General tomfoolery, affectionate and otherwise.
A young boy comes into possession of a miraculous bag.
Two weeks before Christmas, the continued shenanigans of North Pole elves Eldor and Skhiff result in their being given the less-than-desirable job of “fertilizer relocation engineer” (shoveling reindeer poop). Meanwhile, a 10-year-old foster child named Max Fernsby takes an ill-fated, snowy bedpan ride (he and his friends couldn’t afford a toboggan)…and winds up careening into Steve Bozeman, the greedy CEO of Rainforest.com. Though the kids run off, they haven’t seen the last of Bozeman. When a hankering for pizza prompts Eldor to borrow Santa’s sleigh, an almost-collision sends Santa’s red bag falling through the sky onto Max’s head. The bag produces whatever toy he asks for, and he and his friends start a business to support themselves and provide presents to the neighborhood at much lower prices than Rainforest.com offers. The elves need to find that bag, especially before Bozeman gets his hands on it! Opening with a promise that readers have never heard a Christmas story quite like this one, Swallow and Gaulke certainly deliver in the unique zany shenanigans department. Despite a couple of missteps—a key beat of the climax happens abruptly offscreen, and the end has an odd twist—young readers looking for humor with a holiday twist will have fun here. Occasional illustrations depict the primary characters as light-skinned, though people of color appear, too.
General tomfoolery, affectionate and otherwise. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780063214750
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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