A rollicking intergalactic adventure bursting with laughs and alien antics.
When Elvis the dog chases a strange creature through the neighborhood, an ordinary evening with the babysitter turns extraterrestrial.
Siblings Val and Mateo Garcia-Jackson, babysitter Jennica, and neighbor Booker know they’ll be in deep trouble if they don’t find Elvis before Mom and Dad get home. The only problem? Elvis has entered a portal to Boogbee City, located on Kroon, the “most awesome planet in Flooktar Nebula.” The gang enlists two friendly alien teens named Clorox and Noway to help them in their quest to rescue the beloved pup. The two don’t seem all that different from earthling adolescents, except for their pointy ears, their all-consuming obsession with pizza, and their tendency to butcher outdated Earth slang learned from old American media. The kids encounter a series of astronomical disasters along the way, from a hovercraft ride that ends in a collision with a band of broccoli smugglers to a trip inside the mouth of a giant monster that eats only once a year. Short, accessible chapters are peppered with angular, cartoonish, black-and-white illustrations, adding depth and humor to Hale’s out-of-this-world text. Though this action-packed alien tale is light on character development, kids will surely gravitate toward it anyway. The Garcia-Jackson kids are cued Latine, while the alien teens are described as having medium brown skin. In the artwork, Booker presents Black, while Jennica appears brown-skinned.
A rollicking intergalactic adventure bursting with laughs and alien antics. (Science fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780593660171
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
Young readers will be happy to make Azaleah’s acquaintance.
When her baby sister, Tiana, realizes her favorite stuffed frog, Greenie, is missing, Azaleah promises to help her find him—but will she have enough time to help Tiana and complete her school project?
Third grader Azaleah Lane is anxious to get home and start her diorama of Nikita the tiger after a visit to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. However, before she can get started, she must help Tiana find Greenie. Oldest sister Nia is of little help, as she’s busy preparing to play Dorothy in her middle school production of The Wiz. In order to complete her diorama and help Tiana solve the mystery of Greenie’s disappearance, Azaleah must prioritize her tasks and pay attention to the clues around her. This inaugural book in the Azaleah Lane series is a fast-paced and fun read, and Azaleah is a sympathetic, likable narrator who, like readers, is learning new vocabulary all the time. She thinks aloud as she works to solve the mystery, occasionally (and realistically) losing patience with the sobbing Tiana. Lobo’s playful, full-color illustrations every few pages are just enough to give transitioning readers needed rests so they’ll keep going; they depict Azaleah and her family as black. The backmatter includes a glossary of vocabulary words, book-discussion and writing prompts, and instructions for making a diorama.
Young readers will be happy to make Azaleah’s acquaintance. (Mystery. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5158-4464-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Picture Window Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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