Exhilarating.
Relocated to the family vineyard in upstate New York following the events of The Mona Lisa Key (2018), the time-traveling Hudson kids (and parents, this time) prepare for a chronologically challenging confrontation with Capt. Vincent.
Vincent’s escaped in the shape-shifting, time-traveling vessel Vermillion with the Obsidian Compass, the letter from its inventor, and, worst, Matt’s friend Jia. Frantic to rescue her, Matt builds a new compass. If it works, he and twins Corey and Ruby must then evade their watchful mom, Belamie, once Vermillion’s dashing, time-traveling French pirate captain. Orphaned in 1762, she lived on the streets until acquiring the compass at 15. With Vincent, she plundered and looted across centuries until she abandoned that life for marriage and a family. With Vincent at large, both parents keep the kids in the dark until Colombian adoptee Matt’s 13th birthday, when a chance discovery renders his new compass functional. He’s whisked back to the Vermillion when Belamie captained it, with near-catastrophic results. Despite failures, Matt keeps trying. The Hudsons are presumed white. Chinese orphan Jia; 14th-century Mali Empire princess Tui; and 20th-century African American Wiley add diversity. Each century-hurdling trip (to ancient Siberia, 1893 Chicago, and 1990s Los Angeles) adds new complications—and some add new time travelers. Tucked into head-spinning plot twists, surprises, and abrupt changes of century and location are thoughts on the nature of time itself that readers may stop to ponder before hurtling on to the next adventure; unanswered questions signal more to come.
Exhilarating. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-256818-2
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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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