“The slapstick and goofy situations…in Slavin’s second full-color graphic adventure will entertain even if several jokes are well above the reading level.” from big top otto
vampire is a reclusive wood biter who prefers to hide out in an empty house and turns more puppetlike with every compulsive fib. Meanwhile, Rob comments at length on the foibles of his weird family and friends just as he did in previous episodes and joins a book club that improbably reads Pinocchio aloud in just one session (he gets through Dracula with similar alacrity). Thanks to a mouth with a mind of its own, he also invites heartthrob neighbor Janae and 10 other schoolmates to ride to the upcoming middle school dance in a nonexistent limo. Delivered in journal entries with dialogue and punch lines mouthed by the line-drawn cartoon figures on every page, Rob’s narrative ambles its way past a parental save (his dad unexpectedly drives up in a rented limo) to an abject general apology. Refreshed by a short burial in the park, Pinocula then returns to the magic closet, leaving behind his bat/cricket sidekick as a memento. Neither Rob’s guilt pangs nor Pinocula’s near reversion to wood add much force to the superficial anti-lying message, and the premise, third time through, has gone as stale as the jokes. (Fantasy. 9-11)
ELECOPTER
Slack, Michael Illus. by Slack, Michael Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (32 pp.) $15.99 | Sep. 3, 2013 978-0-8050-9304-9 Who keeps the savanna and its animals safe? Elecopter! “She scans the savannah / from high above. // Patrolling the sky, / it’s a labor of love.” A chubby blue elephant with landing skids for feet and propellers on top and tail, Elecopter saves baby birds from electrical storms. She rescues a lion (blinded by an out-of-control mane) from walking off a cliff (and then gives him a mane cut with his rotors). She even helps giraffes with loose teeth. When she sees a billowing cloud of smoke and a fire in the distance, she snags her ladder and her rope and speeds off to help. “She scoops up cheetah / alone and marooned. // Then lowers a ladder / to the stranded baboons.” She saves those in danger and then puts out the fire with her hose nose. “Working for peanuts, / she’s quite the contraption. / A helicopter elephant / always ready for action.” Slack’s follow-up to Monkey Truck (2011) moves from the jungle to the savanna for more animal/ machine mashup mayhem. The digitally painted illustrations are bright and zippy. Elecopter’s the only character who’s part machine, and her helpfulness will inspire. Less of a laugh riot than Slack’s previous solo effort, this will nonetheless please children by offering animals, vehicles and heroics all in one. “Go, Elecopter! Go!” (Picture book. 2-5)
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BIG TOP OTTO
Slavin, Bill Illus. by Slavin, Bill Kids Can (88 pp.) $16.95 | $7.95 paper | Aug. 1, 2013 978-1-55453-806-5 978-1-55453-807-2 paper Series: Elephants Never Forget, 2 Otto the peanut-allergic elephant cracks another case. Still looking for his missing childhood friend, Georgie the chimp, and fresh from helping the big city cops bust a gang of hoodlums, Otto and his sidekick, Crackers the parrot, make their way across the country. This time, they’re following circus Punkratz & Pinky, which, if the posters are to be believed, may be where Georgie ended up after being abducted by the man with the wooden nose. Leaving a trail of inadvertent destruction (thanks to Otto’s explosive allergic sneezes), they catch up to the circus only to find it’s a front for exotic-animal smugglers...and Georgie has moved on. Can the bumbling duo save their new animal friends? The slapstick and goofy situations (Otto dresses as a clown; is mistaken for a football mascot; drives a peanut-shaped car) in Slavin’s second full-color graphic adventure will entertain even if several jokes are well above the reading level. It’s also a bit disturbing that animals wearing clothes and speaking are still treated like animals (and hunted for sport) by humans; but the old-timey feel should win fans and please those already established. Nonthreatening, nonstop mayhem…next stop: Tinseltown! (Graphic adventure. 8-11)
THE FURY
Smith, Alexander Gordon Farrar, Straus and Giroux (592 pp.) $18.99 | Aug. 20, 2013 978-0-374-32495-7 A devourer from beyond threatens all teens hold dear. Cal, Daisy and Brick have just been attacked, spit upon and bitten by both people who care about them and complete strangers—and it’s not stopping. As the violence escalates, they learn that teens around the world are being inexplicably targeted by their friends, families and strangers. Taking refuge at an abandoned amusement park, the teens try to provide a safe haven for other victims of this strange fury. However, when a dark void begins destroying parts of London and one of the teens changes into a supernatural being, the refugees realize that the source of their problems may not be an earthly one. Smith crafted a sinister world with a diabolical villain, emotional tension and a touch of the supernatural in the prison-break series Escape from Furnace. He’s attempted to do the same thing with a heftier dose of the supernatural in this doorstopper but with much less success. The narrative is
kirkus.com
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children ’s
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teen
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15 june 2013
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