Not the first tale to be set in a universal library but unusually clever in the details and commendably accurate in its own...
A bored preteen discovers that there’s more to library work than developing a world-class “SHUSH” or shooting through librarian-sized pneumatic tubes.
Indeed, hardly has 11-year-old Lenora stepped through the mysterious portal that connects her public library to a much, much larger one then she is invited to take the librarian’s oath (“Do you swear to venture forth bravely and find the answer to any question, no matter the challenge?”). She’s given a Fourth Assistant Apprentice Librarian badge and whirled off on a series of assignments that take her from the year 8000 to correct a leap-year misconception to a near stranding on a massive globe as she searches for the place with the world’s longest name. And as if such realistically typical reference work isn’t hard enough on its own, along the way she is repeatedly attacked by bowler-wearing villains (some of them robots) collectively known as the Forces of Darkness and dedicated to the suppression of intellectual freedom. Fortunately, being the resourceful sort who gets a thrill of pleasure from realizing that she is lost, Lenora is well up to most challenges—and for the rest she gets solid support from a multispecies supporting cast led by her supervisor, Chief Answerer Malachi. Lenora presents white; Malachi is a 10-foot-tall, dark-skinned woman.
Not the first tale to be set in a universal library but unusually clever in the details and commendably accurate in its own way. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: April 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-16917-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Imprint
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme.
An age-old rivalry is reluctantly put aside when two young vacationers are lost in the wilderness.
Anthropomorphic—in body if definitely not behavior—Dogg Scout Oscar and pampered Molly Hissleton stray from their separate camps, meet by chance in a trackless magic forest, and almost immediately recognize that their only chance of survival, distasteful as the notion may be, lies in calling a truce. Patterson and Grabenstein really work the notion here that cooperation is better than prejudice founded on ignorance and habit, interspersing explicit exchanges on the topic while casting the squabbling pair with complementary abilities that come out as they face challenges ranging from finding food to escaping such predators as a mountain lion and a pack of vicious “weaselboars.” By the time they cross a wide river (on a raft steered by “Old Jim,” an otter whose homespun utterances are generally cribbed from Mark Twain—an uneasy reference) back to civilization, the two are BFFs. But can that friendship survive the return, with all the social and familial pressures to resume the old enmity? A climactic cage-match–style confrontation before a worked-up multispecies audience provides the answer. In the illustrations (not seen in finished form) López plops wide-eyed animal heads atop clothed, more or less human forms and adds dialogue balloons for punchlines.
A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-41156-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake.
Promising myth-adventures aplenty, this kickoff episode introduces young Zeus, “a very special, yet clueless godboy.”
After 10-year-old Zeus is plucked from his childhood cave in Crete by armed “Cronies” of the Titan king, Cronus, he is rescued by harpies. He then finds himself in a Grecian temple where he acquires a lightning bolt with the general personality of a puppy and receives hints of his destiny from an Oracle with fogged eyeglasses. Recaptured and about to be eaten by Cronus, Zeus hurls the bolt down the Titan’s throat—causing the king to choke and then, thanks to an alert Crony’s Heimlich maneuver, to barf up several previously eaten Olympians. Spooning in numerous ingredients from the origin myth’s traditional versions, the veteran authors whip up a smooth confection, spiced with both gross bits and contemporary idiom (“ ‘Eew!’ a voice shrieked. ‘This is disgusting!’ ”) and well larded with full-page illustrations (not seen). One thorough washing later, off marches the now-cocky lad with new allies Poseidon and Hera, to rescue more Olympians in the next episode.
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5787-4
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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