A colorfully illustrated, thrilling fantasy yarn perfect for middle-grade readers and up.
Three young friends work together to break into the queen’s treasure tower in Chantler’s fantasy graphic novel.
Dessa, Topper, and Fisk work together in a traveling circus, and while they may not be related by blood, they are a family all the same. When entering Kingsbridge, the Royal City, Topper tells Dessa and Fisk his plan to break into Queen Magda’s tower and steal some of the gold and treasure that she’s hoarded for years. When Dessa fails to perform her tightrope act because she thinks she sees someone from her past, her boss decrees that Dessa is not allowed to return to the circus without bringing food or money to make up for the lost profits. While wandering the streets trying to come up with a plan, she runs into Topper and Fisk, who are initiating their break-in plans at the tower. Somehow, the three manage to survive the booby traps set to keep thieves away from the treasure, but Topper’s inability to wait for Dessa to finish searching for any final traps springs the biggest one of all, and they’re caught by the palace guards. While Captain Drake warns them that they will each lose a hand for thievery, the queen’s chamberlain, Master Greyfalcon, sentences them to death instead (“We’ll display their heads in the courtyard as a warning to others”). Now, the three must escape and figure out why the chamberlain is so eager to be rid of them. In this thrilling and colorful graphic novel, suitable for a middle-grade audience, readers will enjoy the mystery and excitement of Dessa, Topper, and Fisk’s adventures. The three young heroes are easy to root for, and the dilemma Captain Drake faces, caught between his empathy and his duty to the queen, makes him an intriguing possible anti-hero. Overall, this is an enjoyable read that is sure to please its audience.
A colorfully illustrated, thrilling fantasy yarn perfect for middle-grade readers and up.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 9781554534142
Page Count: 112
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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