Fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society (2007) will welcome Stewart’s latest puzzling adventure, whose seemingly ordinary...
A solitary boy with a penchant for finding “spots where no one would ever think to look” finds a mysterious watch and unravels a series of startling secrets.
Growing up in shabby New Umbra, white, 11-year-old Reuben lives with his widowed mother. Exploring a precarious ledge, Rueben finds a case containing a spherical watch that enables him to become temporarily invisible. Excited and empowered, Reuben experiments with his secret watch but is worried when he hears that The Smoke, an ambiguous character controlling New Umbra, is desperate to find the watch and has his bullies searching for it. An inscription on the watch case leads Reuben to a lighthouse where a young white girl named Penny reveals a long-kept family secret. Reuben discovers there are really two watches and whoever holds both becomes immortal. Convinced The Smoke already possesses the other watch, methodical Reuben must rely on moxie and wits to confront him on his own turf. Despite the novel’s daunting length and Reuben’s tendency to overthink everything, there are enough hidden tunnels, concealed traps, enigmatic secrets, hair-raising surprises, quirky characters, and ethical dilemmas to keep the plot buzzing. Sudyka supplies atmospheric black-and-white spot illustrations done in ink and wash.
Fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society (2007) will welcome Stewart’s latest puzzling adventure, whose seemingly ordinary hero proves quite extraordinary . (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-38955-6
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Megan Tingley/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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
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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