The fantastic adventures of cousins Otto and Sheed in uber-weird Logan County continue in this third series installment.
This town is unlike any other: There are portals to alternate universes, and nothing is what you would expect. It seems someone’s always scheming. Luckily, with Otto and Sheed’s teamwork, deductive superpowers, imagination, and persistence, they always find a way to save the day—at least for the moment. Now, Sheed is glowing like a night light, and there’s a new corporation in town making some really suspicious moves. There also are frogs raining on Grandma’s house, a situation quickly upstaged by the entrance of Otto’s mom and Sheed’s dad, siblings who, for better or worse, never see anything the same way. But the family is united on one point: Sheed is glowing from the effects of U-rays, or uncanny rays, and if the secret gets out, they’ll have even more problems with the ultra-mysterious GOO, Inc. The cousins’ rivals, the Ellison twin sisters, are circling too, wondering whether their local chase for were-men (the opposite of werewolves—as in, wolves who turn into men) may be connected. Giles does a magnificent job of blending otherworldly hijinks with the complex emotions and cultural touchpoints of growing up Black in the U.S. South. As family dynamics push the duo in different directions, can they solve this puzzle and remain together at Grandma’s for the sake of Logan County’s future?
Another great entry from an author who consistently delivers. (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-42336-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Versify/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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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. 9, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
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