Pilkey and Ontiveros team up for another action-packed adventure with Ricky Ricotta and his robot (Ricky Ricotta’s Giant Robot vs. the Voodoo Vultures from Venus, 2001, etc.). In a tale that is part comic book, part early chapter book, tiny mouse Ricky enjoys playing with his gigantic robot until they decide to use the family minivan as a skateboard. It becomes a minivan pancake and Ricky and his Mighty Robot are in trouble. But before they can repair the damage, they are called into duty: saving Mars and Earth from destruction by the Mecha-Monkeys from Mars. Like the comic-book superheroes of decades past, Ricky and his Mighty Robot race from disaster to disaster, narrowly avoiding catastrophe at every turn. There is violence in the battle scenes, but the battles are comical with the trademark Pilkey plays on words. “Ricky’s Robot treated the Mecha-Monkeys to two servings of punch . . . one foot-long . . . and a knuckle sandwich.” Of course, it all works out in the end: Earth and Mars are saved, bad guys are punished, and even the demolished minivan is replaced. All is right with the world. Kid-pleasing diversions such as a flipbook and 11 “how to draw” pages add to the fun. Part shtick, part goofy predictable adventure, the easy-to-read short novel will allow the early reader to turn pages quickly, feel successful, and have fun. (Fiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-439-25295-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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
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