underwater mermaid city. Meanwhile, at the city, adventurous young merpups like titular Lilly and Fin ignore warnings about the Two-Legs to explore and play beyond its borders, making them vulnerable to the Snorkels’ minion. Sure enough, they manage to nab Fin. Lilly escapes through a dark crevice only to find the other cautionary tale she didn’t really believe in—the kraken. The kraken is friendly, lonely, and playful—though his manners aren’t exactly on point—and moreover is willing to help his new friend rescue Fin. The green-skinned merpups find the white villains pretty disgusting (the kraken deems dark-skinned Two-Legs somewhat less repulsive). The illustrations provide scale—and scales—enhancing the straightforward story.
An entertaining story with sly humor and an old-fashioned vibe. (Fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: May 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5247-0101-7
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Eeney meeney miney moe, catch this series before it goes! (Adventure. 7-9)
Two kids get up close and personal with some great works of art in this first in a new series.
Tiger Brooks is used to his little sister’s fantastical stories. So when the top-hatted orange pig she describes turns out to be not only real, but a next-door neighbor, Tiger enlists the help of his kooky new friend, Luna, to investigate. It turns out the pig works for the reclusive painter Viola Dots. Years ago a magical picture frame swallowed up her only son, and she’s searched for him in artworks ever since. When Tiger’s tinkering starts the magic up again, he and Luna are sucked into a reproduction of Henri Rousseau’s Surprised! or Tiger in a Tropical Storm, hungry predator and all. After meeting and failing to rescue Viola’s son in this adventure, the series is set up for the intrepid pair to infiltrate other classic paintings in the future. Backmatter provides information on the real Rousseau and his life. Oliver keeps the plot itself snappy and peppy. While there are few surprises, there’s also an impressive lack of lag time. This is helped in no small part by Kallis’ art, which goes from pen-and-ink drawings to full-blown color images once the kids cross over into the painting. Tiger is a white boy, and Luna is a dark-haired Latina.
Eeney meeney miney moe, catch this series before it goes! (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: April 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-448-48087-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
When evil, oversized alien rabbits land at Dingdale Elementary chool (the “S” has fallen off the sign so often that custodian Fuzzy Dustin refuses to fix it any more), it’s up to young Hercules Smith and his slobbery pooch Sheldon to save the Earth—or at least the student body—from being transformed into carrots. Luckily (or maybe not), a pair of the titular Wuv Bunnies, heavily armed with kisses and truly toxic jokes, arrive from the Outers Pace Galaxy to help out. Elliott and Long milk this premise for all it’s worth, dishing up a Captain Underpants–style mix of text and wild cartoons—the former well-stocked with authorial asides, the latter filled with big-toothed bunnies sporting antennae and high-fiving each other after each gag. Capped by a gratuitous barrage of extra jokes (“What did the duck say when she bought some lipstick? Just put it on my bill. HA! HA! HA! HA!”), this is all perfectly pitched to its audience and guaranteed to garner groans from the grown-ups. (Fantasy. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8234-1902-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2008
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