A quirky and fun summer read.
Abigail Herman spends a lot of time trying to figure out the mysterious rules of fifth grade friendship.
Everyone knows that you should tuck in your shirt before doing a cartwheel. Everyone, that is, except 11-year-old Abby. Just like she doesn’t know the words to the latest songs or the names of the characters on the popular TV shows her mom won’t let her watch. She thinks a fresh start at summer camp might be the answer to her friendship problems, and she has her sights set on Camp Longatocket, which her old babysitter reminisced about. But when her teacher, Ms. McIntyre, arranges for Abby to go to a camp run by her brother, it’s someplace completely different: Camp Famous, where the high-profile campers include a princess and a pop star. Being the only nonfamous kid makes her feel like an outsider, so Abby pretends to be a bestselling author to fit in. She can only be her true self when she’s writing in her fuzzy, green, sequined notebook and when she’s spending time with Oliver Frank, her classmate and fellow camper who promises to keep her secret—and has one of his own. This plot-driven, upbeat novel will have readers relating to Abby’s awkwardness while enjoying the fanciful situation in which she finds herself. At its heart, it’s a sweet story of friendship, being true to yourself, and finding common ground. Most characters default to White.
A quirky and fun summer read. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-314068-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
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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