Mind-, if not tooth-, rotting…but the premise is already turning a little flat.
Following the events of The Trouble with Fuzzwonker Fizz (2016), gassy antics ensue in subterranean Fizzopolis after a batch of salubrious Fuzzwonker Fizz is contaminated by a sample of a rival junk-food manufacturer’s disgusting goop.
Logic plays at best a minor role in this return to the secret factory and research lab where the world’s burpiest and most popular soft drink is produced. The principle of “garbage in, garbage out” definitely comes into play when a disgruntled Fizzy (think Oompa Loompa) chucks a glob of Snood’s Flooze into Fizzopolis’ Fizzomatic machine. Out oozes a squad of outsized Floozombies, who escape into unsuspecting Pflugerville—leaving behind a trail of green goo that looks just like “fart putty,” which young Harold, son of Fizzopolis’ owner/inventor Dr. Fuzzwonker, of course follows. Fortunately, the white lad discovers that massive quantities of pure Fuzzwonker Fizz will dissolve the Floozombies. Unfortunately, that means finding a way to deliver 1,400 gallons of Fizz to the Snood Candy Factory, where the monsters are engaged in a world class sugar rush, without revealing Fizzopolis’ location. This is all accomplished to the accompaniment of thunderous belches in the narrative and lots of frenetic cartoons by Sheesley featuring popeyed characters, human and decidedly otherwise, with wide-open mouths.
Mind-, if not tooth-, rotting…but the premise is already turning a little flat. (Adventure. 8-10)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-239392-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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