A quiet, unassuming, somewhat uneventful tale reinforcing the adage "there’s no place like home."
Stranded on a mysterious island, a young girl wonders if she’ll ever return to her family.
After the ship she’s traveling on with her aunt, uncle, and cousins encounters a storm, 11-year-old Pascale Chardon wakes up alone, adrift in a small boat. The tides carry her to the tiny tropical island of TeJÉ along with her only companion, a black beetle she’s named Inch. Until Pascale’s arrival, the island has never had a visitor, and she’s taken to the village Elders to see if she may be the Long Awaited, a prophesied stranger who will decide the community’s future. The previously uninhabited island was populated generations ago by people from around the world who left their societies in search of peaceful coexistence. Legend says that the islanders’ fate will be determined by whether the Long Awaited finds them living in peace and unity or conflict and strife. Pascale learns she must remain on TeJÉ for 17 days to determine if she’s the Long Awaited; however, she has no clue if she’s the Long Awaited and just wants to go home. Pascale settles into the daily rhythm of a caring, cooperative community, and events seem to unfold glacially, mirroring the idyllic island’s pace of life. When the long-awaited day finally arrives, the conclusion proves quite surprising. Pascale is presumably White; names point to the islanders’ multicultural ancestry.
A quiet, unassuming, somewhat uneventful tale reinforcing the adage "there’s no place like home." (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77086-647-8
Page Count: 220
Publisher: DCB
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale.
After a tsunami devastates their habitat in the Salish Sea, a young orca and her brother embark on a remarkable adventure.
Vega’s matriarchal family expects her to become a hunter and wayfinder, with her younger brother, Deneb, protecting and supporting her. Invited to guide her family to their Gathering Place to hunt salmon, Vega’s underwater miscalculations endanger them all, and an embarrassed Vega questions whether she should be a wayfinder. When the baby sister she hoped would become her life companion is stillborn, a distraught Vega carries the baby away to a special resting place, shocking her grieving family. Dispatched to find his missing sister, Deneb locates Vega in the midst of a terrible tsunami. To escape the waters polluted by shattered boats, Vega leads Deneb into unfamiliar open sea. Alone and hungry, the young siblings encounter a spectacular giant whale and travel briefly with shark-hunting orcas. Trusting her instincts and gaining emotional strength from contemplating the vastness of the sky, Vega knows she must lead her brother home and help save her surviving family. In alternating first-person voices, Vega and Deneb tell their harrowing story, engaging young readers while educating them about the marine ecosystem. Realistic black-and-white illustrations enhance the maritime setting.
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale. (maps, wildlife facts, tribes of the Salish Sea watershed, environmental and geographical information, how to help orcas, author’s note, artist’s note, resources) (Animal fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299592-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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