Plenty of amusing magic mayhem despite some minor stumbles.
A boy transformed into a dog by a magic wand seeks to reverse the spell in this middle-grade novel.
When his best friend, Mike Blackburn, gets a new magic wand, Charlie Fogalman is skeptical. How good could it be for three box tops and 50 cents? For his first trick, Mike decides to turn his annoying 3-year-old sister into a frog. But when Mike waves the wand and says the magic word “Abracadabra,” he produces a flash of purple light and Charlie morphs into a brown-and-white, beagle-sized dog—paws, fur, tail, slobber, and all. Worried that repeating the spell will only cause worse trouble, Mike vows to find another solution. Charlie can still talk, in between barks, so since he can’t go home yet, he calls his mother, claiming to be kidnapped. And since Mike’s father is allergic to canines, Charlie has to stay outside, where he must fend off threats from people like the town dog catcher. If Mike can’t reverse the curse in time, Charlie may have to stay a pup permanently. In his latest comic adventure for middle-graders, Trine provides a hilariously horrifying scenario of body-switching as Mike becomes increasingly canine, discovering a love for sniffing fire hydrants, drinking from the gutter, and chasing a mail carrier. Whether as a normal fifth grader or a dog, Charlie has a convincing age-appropriate voice, as when guessing what Mike’s wand could be: “ ‘Nose picker?’ I asked. ‘For those hard-to-reach places?’ ” At times, though, unlike in the author’s previous books, the humor becomes a trifle mean-spirited. Picking on a younger sibling is played for laughs (“It’s a big brother thing—inflict pain on smaller people, especially if they are related to you”). And while Charlie doesn’t like to see his mother cry, a child’s kidnapping would cause real anguish.
Plenty of amusing magic mayhem despite some minor stumbles.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 118
Publisher: Malamute Press
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2020
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
