For fans of the previous book, it’s a lot more of the same. For newbies, consider walking the plank instead.
The baddies are back, and they’re ready to do anything to locate their beloved treasure, even if it means having to fake acting school experience.
When last readers saw the intrepid (and pungent) buccaneer antiheroes, Gruesome and Grisly McNasty were stuck in the belly of a whale. You can’t keep a good pirate down (or digested, anyway), however, so in no time the two are belched out and are hot on the trail of the legendary treasure of Capt. Syd. Fortunately, heroic best friends Tat and Hetty catch wind (no pun intended) of the nefarious plan and rush to foil it. Little Snoring Castle is hosting a pirate-movie production team, and that means more pirates, more misunderstandings, some terrible acting, and serious gross-out humor. A certain level of icky silliness is to be expected in typical piratical fare, but the sheer gobs of snot, slime, muck, and poo on display here effectively bury the characters, plot, and writing in general. The action never lulls for even a second, which could be considered either a good or a bad thing, depending on who’s reading the book. As for the titular “Lost Shark,” that is merely a reference to the name of the film being produced at the castle and has very little to do with the book itself.
For fans of the previous book, it’s a lot more of the same. For newbies, consider walking the plank instead. (Adventure. 9-11)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77138-129-1
Page Count: 148
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme.
An age-old rivalry is reluctantly put aside when two young vacationers are lost in the wilderness.
Anthropomorphic—in body if definitely not behavior—Dogg Scout Oscar and pampered Molly Hissleton stray from their separate camps, meet by chance in a trackless magic forest, and almost immediately recognize that their only chance of survival, distasteful as the notion may be, lies in calling a truce. Patterson and Grabenstein really work the notion here that cooperation is better than prejudice founded on ignorance and habit, interspersing explicit exchanges on the topic while casting the squabbling pair with complementary abilities that come out as they face challenges ranging from finding food to escaping such predators as a mountain lion and a pack of vicious “weaselboars.” By the time they cross a wide river (on a raft steered by “Old Jim,” an otter whose homespun utterances are generally cribbed from Mark Twain—an uneasy reference) back to civilization, the two are BFFs. But can that friendship survive the return, with all the social and familial pressures to resume the old enmity? A climactic cage-match–style confrontation before a worked-up multispecies audience provides the answer. In the illustrations (not seen in finished form) López plops wide-eyed animal heads atop clothed, more or less human forms and adds dialogue balloons for punchlines.
A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-41156-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake.
Promising myth-adventures aplenty, this kickoff episode introduces young Zeus, “a very special, yet clueless godboy.”
After 10-year-old Zeus is plucked from his childhood cave in Crete by armed “Cronies” of the Titan king, Cronus, he is rescued by harpies. He then finds himself in a Grecian temple where he acquires a lightning bolt with the general personality of a puppy and receives hints of his destiny from an Oracle with fogged eyeglasses. Recaptured and about to be eaten by Cronus, Zeus hurls the bolt down the Titan’s throat—causing the king to choke and then, thanks to an alert Crony’s Heimlich maneuver, to barf up several previously eaten Olympians. Spooning in numerous ingredients from the origin myth’s traditional versions, the veteran authors whip up a smooth confection, spiced with both gross bits and contemporary idiom (“ ‘Eew!’ a voice shrieked. ‘This is disgusting!’ ”) and well larded with full-page illustrations (not seen). One thorough washing later, off marches the now-cocky lad with new allies Poseidon and Hera, to rescue more Olympians in the next episode.
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5787-4
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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