A cuddlefest of heroic proportions.
A quartet of young comics creators send their costumed alter egos back to the land of Apocalyptia to face a new and fuzzy threat: Get set for the AWWpocalypse!
Pressured by the success of a competing comic (presented in a monochrome frame story), the Last Kids go for “weirder” and really deliver in this latest series entry. A switch to full-color art kicks off an episode that’s highlighted by exciting developments involving erupting sharkcanoes, donuts, googly eyes, and a team-up with the plushy yet awesomely named Laser Blade Hero Squad. Then there’s the fiendish scheme to subject all the monstrous residents of Apocalyptia to horribly transformative cutie blasts. As in the previous volumes, the action pauses frequently to tout (made-up) merch (with the Savage Beard Marker, you can “draw your very own beard on your very own face! Or somebody else’s very own face!”), and a collection of readers’ letters brings up the end. Through betrayals, sharp banter, and epic battles with adorably button-eyed evildoers, everything goes very wrong. Still, despite having all their superpowers cute-ified, the fearsome foursome can be depended on to leave their foes “glazed and dazed” in the end. Why? Because even though light-skinned barbarian Savage Aloner is the featured superhero this time around, with plenty of personal quests and tests to face, it’s teamwork with his companions and other diversely hued allies that leads to ultimate victory.
A cuddlefest of heroic proportions. (Graphic fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9780593526811
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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
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