This entomological adventure celebrates teamwork and girl power.
Two preteen girl superheroes struggle with their personal differences and contend with a diabolical geriatric.
In this second episode of the Bug Girl series, aside from training together, seventh-graders Emily (who still has not found her superhero moniker) and Bug Girl/Amanda are far from a happy duo. In school, Emily is obsessed with popularity, while Amanda is way more interested in its entomology club. Amanda is extremely concerned about the creature living in the town’s grotesquely polluted lake, but Emily wants little more than to be queen of the upcoming dance. Amanda’s superpowers, among them flight and a protective exoskeleton, spur Emily’s jealousy, as her abilities are seemingly lackluster. Meanwhile, the school’s passel of upper-echelon girls is dwindling as they begin to disappear. There’s also a new student, Geri, who ups the ante on how to be a mean girl, dishing out fashion-violation tickets and otherwise bullying relentlessly. There’s also something about Geri that makes Amanda’s antennae tingle. Each chapter begins with a quirky bug fact, and the plentiful illustrations are a nod to superhero comics. The key characters appear to be white. Told in the third person primarily from Amanda’s perspective, the hijinks and variety of comical ne’er-do-wells combine to make a case that envy may be the most venomous evil of all.
This entomological adventure celebrates teamwork and girl power. (Adventure. 7-12)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-10663-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Imprint
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Thought-provoking and charming.
A sophisticated robot—with the capacity to use senses of sight, hearing, and smell—is washed to shore on an island, the only robot survivor of a cargo of 500.
When otters play with her protective packaging, the robot is accidently activated. Roz, though without emotions, is intelligent and versatile. She can observe and learn in service of both her survival and her principle function: to help. Brown links these basic functions to the kind of evolution Roz undergoes as she figures out how to stay dry and intact in her wild environment—not easy, with pine cones and poop dropping from above, stormy weather, and a family of cranky bears. She learns to understand and eventually speak the language of the wild creatures (each species with its different “accent”). An accident leaves her the sole protector of a baby goose, and Roz must ask other creatures for help to shelter and feed the gosling. Roz’s growing connection with her environment is sweetly funny, reminiscent of Randall Jarrell’s The Animal Family. At every moment Roz’s actions seem plausible and logical yet surprisingly full of something like feeling. Robot hunters with guns figure into the climax of the story as the outside world intrudes. While the end to Roz’s benign and wild life is startling and violent, Brown leaves Roz and her companions—and readers—with hope.
Thought-provoking and charming. (Science fiction/fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-38199-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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