Chronically clumsy Oscar presents an easy target for bullies—until he discovers a magical anti-gravity solution.
After curiously following a raccoon over a hill, Oscar stumbles upon an overgrown, abandoned caboose that was evidently once the traveling headquarters of an old-time–y huckster named Dr. Oopsie. Inside he find bottles of a solution that, when applied, counteracts gravity—but only until it dries. This gives him and his best friend, Asha, the opportunity to do amazing things: spinning through the air, easily climbing tall trees, and, best of all, flying around clinging to the blades of a ceiling fan. But the anti-gravity solution can be dangerous, too, since it wears off abruptly. After Oscar and Asha discover local bullies vandalizing the caboose, Oscar angrily drenches the lead bully with anti-gravity solution then allows him to float away, leaving Asha and a guilty-feeling Oscar to explore (and didactically explain) the difference between bullies and “not-mean” kids. Bonet’s cartoonlike cover art and a pair of interior illustrations effectively play up a forbidding setting for the caboose. In spite of ceiling-fan fun, Peterson never fully limns the enchanting potential of anti-gravity applications. The conclusion hints at a sequel, which readers will hope comes with a more substantial dose of magic.
Although Oscar successfully resolves his bully problem and his clumsiness, the draw here is the magic, not the somewhat bromidic bibliotherapy. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62370-244-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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Roz, a robot who learned to adapt to life among wild creatures in her first outing, seeks to return to the island she calls home.
Brown’s sequel to The Wild Robot (2016) continues an intriguing premise: What would happen to a robot after challenges in an unexpected environment cause it to evolve in unusual ways? As this book opens, Roz is delivered to a farm where she helps a widower with two young children run a dairy operation that has been in his family for generations. Roz reveals her backstory to the cows, who are supportive of the robot’s determination to return to the island and to her adopted son, the goose Brightbill. The cows, the children, and finally Brightbill himself come to Roz’s aid. The focus on Roz’s escape from human control results in a somewhat solemn and episodic narrative, with an extended journey and chase after Roz leaves the farm. Dr. Molovo, a literal deus ex machina, appears near the end of the story to provide a means of rescue. She is Roz’s designer/creator, and, intrigued by the robot’s adaptation and evolution but cognizant of the threat that those achievements might represent to humans, she assists Roz and Brightbill in their quest. The satisfactory (if inevitable-feeling) conclusion may prompt discussion about individual agency and determination, whether for robots or people.
If not as effervescent as Roz’s first outing, it is still a provocatively contemplative one. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-38204-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
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