Satisfyingly over-the-top mayhem for all “low and slow” fans.
The Lowriders in Space saga continues with an even crazier ride than the first.
After an earthquake, Lupe the supermechanic impala, Elirio Malaria the mosquito, and El Chavo Flapjack the octopus realize that Genie the cat has gone missing. Trailing him in their galactic lowrider, they’re soon stymied by an amazing maíz maze of gigantic corn, where a punny, Gandalf-like coyote relates a fractured-mythological tale of how the Aztec god of the underworld uses the maze to trap victims forever. Undeterred, the friends plunge into a cave, where they’re surrounded by “metaphoric” rocks (“the building blocks of poets everywhere”). In the underworld, a gleefully bizarre and culturally dense adventure ensues. The friends meet the inconsolable, pre-Hispanic legend La Llorona, who believes Flappy is her lost child. Further in, they arrive at a macabre carnival midway where Day of the Dead references abound and the chupacabra drives a monster truck. When the gobsmacked compañeros finally find the caged (but still intact) Genie, they also come face to face with their nemesis, lucha libre fanatic and god of the underworld Mictlantecuhtli (“Mic to you, ¡idiotas!”). Lupe must wrestle him for her cat’s freedom, but Genie has a surprise for everyone. Raúl the Third’s ultradetailed crosshatched artwork more than meets the demands of this cast-of-thousands comic opus. The copious Spanish vocabulary is defined in footnotes and again in a glossary in the backmatter.
Satisfyingly over-the-top mayhem for all “low and slow” fans. (Graphic fantasy. 8-13)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2343-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love.
A 13-year-old biracial girl longs to build the house of her dreams.
For Lou Bulosan-Nelson, normal is her “gigantic extended family squished into Lola’s for every holiday imaginable.” She shares a bedroom with her Filipina mother, Minda—a former interior-design major and current nurse-to-be—in Lola Celina’s San Francisco home. From her deceased white father, Michael, Lou inherited “not-so-Filipino features,” his love for architecture, and some land. Lou’s quietude implies her keen eye for details, but her passion for creating with her hands resonates loudly. Pining for something to claim as her own, she plans to construct a house from the ground up. When her mom considers moving out of state for a potential job and Lou’s land is at risk of being auctioned off, Lou stays resilient, gathering support from both friends and family to make her dream a reality. Respicio authentically depicts the richness of Philippine culture, incorporating Filipino language, insights into Lou’s family history, and well-crafted descriptions of customs, such as the birdlike Tinikling dance and eating kamayan style (with one’s hands), throughout. Lou’s story gives voice to Filipino youth, addressing cultural differences, the importance of bayanihan (community), and the true meaning of home.
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1794-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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