A well-crafted, supernatural pirate tale with a capable, young hero.
A young girl, the descendant of a famous pirate, joins a magic-filled adventure at sea in this launch of a prospective middle-grade series.
Avalina Jones has only hazy memories of her parents, who left her at a Louisiana orphanage six years ago. It turns out they were keeping their daughter, now 10, a secret for her own safety. A scoundrel named Del Maligno long ago vowed revenge against Davy Jones and has since targeted all his heirs. Avalina is the lone survivor. As per her late mother’s wishes, Avalina boards the Aquatiery, one of four schoolships for pirate heirs. The girl and her new friends study, and, like full-fledged pirates, they scrutinize maps and hunt for treasure. Avalina already has enough to worry about; legend says the evil Del Maligno can control the weather. There’s also a chance she’s got Davy Jones’ “Curse of Bad Luck.” Booting Avalina off the ship is evidently someone’s priority, and she soon becomes the No.1 suspect for an onboard murder. Adams’ pirate-centric story teems with entertaining bits of magic. If the students want to eat, they must first catch surprisingly mobile “enchanted food” (even salads). The author nevertheless zeroes in on winsome Avalina and her equally appealing fellow heirs. The narrative lingers on colorful descriptions of the ship’s decks (“rickety, crooked signs” in “sloppy white lettering”) as well as the surrounding ocean’s “pale blue water.” An unknown antagonist on the Aquatiery incites mystery (if Avalina isn’t the killer, then someone else surely is). While the ending satisfies, Adams leaves plenty to explore further in sequels, like Avalina’s ability to breathe underwater, which she keeps mum about.
A well-crafted, supernatural pirate tale with a capable, young hero.Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73713-120-5
Page Count: 366
Publisher: Spyhop Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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