Another amusing entry.
The first year of middle school continues for Tom, the Vam-Wolf-Zom.
Tom Marks has adjusted somewhat to being part vampire, part werewolf, part zombie, and all middle schooler since the first two installments of the series, Middle School Bites (2020) and Tom Bites Back (2020). He’s even been studying the old book A Vampiric Education. by Eustace Tibbitt to learn new skills like turning into smoke and hypnotizing people. Still charming, his cheeky, self-aware narration carries the episodic, sometimes-plodding plot and brings a matter-of-fact attitude to the fantasy elements that really sells them. While the threat looms of his werewolf sire trying to steal the vampire guide, Tom’s actually much more concerned about getting his friend Annie to talk to him again, keeping a valuable action figure out of the hands of a bully, getting his band back together, finally turning 12, and attending his first comic-book convention. Apart from a few heartwarming moments with friends and family, little is resolved, and the story ends on a cliffhanger. The narrative flirts with the darkness of Tom’s condition but ultimately plays it for laughs, like when he sprints away from a bloodmobile to get himself a thirst-quenching, nonhuman-liver smoothie. Goofy grayscale spot illustrations further lighten the tone, showing Tom’s scruffy hair and freckles along with his fangs. Tom reads as White; a few supporting characters have darker skin, and two are coded as Latinx.
Another amusing entry. (Paranormal. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4616-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all.
Eleven-year-old Frank must solve a supernatural mystery to save his new home.
As fifth grade comes to an end, Frank Fernández is looking forward to finally staying put in Alabama for a second year, as promised, after a childhood spent following his parents’ home renovation work all across the country. Frequent relocation has made Frank wary of forming friendships or making plans, but his hopes for more stability are temporarily dashed when his parents announce plans to renovate a lighthouse in the Florida Keys, near where his mother grew up and his father’s home country of Cuba. Papi promises this will be their last move, though: The lighthouse will be theirs. But from their first day on Spectacle Key, things seem to go wrong: Tensions rise between his parents, and Frank’s hopes of a forever home are under threat from seemingly supernatural forces. In order to put down roots, Frank and new ghostly friend Connie, a White girl with freckles, must discover what secrets the island is hiding, uncovering Frank’s own family roots along the way. Frank is a fan of horror—he names his new Great Dane puppy Mary Shelley. But though there is some mild peril to be found, rather than a ghostly thriller, this is an appealing, lightly spooky family drama with valuable lessons for those who would hide from a difficult past instead of confronting and healing generational trauma.
Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all. (Supernatural. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-313481-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark.
An animal ghost seeks closure after enduring aquatic atrocities.
In this sequel to The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter (2020), sixth grader Rex is determined to once again use his ability to communicate with dead animals for the greater good. A ghost narwhal’s visit gives Rex his next opportunity in the form of the clue “bad water.” Rex enlists Darvish—his Pakistani American human best friend—and Drumstick—his “faithful (dead) chicken”—to help crack the case. But the mystery is only one of Rex’s many roadblocks. For starters, Sami Mulpepper hugged him at a dance, and now she’s his “accidental girlfriend.” Even worse, Darvish develops one of what Rex calls “Game Preoccupation Disorders” over role-playing game Monsters & Mayhem that may well threaten the pair’s friendship. Will Rex become “a Sherlock without a Watson,” or can the two make amends in time to solve the mystery? This second outing effectively carries the “ghost-mist” torch from its predecessor without feeling too much like a formulaic carbon copy. Spouting terms like plausible deniability and in flagrante delicto, Rex makes for a hilariously bombastic (if unlikable) first-person narrator. The over-the-top style is contagious, and black-and-white illustrations throughout add cartoony punchlines to various scenes. Unfortunately, scenes in which humor comes at the expense of those with less status are downright cringeworthy, as when Rex, who reads as White, riffs on the impossibility of his ever pronouncing Darvish’s surname or he plays dumb by staring into space and drooling.
Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark. (Paranormal mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5523-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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