Prehistoric adventures with a (more-or-less) period cast.
Young exiles band together to save their warring clans from a deadly outside threat in this all-dinosaur debut.
Fifty years after a Fallen Star laid waste to the planet but magically rendered the remaining dinosaurs more intelligent, the herbivorous residents of the Mountain Kingdom and the Prairie Alliance of Cretacea are gathering rival armies for a decisive battle—unaware that the carnivorous raptors of the Carrion Kingdom have formed an unprecedented alliance and are poised to descend in a killing frenzy on the battle’s survivors. Expelled or estranged from their herds for various reasons, several young plant eaters, each a different type of dinosaur, meet by chance in the devastated Deadlands and discover the treacherous scheme. Can they put aside rivalries and conflicting agendas to pull off a save? Melki-Wegner provides helpful introductory notes on the large cast, which feels human in all but species (“Look, if we’re gonna survive out here, we’ve both gotta play to our strengths,” wheedles aspiring tale spinner Eleri, the small but agile oryctodromeus in the lead role). The story pits the doughty exiles against foes ranging from a horde of ratlike (and unintelligent) warmbloods to a towering tyrannosaur. Keeping the levels of explicit gore and violence low, the author propels her feathered or armored heroes through contrived but suspenseful and ultimately successful efforts to disperse the carnivores and end the original battle in a draw, leaving any resolution or reconciliation to future episodes.
Prehistoric adventures with a (more-or-less) period cast. (map) (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250827692
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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
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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