Numeracy drives this tale, but superhero action keeps the pedal to the metal.
In this STEM-centric series’ second episode, learning to manipulate fractions and decimals helps three young superheroes defend the Arithmetic Meteor, which gave them their powers, from archnemesis Null Void.
Unwisely accepting free cans of Micro Cola from the thinly disguised, light-skinned villain leaves the suddenly mouse-sized Solvers—light-skinned Leo, dark-skinned Shahi, and tan-skinned Moe (who uses they/them pronouns)—in desperate straits. Only by learning how to make, convert, add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions and decimals are they going to be able to make sense of the ingredients for an Enlarging Formula and various other helpful concoctions. Much instruction ensues, with careless mistakes (notably one that subjects them to Sudden Additional Shrinking Syndrome: “We got SASSed!!”), definitions of terms, step-by-step examples, and problems laid out so that motivated readers can do the figuring right along with the costumed trio. Leo and Moe travel realistic learning curves while Shahi does most of the explaining, but all three wind up on the same page in time to put things right and deliver a rousing cheer: “Hooray for fractions!” “Hooray for decimals!” “Hooray for math!” The message that facility with fractions and decimals is helpful in daily life gets a good airing, too.
Numeracy drives this tale, but superhero action keeps the pedal to the metal. (glossary) (Graphic superhero nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9781523512775
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme.
An age-old rivalry is reluctantly put aside when two young vacationers are lost in the wilderness.
Anthropomorphic—in body if definitely not behavior—Dogg Scout Oscar and pampered Molly Hissleton stray from their separate camps, meet by chance in a trackless magic forest, and almost immediately recognize that their only chance of survival, distasteful as the notion may be, lies in calling a truce. Patterson and Grabenstein really work the notion here that cooperation is better than prejudice founded on ignorance and habit, interspersing explicit exchanges on the topic while casting the squabbling pair with complementary abilities that come out as they face challenges ranging from finding food to escaping such predators as a mountain lion and a pack of vicious “weaselboars.” By the time they cross a wide river (on a raft steered by “Old Jim,” an otter whose homespun utterances are generally cribbed from Mark Twain—an uneasy reference) back to civilization, the two are BFFs. But can that friendship survive the return, with all the social and familial pressures to resume the old enmity? A climactic cage-match–style confrontation before a worked-up multispecies audience provides the answer. In the illustrations (not seen in finished form) López plops wide-eyed animal heads atop clothed, more or less human forms and adds dialogue balloons for punchlines.
A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-41156-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake.
Promising myth-adventures aplenty, this kickoff episode introduces young Zeus, “a very special, yet clueless godboy.”
After 10-year-old Zeus is plucked from his childhood cave in Crete by armed “Cronies” of the Titan king, Cronus, he is rescued by harpies. He then finds himself in a Grecian temple where he acquires a lightning bolt with the general personality of a puppy and receives hints of his destiny from an Oracle with fogged eyeglasses. Recaptured and about to be eaten by Cronus, Zeus hurls the bolt down the Titan’s throat—causing the king to choke and then, thanks to an alert Crony’s Heimlich maneuver, to barf up several previously eaten Olympians. Spooning in numerous ingredients from the origin myth’s traditional versions, the veteran authors whip up a smooth confection, spiced with both gross bits and contemporary idiom (“ ‘Eew!’ a voice shrieked. ‘This is disgusting!’ ”) and well larded with full-page illustrations (not seen). One thorough washing later, off marches the now-cocky lad with new allies Poseidon and Hera, to rescue more Olympians in the next episode.
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5787-4
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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