Bite-sized adventures for readers who want to linger in Magnus Chase’s world.

9 FROM THE NINE WORLDS

From the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series

Nine different Norse-inspired tales with color illustrations, featuring Magnus Chase’s irrepressible sidekicks.

Thor thunders through the nine worlds, listening to rock music (“Rock, rock. Rock-rock-rock,” he chants) and traumatizing all he passes with his tiny leather jogging shorts. Meanwhile, beloved characters from the Magnus Chase books all get chances to shine, using their skills and personalities to complete a variety of miniature quests. Blitzen the dapper dwarf turns an enemy dwarf into stone. Samirah the Valkyrie heroically takes a picture of an egg. Einherji Mallory teaches the dragon Nidhogg to tell jokes. And as readers have grown to expect from Riordan’s series, the intersecting identities of each character play a variety of roles in their adventures. Samirah uses her magical hijab as a harness. Alex’s gender shifts multiple times in the stories, with his and her friends greeting it with aplomb. One episode that stretches credibility in this regard focuses on the deaf elf Hearthstone, who somehow manages to accurately lip-read lengthy, complex sentences (including the name Siersgrunnr) from a troll who has his face covered by a “tinted plastic shield,” the only significant area where Riordan stumbles in depicting marginalized identities. Otherwise, these stories are funny, exciting side quests centering on Hotel Valhalla, with Magnus graciously sharing the spotlight. Full-page illustrations contributed by James Firnhaber, Jim Madsen, and Yori Elita Narpati sound decorative grace notes.

Bite-sized adventures for readers who want to linger in Magnus Chase’s world. (Fantasy. 8-14)

Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-368-02404-4

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Review Posted Online: June 25, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018

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Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.

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REFUGEE

In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.

Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.

Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: July 25, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 10, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017

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Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE TERRIFYING RETURN OF TIPPY TINKLETROUSERS

From the Captain Underpants series , Vol. 9

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

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