by Roshani Chokshi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2023
A thrilling tale brimming with magic and love.
An open heart leads a girl to what she needs in this page-turner embedded in Filipino mythology.
Corazon Lopez comes from a family of babaylans, mortals “who guarded the boundaries between the human world and the realm of spirits.” She must wait until her 12th birthday for her powerful magic to awaken so she can be trained by her aunt Tina. Corazon is especially eager to develop the ability to bring her deceased parents back to life instead of just having weekly dinners with their ghosts. Despite the presence of Saso, her anito or spirit companion who takes the form of a small lizard, and being cared for by Tina’s sentient home, Corazon feels lonely. Things take a turn for the worse when Corazon encounters Flordeliza, a vengeful ghost who steals her soul key, a token of powerful magic gifted to her by her mother that is essential to bringing her parents back. Soon the Library of Mirrors that contains portals to the spirit realms shows warning signs of an imbalance between worlds. Corazon, Saso, and their new ghost friend, Leo, must attempt to surmount daunting obstacles before it’s too late in Chokshi’s action-packed quest that balances tragedy and grief with comical antics. Family secrets, folktales, and the cultural diversity of the Philippines add interest to this story that ends on a hopeful note.
A thrilling tale brimming with magic and love. (author’s note, glossary) (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781368093392
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents/Disney
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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by Roshani Chokshi adapted by Joe Caramagna ; illustrated by Anu Chouhan
by Dav Pilkey & illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 2012
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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by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey
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by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey ; color by Jose Garibaldi & Wes Dzioba
by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 2013
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
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