A soaring escapade, heavy axe-grinding aside.
Dreaming of escape from cruel grown-ups, two orphaned children share an out-of-this-world adventure in the space race’s early days in this offering by British actor Walliams.
Gazing longingly at the sky one starry night, 12-year-old Ruth sees a flying saucer crash in a nearby field and excitedly races out with her three-legged rescue pooch, Yuri (named for the Soviet cosmonaut). She makes contact with a short, silent figure clad in shiny foil and a tall, oblong helmet. As it turns out, Spaceboy (or Kevin, as he’s really called) doesn’t come from all that far away, and, also being orphaned and mistreated, he shares her dream of getting away. Unfortunately, both dog and children are instead swept up by vigilant authorities and hustled off to Cape Canaveral (with stops at the Top-Secret Secret Base and the White House for savage digs at the military and political classes) in hopes of giving the country’s fledgling space program a boost over their Soviet rivals. Frequent changes of typeface size and weight in the narrative, matched with Stower’s abundant comical cartoons and caricatured portraits, lend this work the look of farce. But what with the satiric edge cutting deep enough to draw blood, even younger readers may find themselves wincing at times as they root for the underdogs, canine and otherwise. Spaceboy and a few others are rare exceptions in an otherwise light-skinned cast.
A soaring escapade, heavy axe-grinding aside. (space race timeline) (Adventure. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780008704001
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Harper360
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
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
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