Separated from his pack, Swift, a young wolf, embarks on a perilous search for a new home. Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. 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… 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. Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. 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.”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). 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”). Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. 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. Particularly recommended for those readers not quite ready for Gary Paulsen’s The River (1991) but still eager for realistic thrills. For kids who have only just graduated into chapter books, this title acts as an excellent starter survival tale.
The thrills are nail-biting and the tension is ratcheted up to an enjoyable high. Coming in at a svelte 128 pages, Petersen’s novel packs a wallop. Racing against the clock, Ryan must fail repeatedly before hitting on the right solution that will save his brother’s life.
The problem? They’re stuck at the bottom of a ravine with no way of contacting the outside world. A fun kayak down the Boulder River starts out well enough, but when an unexpected accident leads to Tanner’s being injured, it’s up to Ryan to get help. When teenage Tanner convinces Ryan, his video-game–obsessed 12-year-old brother, to join him on an exciting camping trip, neither of them has a clue what’s in store.
Ryan would be the first to tell you that he didn’t want to go at all.
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