Campy, 1960s-style science fiction mixes with zany, kid-friendly ridiculousness for extreme fun.
The American debut of an acclaimed British comedy.
Astra’s family sets out on a 199-year journey to planet Nova Mundi. To survive the trip, the passengers will spend the voyage sleeping in a cryogenically frozen state. But before going nearly two centuries between dinner and breakfast, Astra wants a bedtime snack. The ship’s food synthesizer’s so much fun that she requests the ultimate cake—which apparently breaks the machine, sticking it on a “WORKING” message. Astra dodges responsibility and goes to bed, only to wake up early as the only conscious human on the ship. She soon encounters the monstrous, sentient cakes the synthesizer has spent decades evolving—and worse, the synthesizer’s malfunctions have put other essential ship functions at risk! While evading the hungry cakes on her quest to get to the ship’s control room and set things to right, Astra encounters a terrifying-looking extraterrestrial life-form that’s boarded the ship and is then caught by spoon-loving outer-space salvagers (who have mistaken the sleeping people for dead and declared the drifting ship abandoned). Astra must clean up her mess by stopping both the cakes and the aliens. Vibrant, lively illustrations highlight the ludicrousness of it all. The resolution’s weird enough to fit in perfectly with the rest of the story.
Campy, 1960s-style science fiction mixes with zany, kid-friendly ridiculousness for extreme fun. (Science fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-38792-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Thought-provoking and charming.
A sophisticated robot—with the capacity to use senses of sight, hearing, and smell—is washed to shore on an island, the only robot survivor of a cargo of 500.
When otters play with her protective packaging, the robot is accidently activated. Roz, though without emotions, is intelligent and versatile. She can observe and learn in service of both her survival and her principle function: to help. Brown links these basic functions to the kind of evolution Roz undergoes as she figures out how to stay dry and intact in her wild environment—not easy, with pine cones and poop dropping from above, stormy weather, and a family of cranky bears. She learns to understand and eventually speak the language of the wild creatures (each species with its different “accent”). An accident leaves her the sole protector of a baby goose, and Roz must ask other creatures for help to shelter and feed the gosling. Roz’s growing connection with her environment is sweetly funny, reminiscent of Randall Jarrell’s The Animal Family. At every moment Roz’s actions seem plausible and logical yet surprisingly full of something like feeling. Robot hunters with guns figure into the climax of the story as the outside world intrudes. While the end to Roz’s benign and wild life is startling and violent, Brown leaves Roz and her companions—and readers—with hope.
Thought-provoking and charming. (Science fiction/fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-38199-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face.
Four misunderstood villains endeavor to turn over a new leaf…or a new rap sheet in Blabey's frenzied romp.
As readers open the first page of this early chapter book, Mr. Wolf is right there to greet them, bemoaning his reputation. "Just because I've got BIG POINTY TEETH and RAZOR-SHARP CLAWS and I occasionally like to dress up like an OLD LADY, that doesn't mean… / … I'm a BAD GUY." To prove this very fact, Mr. Wolf enlists three equally slandered friends into the Good Guys Club: Mr. Snake (aka the Chicken Swallower), Mr. Piranha (aka the Butt Biter), and Mr. Shark (aka Jaws). After some convincing from Mr. Wolf, the foursome sets off determined to un-smirch their names (and reluctantly curbing their appetites). Although these predators find that not everyone is ready to be at the receiving end of their helpful efforts, they use all their Bad Guy know-how to manage a few hilarious good deeds. Blabey has hit the proverbial nail on the head, kissed it full on the mouth, and handed it a stick of Acme dynamite. With illustrations that startle in their manic comedy and deadpan direct address and with a narrative that follows four endearingly sardonic characters trying to push past (sometimes successfully) their fear-causing natures, this book instantly joins the classic ranks of Captain Underpants and The Stinky Cheese Man.
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-91240-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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