A most admirable troll, notwithstanding the big floppy ears and flyaway orange hair.
Beleaguered middle school troll Zarf gets a chance to show his true mettle when the Big Bad Wolf’s motorcycle-riding minions take the Littlepig family hostage in this sequel to The Trouble with Weasels (2014).
Following a mysterious local mutton shortage and a wild chase after an ungainly substitute math teacher who turns out to be a wolf in an ill-fitting sheep suit comes news that Littlepig Manor has been taken over. Zarf goes pelting to the rescue—temporarily disguised, thanks to an inexpertly applied body-switching spell, as a wolf. Harrell tells the tale Wimpy Kid–style with punch lines, much of the dialogue, and snarky asides (not to mention sight gags and significant looks) delivered by a cast of deadpan cartoon figures. Significant help from allies, notably dreamboat classmate Sierra Scarlet and Goldie Locks, a lunch lady with several unusual skills, leads at last to a dramatic escape and, for Big Bad, a long spell in a “maximum-security dungeon.” Before and after all the heroics, Zarf shrugs off a steady barrage of anti-troll pranks instigated by royal classmate Prince Roquefort (“a jerky little snot-basket”), and along with showing fair measures of courage and smarts, in the clutch he also keeps a firm handle throughout on the anger issues that beset his trollish kind.
A most admirable troll, notwithstanding the big floppy ears and flyaway orange hair. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8037-41041
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
A solid debut: fluent, funny and eminently sequel-worthy.
Inventively tweaking a popular premise, Jensen pits two Incredibles-style families with superpowers against each other—until a new challenge rises to unite them.
The Johnsons invariably spit at the mere mention of their hated rivals, the Baileys. Likewise, all Baileys habitually shake their fists when referring to the Johnsons. Having long looked forward to getting a superpower so that he too can battle his clan’s nemeses, Rafter Bailey is devastated when, instead of being able to fly or something else cool, he acquires the “power” to strike a match on soft polyester. But when hated classmate Juanita Johnson turns up newly endowed with a similarly bogus power and, against all family tradition, they compare notes, it becomes clear that something fishy is going on. Both families regard themselves as the heroes and their rivals as the villains. Someone has been inciting them to fight each other. Worse yet, that someone has apparently developed a device that turns real superpowers into silly ones. Teaching themselves on the fly how to get past their prejudice and work together, Rafter, his little brother, Benny, and Juanita follow a well-laid-out chain of clues and deductions to the climactic discovery of a third, genuinely nefarious family, the Joneses, and a fiendishly clever scheme to dispose of all the Baileys and Johnsons at once. Can they carry the day?
A solid debut: fluent, funny and eminently sequel-worthy. (Adventure. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-220961-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato.
The new kid in school endures becoming the school mascot.
Ben Hardy has never cared for potatoes, and this distaste has become a barrier to adjusting to life in his new Idaho town. His school’s mascot is the Spud, and after a series of misfortunes, Ben is enlisted to don the potato costume and cheer on his school’s team. Ben balances his duties as a life-sized potato against his desperate desire to hide the fact that he’s the dork in the suit. After all, his cute new crush, Jayla, wouldn’t be too impressed to discover Ben’s secret. The ensuing novel is a fairly boilerplate middle–grade narrative: snarky tween protagonist, the crush that isn’t quite what she seems, and a pair of best friends that have more going on than our hero initially believes. The author keeps the novel moving quickly, pushing forward with witty asides and narrative momentum so fast that readers won’t really mind that the plot’s spine is one they’ve encountered many times before. Once finished, readers will feel little resonance and move on to the next book in their to-read piles, but in the moment the novel is pleasant enough. Ben, Jayla, and Ben’s friend Hunter are white while Ellie, Ben’s other good pal, is Latina.
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11866-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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