Skip.
The Great Feline Empire has been at war with the Robot Empire for centuries; now a technological breakthrough in the Wengrod family lab puts Earth at the center of the conflict.
Pounce de Leon has learned from Earth cat operative OB_1_Catno_B (nicknamed “Obi”) that a computer chip has been developed on Earth that could extend cat lives beyond nine. Sir Beeps-a-Lot has heard reports of something similar from a mole in Earth company GloboTech; it can also offer infinite power to robots. Both empires want that chip. Meanwhile, fraternal twins Min Wengrod and her cat-loving brother, Max, are preparing for a robot battle and a video game–design contest, respectively. While their scientist parents are in China, their GloboTech-created household AI attempts to use the family’s helper robots to steal the chip while Obi enlists Stu and Scout, Max’s rescue kittens, to do the same. It’s a creative premise for a series opener, but it comes to naught thanks to multiple plot holes and flat, stock characters. (One exception to the latter is Latinx cousin and babysitter Javi, whose nonbinary gender identification is used as a message-y plot device. The Wengrods are otherwise ethnically undefined.) The alternation of perspective between robots and cats results in a great deal of repetition, and the nonsensical central conflict (cats like naps and don’t follow rules; robots love rules) is a flimsy nail on which to hang a too-lengthy novel, let alone a series.
Skip. (Science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-266570-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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