Engaging, exciting, and enthralling in equal measure.
Two lonely children find adventure on the high seas.
On the desolate salt-strewn land of Caveat in Dickerson’s Sea, Viola and Wilmur lived with their ill-tempered caretaker, Hestur. She told the children all about how the salt came to ravage the land following a cataclysmic event called the Great Blow, which transpired after a bloodthirsty pirate known as Scarlet Morning murdered the beloved queen, Hail Meridian, and stole her crown. After waking up one day to find Hestur gone, the children grew up in isolation. When a pirate ship, the Calamary Rose, captained by the delightfully snarky Cadence Chase, arrives on Caveat’s shores, Viola and Wilmur decide to join them. They soon find themselves on an epic, swashbuckling journey replete with revelry, drama, secrets, cursed (and very creepy) sea gulls, and (perhaps their most difficult challenge) separation from each other. Acclaimed graphic novelist Stevenson shines in his prose debut; his worldbuilding is clever and highly immersive, conveying an atmosphere that’s completely novel while also nostalgic. With its pirates, magic, adventure, friendship, and found family, this middle-grade gem comes very close to achieving the impossible—having something for everyone. The edge-of-your-seat cliffhanger ending will leave readers panting for the next series entry. Fluid, atmospheric spot art and full-page illustrations punctuate the text, adding to the dramatic tension. The artwork shows Wilmur with light skin and a shock of spiky hair and Viola with dark skin and Afro-textured hair.
Engaging, exciting, and enthralling in equal measure. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780063210349
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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