Floats further inspiration for nonviolent conflict resolution.
Robot Fred continues to wage peace across a devastated dystopia.
Having emerged from the ruins of a toy store in the opener (Your Pal Fred, 2022) into a desolate distant future, Fred has gone on to defuse many a burgeoning conflict among the scattered survivors—but can even his superb peacemongering skills suffice to settle dust-ups between large rival armies of navel innies and outies? Or, trickier still, handle a group of methane-blowing trash monsters and a town under the thumb of mercenary con artist Big Dawg and his masked Mutt-Men? As a further complication, even the most sophisticated solar-powered AI needs to recharge occasionally, but the only way to get above the clouds of pollution that permanently block the sun would be, say, to use a big balloon full of…gas. What to do? Looking mild and inoffensive with his big goggles and stylish blue quiff, pale, moon-faced Fred cuts an odd figure amid the ragged and barbarous-looking lot in Rex’s Mad Max–style settings, but so fearlessly does he mediate between sides while spreading his message about the value of listening and respecting differences, that readers can’t help but come to admire him and maybe even adopt some of his clever strategies.
Floats further inspiration for nonviolent conflict resolution. (Graphic science fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9780593206355
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale.
After a tsunami devastates their habitat in the Salish Sea, a young orca and her brother embark on a remarkable adventure.
Vega’s matriarchal family expects her to become a hunter and wayfinder, with her younger brother, Deneb, protecting and supporting her. Invited to guide her family to their Gathering Place to hunt salmon, Vega’s underwater miscalculations endanger them all, and an embarrassed Vega questions whether she should be a wayfinder. When the baby sister she hoped would become her life companion is stillborn, a distraught Vega carries the baby away to a special resting place, shocking her grieving family. Dispatched to find his missing sister, Deneb locates Vega in the midst of a terrible tsunami. To escape the waters polluted by shattered boats, Vega leads Deneb into unfamiliar open sea. Alone and hungry, the young siblings encounter a spectacular giant whale and travel briefly with shark-hunting orcas. Trusting her instincts and gaining emotional strength from contemplating the vastness of the sky, Vega knows she must lead her brother home and help save her surviving family. In alternating first-person voices, Vega and Deneb tell their harrowing story, engaging young readers while educating them about the marine ecosystem. Realistic black-and-white illustrations enhance the maritime setting.
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale. (maps, wildlife facts, tribes of the Salish Sea watershed, environmental and geographical information, how to help orcas, author’s note, artist’s note, resources) (Animal fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299592-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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