It’s enough better than the first to give some hope for the next 10 books.
Immediately following (and published simultaneously with) Sage and the Journey to Wishworld (2015), people-pleasing Star Darling Libby travels to the Wishworld to grant a wish during student-council elections.
After 12 character profiles, an introduction explaining wish mechanics, and a prologue summarizing the series’ opener, Star Darling Libby and her roommate (Star Darling Gemma) receive mysterious flowers that smell different to each person and have minor roommate conflicts. Other Star Darlings are also having minor roommate troubles, but that storyline and the mysterious-flower one (and yet another subplot, about forming a rock band) are left mostly unresolved when Libby is selected for the next mission. She travels to the Wishworld, where two best friends are running against each other to be president of the student council. Libby quickly identifies one as the wisher and assumes her wish is to win the election. Teaming up with Ava’s very serious campaign manager, Libby helps with the election and also attempts to fulfill every passing wish that Ava says aloud. The humor is far stronger on Wishworld than at Starling Academy. In addition to fish-out-of-water jokes, there are numerous silly campaign-slogan puns and, in the funniest moment, a faked phone call that Libby inflicts on a very confused stranger. This book closely follows the formula of the first’s resolution but then ends on quite the cliffhanger.
It’s enough better than the first to give some hope for the next 10 books. (Fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4231-7766-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Disney Press
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Thought-provoking and charming.
A sophisticated robot—with the capacity to use senses of sight, hearing, and smell—is washed to shore on an island, the only robot survivor of a cargo of 500.
When otters play with her protective packaging, the robot is accidently activated. Roz, though without emotions, is intelligent and versatile. She can observe and learn in service of both her survival and her principle function: to help. Brown links these basic functions to the kind of evolution Roz undergoes as she figures out how to stay dry and intact in her wild environment—not easy, with pine cones and poop dropping from above, stormy weather, and a family of cranky bears. She learns to understand and eventually speak the language of the wild creatures (each species with its different “accent”). An accident leaves her the sole protector of a baby goose, and Roz must ask other creatures for help to shelter and feed the gosling. Roz’s growing connection with her environment is sweetly funny, reminiscent of Randall Jarrell’s The Animal Family. At every moment Roz’s actions seem plausible and logical yet surprisingly full of something like feeling. Robot hunters with guns figure into the climax of the story as the outside world intrudes. While the end to Roz’s benign and wild life is startling and violent, Brown leaves Roz and her companions—and readers—with hope.
Thought-provoking and charming. (Science fiction/fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-38199-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face.
Four misunderstood villains endeavor to turn over a new leaf…or a new rap sheet in Blabey's frenzied romp.
As readers open the first page of this early chapter book, Mr. Wolf is right there to greet them, bemoaning his reputation. "Just because I've got BIG POINTY TEETH and RAZOR-SHARP CLAWS and I occasionally like to dress up like an OLD LADY, that doesn't mean… / … I'm a BAD GUY." To prove this very fact, Mr. Wolf enlists three equally slandered friends into the Good Guys Club: Mr. Snake (aka the Chicken Swallower), Mr. Piranha (aka the Butt Biter), and Mr. Shark (aka Jaws). After some convincing from Mr. Wolf, the foursome sets off determined to un-smirch their names (and reluctantly curbing their appetites). Although these predators find that not everyone is ready to be at the receiving end of their helpful efforts, they use all their Bad Guy know-how to manage a few hilarious good deeds. Blabey has hit the proverbial nail on the head, kissed it full on the mouth, and handed it a stick of Acme dynamite. With illustrations that startle in their manic comedy and deadpan direct address and with a narrative that follows four endearingly sardonic characters trying to push past (sometimes successfully) their fear-causing natures, this book instantly joins the classic ranks of Captain Underpants and The Stinky Cheese Man.
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-91240-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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