Readers will suck up this quick and gooey adventure like the “fly-spit smoothie” that it is.
The plot thickens with complications, plus various sorts of goo and slime, in the second episode of this boys-as-bugs series.
When their mother’s prized topiary is vandalized, 8-year-old twins Danny and Josh accept the offer of Petty Potts, the old-but-not-as-dotty-as-she-seems scientist next door, to transform them temporarily into houseflies in order to track down the perpetrator. Marveling at their suddenly different world (“I can see my own butt!” exclaims Danny. “Without turning my head around!”), the lads buzz off to the house of the suspected classmate culprit. There they have close and gross encounters with both a parental nose and a hungry spider—plus a reunion with friendly rats Scratch and Sniff, introduced in the first episode (Spider Stampede, 2013). In the end, just deserts are served out all around, and hints of a larger scheme involving Potts and her chemical cocktails point to sequels. Along with spritzing occasional drops of natural history into the story itself—“To a fly, pee is soup”—Sparkes appends a glossary of insect parts and other vocabulary words. For value added, all series episodes also feature a set list of print and Web resources for larval insectophiles. Sequels, publishing simultaneously, are Grasshopper Glitch, Ant Attack, Crane Fly Crash and Beetle Blast.
Readers will suck up this quick and gooey adventure like the “fly-spit smoothie” that it is. (line drawings) (Fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4677-0711-4
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Darby Creek
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure.
It’s not truffles but doubloons that tickle this porcine wayfarer’s fancy.
Funke and Meyer make another foray into chapter-book fare after Emma and the Blue Genie (2014). Here, mariner Stout Sam and deckhand Pip eke out a comfortable existence on Butterfly Island ferrying cargo to and fro. Life is good, but it takes an unexpected turn when a barrel washes ashore containing a pig with a skull-and-crossbones pendant around her neck. It soon becomes clear that this little piggy, dubbed Julie, has the ability to sniff out treasure—lots of it—in the sea. The duo is pleased with her skills, but pride goeth before the hog. Stout Sam hands out some baubles to the local children, and his largess attracts the unwanted attention of Barracuda Bill and his nasty minions. Now they’ve pignapped Julie, and it’s up to the intrepid sailors to save the porker and their own bacon. The succinct word count meets the needs of kids looking for early adventure fare. The tale is slight, bouncy, and amusing, though Julie is never the piratical buccaneer the book’s cover seems to suggest. Meanwhile, Meyer’s cheery watercolors are as comfortable diagramming the different parts of a pirate vessel as they are rendering the dread pirate captain himself.
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure. (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37544-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
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