A thrilling, thoughtful, and layered adventure story with fantastical elements.
A spirited 12-year-old embarks on an action-packed globe-trekking adventure to collect and repatriate stolen artifacts.
After Cincinnati Lee, an American girl who has some Chinese heritage, snags her ailing 135-year-old archaeologist great-great-great-grandfather’s diary, she learns about a clay idol from Peru that he looted (and which has cursed the family) and the legendary Spear of Destiny (a relic rumored to grant immense power, but at great peril). Determined to right past wrongs, Cincinnati works to recover the idol. In doing so she unravels an international web of secrets involving corporate art smugglers, curse-bearing relics, and her own family history. Along the way, Cincinnati is supported by friends: Parsley, a Black classmate at her posh private school and the daughter of a celebrity musician, and Felix, who presents Latine and is an amateur forger whose father works with Cin’s mom at the Cosmopolitan Museum of New York. The settings and characters are well developed, and laugh-out-loud dialogue accompanies the bold, fast-paced narrative. References to other adventure stories, real places, and true-to-life political controversies (such as the Hobby Lobby smuggling scandal) abound, adding depth and inviting readers to reflect on questions of cultural heritage and museum ethics. As Heilig writes in her author’s note, “When the treasure we put on display is evidence of a crime, what will future generations believe about our values?” This story is hilarious, smart, and respectfully rendered, and the writing is accessible while still feeling literary.
A thrilling, thoughtful, and layered adventure story with fantastical elements. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063348363
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: today
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 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
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