Emotionally resonant but ultimately underwhelming.
As his beloved older brother becomes increasingly ill, Nathan seeks refuge inside a secret magical world.
Nine-year-old Nathan doesn’t have many friends and is often at odds with his chaotic family. He likes spending time with his teenage brother, Ben, but sometimes Ben would rather hang out with his own friends. One day, while making a quick getaway from local bullies’ secret hideout, Nathan stumbles upon a magic portal. Inside, he has the ability to make creations from his imagination. He uses glowing red light to craft tunnels, a pirate ship, creatures, and more. Best of all, no time passes in the real world while he is there. The only thing better would be to share it with someone, but by the time Nathan realizes that, the crisis of Ben’s illness takes priority. Real-world scenes are rendered in a muted palette of yellow, green, and blue. While this makes it clearly distinct from the interesting portal world of bright red and white on black, the realistic setting of 1990 British Columbia is less visually appealing. Panels and text bubbles are easy to follow, but the plot itself is often vague and culminates in a rushed, ambiguous ending that may not satisfy some. A lot of emotion is subtly packed into this quick read about loneliness and escapism, and perceptive readers may enjoy poring over details and forming their own ideas of what is real. Characters appear White.
Emotionally resonant but ultimately underwhelming. (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: June 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-20827-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
File under “laugh riot.”
A rogue spell-check program’s bid to transform all life-forms into that eminently useful office item, the paper clip, touches off a fresh round of lunar lunacy.
Predicated on the entirely reasonable premise that eliminating all spelling and grammar errors everywhere would logically lead to the necessity of exterminating carbon-based life in the universe, this third series entry combines high stakes with daffy banter and daring exploits. CheckMate—a chipper, jumped-up editing program—has invented the Transmogratron, a giant laser that will fulfill its ultimate goals in both the cyber world and “meatspace.” Facing challenges as random as prankster lunar unicorns and a disarmingly motherly Motherboard, scowling First Cat joins a motley crew of diversely carbon- and silicon-based allies, led by the pearlescent Queen of the Moon. They’re in a race to the finish—diverted occasionally by, for instance, a relentlessly punny comic-book interlude featuring a pair of literal and figurative Pool Sharks. They ultimately triumph thanks to teamwork and moxie. Following a celebratory party and toasts to “new friends…and steadfast comrades” (and, of course, “MEOW”), the story’s energetic, brightly colored panels close with a reveal of the next volume. (“I always hate it when comics end by announcing a sequel. SO CRINGE!” declares an authorial stand-in.) It can’t come too soon.
File under “laugh riot.” (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063315280
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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