An enjoyable tale about a quirky fifth grader’s adventures.
In this middle-grade novel, fifth grade isn’t all fun and games for the second-smartest kid in his class.
It’s 1973, Brooklyn fifth grader Reggie Cleverlove’s last year in elementary school. He is not happy about it. His sister, Toni, has told him about “gangs, fights, smoking, and teachers who just didn’t care” at her junior high school, and Reggie wants no part of it. He prefers his class for gifted students at the Granville T. Woods School even though he sticks out because “not only am I ‘the know-it-all.’ I’m also known as the weird kid.” After all, he does have a fascination with exploring World War II and becoming a Navy officer. Moore’s first middle-grade novel and his third book overall after Delirious Tiberius (2022) details Reggie’s antics and everyday escapades during his last year of elementary school. The boy navigates the troubled waters of his crushes on the pretty girls in class, his determination to get 100 RBIs in punchball before graduation, and his life with a single mom struggling to make ends meet. Alongside Reggie is a memorable cast of characters, including his father, Dee Dee; his friend Derek Boswell; and police officer Patricia Harvin. Moore’s story is relaxed; it is more character-driven than plot-driven, as the only things propelling the tale forward are Reggie’s growth and the elapsing time bringing him closer and closer to junior high. The text can be repetitive, as when Reggie introduces Spaldeen balls and his father’s nickname twice. But the story shines in certain episodes, namely when Reggie is preparing to play the piano with his church choir. The engaging chapter book will appeal to fourth and fifth grade fans of ’70s fiction.
An enjoyable tale about a quirky fifth grader’s adventures.Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9798985433654
Page Count: 200
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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
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