A science-fiction adventure with heart.
In a world where aliens fall to Earth, a girl shoulders adult responsibilities to care for them.
Ever since her mom died and her dad left, 13-year-old Ava Ardent has cared for the 32 Extraterrestrial Living Beings in the Alien Zoo. But life gets even harder when Ava’s uncle Pete, an Iraq War veteran, hires 14-year-old Harley as an intern just as a hurricane is barreling toward Maine. Most of the ELBs get loose during the storm, and Uncle Pete goes off with the police, leaving Ava and Harley to care for the one remaining ELB and chase one that escaped into the woods. In this high-stress, high-stakes situation, Ava and Harley bond, sharing their histories and becoming each other’s first real friend, but when they make a startling discovery that flips Ava’s world upside down, she pushes Harley away in order to keep him safe. Through people’s reactions to the escaped aliens, van Leer explores deeply relevant themes; as Ava says, “When humans feel threatened, they will always choose themselves.” Ava’s devotion to the ELBs is wholly believable, and her competence is admirable. The supporting cast includes compelling characters whose backstories inform their actions. The ELBs are uniquely imagined, though their origins remain mysterious. A climactic rescue scene requires some suspension of disbelief, but the ending is satisfying, leaving enough open threads for the series to continue and hinting at a possible romance between Ava and Harley, who are cued white.
A science-fiction adventure with heart. (Science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781645952930
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Pixel+Ink
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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