Lackluster visuals hamper this adaptation, though readers will still root for its kid detective protagonist.
Ali Cross, the son of bestselling author Patterson’s Detective Alex Cross, finds new life in graphic novel format.
Ali’s friend Gabe Qualls has disappeared; several days later, someone breaks into the Cross home. Plus, Ali’s father, under investigation for assault charges, is being hounded by the press. Could it all be linked? Ali’s friends—all people of color—are sure that the media would be covering the disappearance if Gabe were white; they and Ali’s family support him in his search. Alex helps Ali hone his deductive skills, while Ali’s grandmother reminds him that he’s capable of great accomplishments that were once out of reach for Black kids like him. Though the book includes a few brief fight scenes, this is largely a story of investigation and faith. Ali often prays for Gabe’s safe return, and several scenes take place in church. When Ali realizes that the key to the mystery may lie in a popular video game, he begins investigating—and uncovering Gabe’s secrets. While the original story was a solidly written mystery, this adaptation falls a bit flat. Settings include many featureless rooms, even in the video game; dialogue and narration dominate, while the visuals are relatively drab and static. Nevertheless, Ali’s a compelling protagonist, and hopefully future installments will find him in more thrilling environments than bedrooms or the passenger seat of cars.
Lackluster visuals hamper this adaptation, though readers will still root for its kid detective protagonist. (Graphic fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 29, 2024
ISBN: 9780316454988
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
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
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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