A sometimes-thrilling but problematic time-travel adventure.
In this middle-grade novel, a group of children go back in time and learn scary truths about living in the 19th century.
Twelve-year-old DeeAnn Quesenberry, her twin brother, Leon, and their 7-year-old sibling, Caleb,are all set to visit Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia with their beloved Uncle Azer. But just before their trip, he goes missing. A mysterious letter from their uncle tells them that if he suddenly disappears, they’ll likely never see him again and they shouldn’t file a missing person’s report. After some time, their parents decide that Uncle Azer will not be returning, so the children each choose something from his home to remember him by. As they admire the model steam train that Caleb chooses, they reflect on a genealogical chart that their mother rescued from the house. They imagine living in the past, which causes a time-traveling steam train to appear, and it takes them to 1854 Pennsylvania. Once there, they insinuate themselves into the home of a kindly couple who operate a station on the Underground Railroad. The children help the pair secretly transport enslaved people to the next station, risking their own lives in ways they never could have imagined. They want to return home, but they will have to uncover their Uncle Azer’s secret before they can. Over the course of this engaging adventure novel, Quigley presents a wealth of historical detail, and the young characters’ behavior will be relatable to the book’s intended audience. The author makes references to classic children’s time-travel books, such as the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time (1962), establishing that she understands the kind of material that will appeal to her audience. However, the story’s sections about the Underground Railroad, while intriguing, can come across as a White-savior narrative, as the Black characters don’t play a very active role in the story.
A sometimes-thrilling but problematic time-travel adventure.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-973681-58-8
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 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
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