More “faldoolery” for fans.
Could there be hidden pirate treasure somewhere about that might save the decrepit old school from closing?
Once again, students Arthur Mildew and Algernon “Sponge” Spongely-Partwork set off on a round of “detectivating,” as only a stash of gems purportedly left by Greenbeard the pirate can save Maudlin Towers from being shut down. Fortunately, there are plenty of only mildly obscure clues to the trove’s location scattered about the grounds. Unfortunately, news of the trove gets out, and soon the faculty is suddenly replaced by a bevy of more colorful, if perhaps less qualified, strangers with names like Jacques Blacques and Leather-Nose Susan who bill themselves as descendants of Greenbeard’s crew. There are other, more subtle, treasure hunters on the prowl too. Plainly considering this as but one in a continuous string of episodes, Priestley chucks in references to previous events, an encounter with a time-traveling teacher who was dead in the previous outing, and a giant, floating eyeball explicitly slated to reappear in a future one. Channeling Edward Gorey, the author gives the all-white cast depicted in frequent ink drawings and closing gallery a comically cadaverous look. This import is coming to the U.S. as is, complete with British spellings and punctuation conventions for an immersive experience.
More “faldoolery” for fans. (Gothic farce. 10-12)Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4088-7310-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato.
The new kid in school endures becoming the school mascot.
Ben Hardy has never cared for potatoes, and this distaste has become a barrier to adjusting to life in his new Idaho town. His school’s mascot is the Spud, and after a series of misfortunes, Ben is enlisted to don the potato costume and cheer on his school’s team. Ben balances his duties as a life-sized potato against his desperate desire to hide the fact that he’s the dork in the suit. After all, his cute new crush, Jayla, wouldn’t be too impressed to discover Ben’s secret. The ensuing novel is a fairly boilerplate middle–grade narrative: snarky tween protagonist, the crush that isn’t quite what she seems, and a pair of best friends that have more going on than our hero initially believes. The author keeps the novel moving quickly, pushing forward with witty asides and narrative momentum so fast that readers won’t really mind that the plot’s spine is one they’ve encountered many times before. Once finished, readers will feel little resonance and move on to the next book in their to-read piles, but in the moment the novel is pleasant enough. Ben, Jayla, and Ben’s friend Hunter are white while Ellie, Ben’s other good pal, is Latina.
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11866-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A solid debut: fluent, funny and eminently sequel-worthy.
Inventively tweaking a popular premise, Jensen pits two Incredibles-style families with superpowers against each other—until a new challenge rises to unite them.
The Johnsons invariably spit at the mere mention of their hated rivals, the Baileys. Likewise, all Baileys habitually shake their fists when referring to the Johnsons. Having long looked forward to getting a superpower so that he too can battle his clan’s nemeses, Rafter Bailey is devastated when, instead of being able to fly or something else cool, he acquires the “power” to strike a match on soft polyester. But when hated classmate Juanita Johnson turns up newly endowed with a similarly bogus power and, against all family tradition, they compare notes, it becomes clear that something fishy is going on. Both families regard themselves as the heroes and their rivals as the villains. Someone has been inciting them to fight each other. Worse yet, that someone has apparently developed a device that turns real superpowers into silly ones. Teaching themselves on the fly how to get past their prejudice and work together, Rafter, his little brother, Benny, and Juanita follow a well-laid-out chain of clues and deductions to the climactic discovery of a third, genuinely nefarious family, the Joneses, and a fiendishly clever scheme to dispose of all the Baileys and Johnsons at once. Can they carry the day?
A solid debut: fluent, funny and eminently sequel-worthy. (Adventure. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-220961-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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