Another technological watershed—crossed first by a mouse.
A note on an old scrap of paper leads two intrepid mice to sunken treasure.
As in Kuhlmann’s Armstrong (2016) and Lindbergh (2014), the journey turns out to be at least as rewarding as the prize. Inspired by a generations-old family story, young Pete enlists the help of a pipe-smoking professor at the University of Mice—first to search old records for the location of a certain ocean liner that had sunk in the mid-Atlantic, and then to invent a submarine that will allow them to explore the wreck. “We need to approach the problem scientifically,” says the professor…and so begins a laborious, sometimes-dangerous process of trial and error, of study and experiment. In the pictures, which are rendered with terrific attention to fine detail in equally arresting monochrome and sepia-toned color, mice scamper through human-sized archival files, design a fishlike submarine that takes shape rivet by rivet, then dive past swirling shoals of fish and an immense whale. The minuscule divers emerge in antique-looking gear to enter a shadowy wreck, examine a spill of outsized coins and other wrack, then carry a small chest back to their craft. That chest contains not gold but a diary with diagrams that connect Pete’s ancestor with one of the greatest human inventors of all. The author closes with nods to both Thomas Edison and to several earlier experimenters with claims to the first light bulb.
Another technological watershed—crossed first by a mouse. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4322-6
Page Count: 112
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Epic lunacy.
Will extragalactic rats eat the moon?
Can a cybernetic toenail clipper find a worthy purpose in the vast universe? Will the first feline astronaut ever get a slice of pizza? Read on. Reworked from the Live Cartoon series of homespun video shorts released on Instagram in 2020 but retaining that “we’re making this up as we go” quality, the episodic tale begins with the electrifying discovery that our moon is being nibbled away. Off blast one strong, silent, furry hero—“Meow”—and a stowaway robot to our nearest celestial neighbor to hook up with the imperious Queen of the Moon and head toward the dark side, past challenges from pirates on the Sea of Tranquility and a sphinx with a riddle (“It weighs a ton, but floats on air. / It’s bald but has a lot of hair.” The answer? “Meow”). They endure multiple close but frustratingly glancing encounters with pizza and finally deliver the malign, multiheaded Rat King and its toothy armies to a suitable fate. Cue the massive pizza party! Aside from one pirate captain and a general back on Earth, the human and humanoid cast in Harris’ loosely drawn cartoon panels, from the appropriately moon-faced queen on, is light skinned. Merch, music, and the original episodes are available on an associated website.
Epic lunacy. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308408-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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