A finny frolic to delight younger Goosebumps fans.
Boy meets shark for the delectation of a TV audience. What could go wrong?
Twelve-year-old Liam Brachman has no intention of being the star of his filmmaker mom’s new shark tank show for the Danger Channel, but when the hired actor suddenly goes down with a last-minute injury, Liam finds himself in the water—facing not the promised harmless hammerhead but a terrifyingly toothy bull shark! That’s only the first in a succession of nasty shocks for Liam that Stine spins out to improbable but entertaining lengths thanks to more all-too-eager filmmakers urging him into a flimsy-looking shark cage, an encounter with a tentacled sea monster, a swim in a piranha lagoon, and the like. Each seemingly inevitable moment of doom leads to one narrow escape after another. For all of this, Liam’s worst nemesis is actually Rosa, his scene-stealing little sister from hell, who chants cutely horrific ditties (“It’s shark time, / It’s shark time, / I can’t wait, I can’t wait / For Liam to be bait…”) while repeatedly showing off a perfectly fiendish gift for getting her big brother into pickles. As it turns out, aside from Liam’s terror, nothing here is quite as it seems—and yet, even though no actual blood is spilled, a final twist suggests that that might not continue to be the case. Main characters present white.
A finny frolic to delight younger Goosebumps fans. (Horror. 8-11)Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9798874712341
Page Count: 250
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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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