Engrossing and heartwarming; explores belonging, love, and forgiveness in families and friendships.
A careful sixth grader who appreciates predictability connects with a new friend who takes the opposite approach to life as the two work together on a scavenger hunt that ends up being about more than just solving clues.
As 11-year-old Chester Keene waits on an email reply from his absent father, who he is sure is away on secret spy business, he keeps to himself and his meticulous routines. He hones his skills as a spy-in-training while trying to manage the provocations of a bully, prevent his mother from worrying about him, and prepare for what he longs for most: his father’s return and his need for Chester’s assistance with an important mission. When a mystery envelope containing pieces of an unsolved puzzle arrives at his doorstep, surely left by his father, Chester springs into action. He is soon offered help by Skye, a schoolmate who turns out to hold missing pieces of the puzzle. As they work together to solve it, they uncover more than they ever bargained for while discovering that they have more in common than they initially realized. Strong characterization—especially of the relationship between Chester and his mother—and a multilayered plot provide overall excitement and interest, although the pace drags in some places. Chester is biracial: His mother is White, and his father is Black; Skye is also biracial, with a Japanese American mother and White father.
Engrossing and heartwarming; explores belonging, love, and forgiveness in families and friendships. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1599-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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