An expertly crafted middle volume featuring a comfy crew of mostly familiar characters.
Spider-Man continues tackling schoolwork, romantic turmoil, and alien rage monsters in this middle-grade sequel.
Just for kicks (and punches) Chhibber spots 16-year-old Spidey a fresh villain du jour from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the main menace remains the not-quite-extirpated viral invaders from the opener, Spider-Man’s Social Dilemma! (2022)—who, in typical comics tradition, stage a major comeback at the abrupt end of this episode to string readers along. Before that, though, the webslinger tussles with the Spot, a resentful adversary dotted with portable interdimensional wormholes, and with girlfriend Mary Jane, who presents him with a demand to give her a way to rescue him if he ever gets into serious danger. Meanwhile, something shifty is plainly in play as the obviously evil techno-giant Oscorp impinges itself more and more on the lives of Peter Parker and his high school classmates, while the teens continue to develop a new social media app. Considering constant nighttime patrols, daytime huddles and chores, and all the threats to his world as well as his emotional equilibrium, it’s hard to see when Peter gets any sleep; still, the intertwined plotlines roll forward another inch or two. Peter and Mary Jane are white, and secondary characters are racially diverse.
An expertly crafted middle volume featuring a comfy crew of mostly familiar characters. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781368057707
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Marvel Press
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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