Readers looking for easy laughs will find them here.
What do you do with an emperor who has “the heart of a rotten onion and the spine of a soup noodle”?
You teach him a lesson, of course, and two venerable, omniscient Ancestors will do just that, plucking him from the palace to do so. No one is exempt from their magical plan: Alfalfa the dairy cow runs away, pursued by her milkmaid, Begonia. In short order she meets Key, a self-appointed rescuer of damsels in distress. In their travels, damsel-not-in-distress Begonia and Key encounter a very rude and cowardly young man escorted by an ostrich. When Alfalfa and the ostrich fall in love and run away together, Begonia, Key, and the stranger (who readers will no doubt guess is the emperor) follow. Meanwhile, a trio of villainous noblemen schemes to take the throne, and a greedy con man is out to procure a “postrich” for his traveling carnival. Together, and without knowing it, Begonia and Key are on a mission to get the rightful emperor back to the throne. After he learns his lesson, of course. The evocation of the emperor and his palace relies on Orientalist tropes, but the countryside where the bulk of the story takes place feels like many a faux-European medieval countryside. Begonia, Key, and the emperor are drawn on the cover with black hair and light skin, though the emperor has the look of a movie Genghis Khan. Cheeky commentary about class and feminism, giggle-inducing wordplay, and jokes about the ridiculousness of imperial overindulgence round out this story.
Readers looking for easy laughs will find them here. (Fantasy. 8-13)Pub Date: July 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-59643-958-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
Full of puzzles to think about, puns to groan at and references to children’s book titles, this solid, tightly plotted read...
When a lock-in becomes a reality game, 12-year-old Kyle Keeley and his friends use library resources to find their way out of Alexandriaville’s new public library.
The author of numerous mysteries for children and adults turns his hand to a puzzle adventure with great success. Starting with the premise that billionaire game-maker Luigi Lemoncello has donated a fortune to building a library in a town that went without for 12 years, Grabenstein cleverly uses the tools of board and video games—hints and tricks and escape hatches—to enhance this intricate and suspenseful story. Twelve 12-year-old winners of an essay contest get to be the first to see the new facility and, as a bonus, to play his new escape game. Lemoncello’s gratitude to the library of his childhood extends to providing a helpful holographic image of his 1968 librarian, but his modern version also includes changing video screens, touch-screen computers in the reading desks and an Electronic Learning Center as well as floor-to-ceiling bookshelves stretching up three stories. Although the characters, from gamer Kyle to schemer Charles Chiltington, are lightly developed, the benefits of pooling strengths to work together are clear.
Full of puzzles to think about, puns to groan at and references to children’s book titles, this solid, tightly plotted read is a winner for readers and game-players alike. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-87089-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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