A rousing yarn.
An impoverished Irish farm boy finds himself among pirates on the hunt for a fabled treasure.
Revising the text of his 2010 Fish and, to a lesser extent, the cast, if not the storyline's general drift, Mone plunks 12-year-old Maurice Reidy aboard the Scurvy Mistress. Dubbed Fish for his love of swimming, the boy, while literally learning the ropes and enduring rough treatment from brutal first mate Scab, helps treasure-hunting Capt. Walter Cobb solve a puzzle that leads to a golden chain big enough to encircle a city. Readers familiar with Treasure Island will feel a distinct sense of déjà vu as, along with the glittering MacGuffin, certain members of the ragged, knavish, racially diverse crew turn out to have mutinous agendas of their own and the climactic action takes place on or near a remote island. On the other hand, the author does retain his protagonist’s resolute pacifism and the cast’s strong, active women from the previous edition (notably Fish’s knife-throwing young ally, Nora, and ruthless rival pirate Lady Swift). He also adds a list of several more hidden pirate treasures to set up the sequels. A cutaway view of the sloop heads up a fresh set of spot art at the chapter heads for this redesigned reboot.
A rousing yarn. (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781419756832
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
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