A smart and worthy mystery.
In a typical Philbrick (The Big Dark, 2016, etc.) combination of humor and insight, two kids become unlikely partners in detection.
In this comfortable whodunit for readers discovering the genre, genius white orphan Darius takes the role of lead investigator, while fat white kid Arthur Bash narrates the unfolding plot. “Thug-for-hire” Arthur, also known as Bash Man, plays the role of class heavy, taking payment in candy bars from kids who want someone scared. Darius offers Arthur three Snickers bars to win his protection as he investigates the note—written in blood—asking, “Who killed Darius Drake?” Soon both boys are headed into the scary Stompanado projects and confronting the legendary Scar Man. It’s all somehow connected to the mysterious disappearance of a diamond necklace estimated to be worth $15 million. With the addition of Deirdre, Arthur’s bubbly white stepsister, the detective team is off and running through libraries and official records as well as contacting a local historian. Frighteningly perilous encounters ensue. While readers will ID the bad guy, there are enough red herrings to keep them engaged along the way. Throughout, it becomes clear to both readers and kids that the old saw Arthur quotes, “never judge a book by its cover,” applies to all concerned: smarter-than-he-acts Arthur, frightening Scar Man, and their down-and-out postindustrial town—Philbrick’s interrogations of class assumptions are pointed.
A smart and worthy mystery. (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-78978-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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
BOOK REVIEW
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Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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