A fascinating, imaginative adventure.
In 1910, a headstrong girl finds herself on an unplanned ocean voyage.
Esme “Patch” Leonard, a pale girl with wavy dark hair, has been shuttled from relative to relative all her life, “passed from pillar to post.” At her latest placement, with a family friend in Liverpool, she discovers a small package labeled “For E.” Does it contain a clue to the mother who disappeared when she was born? She takes the ruby ring she finds inside while exploring the port city on her roller skates. After crashing on cobblestones, Patch meets Arturo, an Italian American boy from New York who works on the ocean liner SS Glorious. Patch shares one skate with him, and when he zooms away on it, she follows him onto the ship, accidentally becoming a stowaway when it leaves the dock. The characters, many of whom offer up confusing and befuddling lies, are rarely what they seem. Readers will encounter numerous clues that will make sense as events unfold. Mystery piles upon mystery, and surprises come at a breathtaking pace. The third-person narration reveals Patch’s thoughts and follows her rash plans, which often place her in increasing danger. The story has twists and turns galore, as convoluted as the ship’s corridors and back stairs, along with dastardly villains and loving relationships. The highly detailed narration conveys the syntax, language, sights, and sounds of the era. Several charming and dramatic full-page illustrations perfectly capture the events and characters.
A fascinating, imaginative adventure. (ship diagram, steamship cruise advertisement) (Historical adventure. 9-13)Pub Date: July 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781536233629
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Full of puzzles to think about, puns to groan at and references to children’s book titles, this solid, tightly plotted read...
When a lock-in becomes a reality game, 12-year-old Kyle Keeley and his friends use library resources to find their way out of Alexandriaville’s new public library.
The author of numerous mysteries for children and adults turns his hand to a puzzle adventure with great success. Starting with the premise that billionaire game-maker Luigi Lemoncello has donated a fortune to building a library in a town that went without for 12 years, Grabenstein cleverly uses the tools of board and video games—hints and tricks and escape hatches—to enhance this intricate and suspenseful story. Twelve 12-year-old winners of an essay contest get to be the first to see the new facility and, as a bonus, to play his new escape game. Lemoncello’s gratitude to the library of his childhood extends to providing a helpful holographic image of his 1968 librarian, but his modern version also includes changing video screens, touch-screen computers in the reading desks and an Electronic Learning Center as well as floor-to-ceiling bookshelves stretching up three stories. Although the characters, from gamer Kyle to schemer Charles Chiltington, are lightly developed, the benefits of pooling strengths to work together are clear.
Full of puzzles to think about, puns to groan at and references to children’s book titles, this solid, tightly plotted read is a winner for readers and game-players alike. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-87089-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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