Enticing young people to leave the brightly lit Glitter and join him in the decrepit part of town known as The Gloom, a parent-hating, teenage bully sets himself up as King Streetwise in this plodding British farce from Ridley (Krindlekrax, 1992, etc.). Kasper Whiskey, having spent all of his ten years with his indolent mother, Pumpkin, in her beauty parlor surrounded by leveled buildings, has never met anyone his age until the day he catches Heartthrob Mink, one of King Streetwise's troops, stealing roses. When Pumpkin's prized brooch disappears, Kasper sets out in pursuit. Streetwise is looking for Heartthrob, too, for helping his intended queen, Hushabye Brightwing, escape; Kasper joins the hunt but is so offended by the king's tactics that he switches sides and brings the two fugitives to the beauty parlor. Ultimately, Pumpkin turns over a new leaf, Heartthrob deals the king a black eye, the brooch turns up, and Hushabye declares her love for Kasper. Cautionary messages about bad friends and the dangers of running away are woven into a story that, for all its quirky elements and exaggerated characters, never hits the funny bone; few readers will notice that the king sounds like Elvis, nor will they attach much hilarity to repeated glimpses of Kasper's skill at whipping up a kind of banana cream pie. Riddell's black-and-white drawings have an expressive, graphic-novel-style sophistication, but can't leaven this leaden effort. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-525-45799-2
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
If it were a Golden Age comic, this tale of ridiculous science, space dogs and humanoid aliens with flashlights in their hands might not be bad. Alas... Number Four is a fugitive from the planet Lorien, which is sloppily described as both "hundreds of lightyears away" and "billions of miles away." Along with eight other children and their caretakers, Number Four escaped from the Mogadorian invasion of Lorien ten years ago. Now the nine children are scattered on Earth, hiding. Luckily and fairly nonsensically, the planet's Elders cast a charm on them so they could only be killed in numerical order, but children one through three are dead, and Number Four is next. Too bad he's finally gained a friend and a girlfriend and doesn't want to run. At least his newly developing alien powers means there will be screen-ready combat and explosions. Perhaps most idiotic, "author" Pittacus Lore is a character in this fiction—but the first-person narrator is someone else entirely. Maybe this is a natural extension of lightly hidden actual author James Frey's drive to fictionalize his life, but literature it ain't. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-196955-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
Paulsen recalls personal experiences that he incorporated into Hatchet (1987) and its three sequels, from savage attacks by moose and mosquitoes to watching helplessly as a heart-attack victim dies. As usual, his real adventures are every bit as vivid and hair-raising as those in his fiction, and he relates them with relish—discoursing on “The Fine Art of Wilderness Nutrition,” for instance: “Something that you would never consider eating, something completely repulsive and ugly and disgusting, something so gross it would make you vomit just looking at it, becomes absolutely delicious if you’re starving.” Specific examples follow, to prove that he knows whereof he writes. The author adds incidents from his Iditarod races, describes how he made, then learned to hunt with, bow and arrow, then closes with methods of cooking outdoors sans pots or pans. It’s a patchwork, but an entertaining one, and as likely to win him new fans as to answer questions from his old ones. (Autobiography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-32650-5
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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