A small rat with a big heart makes his way from Brooklyn to Central Park West to bring his little brother home.
Raffie is a young rat who lives in Brooklyn’s Bergen Street subway station with his family, and when his little brother, Oggie, is captured by a human boy for a school pet competition, Raffie, who loves nothing more than a good “aged” pizza, finds a clue in the boy’s abandoned backpack. The problem: Raffie knows where he needs to go but not how to get there. Joined by Kaz, a claustrophobic pigeon who’s lost half of one wing, Raffie goes on the adventure of a lifetime. He dodges broom-wielding humans, a flock of hostile pigeons, and a vicious dog. They hitch a ride in a limo whose sole occupant is the Paris Hilton of poodles: a vain reality star who’s just come from a day at the spa. They also meet Walter, king of the cockroaches, and the flamboyant but not-too-friendly YouTube star Sparkle the Sassy Squirrel, who lands Raffie and Kaz in cages at animal control. Their dialogue-driven escape from captivity will launch readers quickly through to the happy ending. For all that he’s a rat and has perfectly ratlike proclivities with regard to food, Raffie is both literate and a bit of a pedant, correcting the good-natured Kaz’s grammar along the way.
A great selection for readers in search of a fun animal fantasy. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62672-866-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
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 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
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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 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
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