"Sixth grade dumps a flurry of teacher and school-policy issues on a veteran problem-solver's plate.
"So it's off to middle school and a whole new level of assignments for Dewey-including a teacher whose shark-based curriculum is terrorizing an entire class, the sudden appearance of single-sheet dispensers in all the toilet stalls, and the dismaying prospect of having the snack machines replaced by wholesome produce from a student garden. But, as fans of his exploits in Dewey Fairchild, Parent Problem Solver (2017) well know, no matter the scope or complexity of the case, Dewey has a plan or at least enough of one to get started. In classmates Colin and Seraphina, plus nonagenarian business associate, neighbor, and designated cookie baker Clara Cottonwood, he has an excellent posse, too. Extended brainstorming and research sessions, a poster campaign, and carefully crafted presentations for a climactic school assembly are all plainly offered as models for would-be activist readers, but the author stirs in a big dog, a little sister, classroom hijinks, family interplay, and so much banter and punning ("Your t-issue is a call to duty!") that the agenda sits lightly on the roller-coaster plot. Dewey is white, but his supporting cast is more explicitly diversified than previously, both on the cover illustration (in which Colin and Seraphina are both shown to be kids of color) and in narrative references to immigrant parents, ethnicity, and like cues.
"Grass-roots politics at its best, likely to leave readers flushed with laughter. (Fiction. 10-13)"
(7/18) The National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature and the Illustration Institute have an exhibit at the Curtis Memorial Library titled "Garth Williams: Illustrator of the Century"
Address: 23 Pleasant Street Brunswick, Maine 04011
"In
Missing Signal, Seb Doubinsky's sly science-fiction romp, a counterintelligence agent named Terrence Kovacs is tasked with spreading false UFO claims.
"The strategy is designed to keep hostile governments perpetually preoccupied. Since Terrence's counterparts in enemy city-states are up to the same thing, Terrence's job involves identifying and neutralizing opposing disinformation. Terrence lives under fifty-seven false identities, some of whom have become celebrities in the ufology world.
"Using disguises, acting flair, and phony blog personas, Terrence fills each role so convincingly that he's all but lost track of his true identity. His favorite word for his job, the stories he creates, and the stories he debunks is "bullshit." It's a never-ending chase down rabbit holes until he meets beautiful, seductive Vita, whose claims of alien origins he cannot disprove.
"The story is told in terse chapters barely a page long. Though written in the third person, the viewpoint is always-and only-Terrence's. Initially, Terrence's wide-ranging ruminations seem like mental fluff mixed with the paranoia of an overworked mid-level employee, but the skillfully written snippets keep the pages turning and eventually resolve into a larger picture.
"Terrence's view of the world is profoundly melancholy, muffled by yearning for the 1960s and 1970s. There's no sense of a present time or a more recent era. Even Vita's alien claims take on the feel of a 1960s science fiction movie: she purports to be an emissary sent to warn Earth of an alien takeover, a message sweetened by sex and hallucinogenic drugs.
"As Terrence's seemingly inconsequential musings take on heft, the story becomes allegorical, reflecting contemporary real-world feelings of isolation and mistrust, issues like fake news, and fears that false personae created for internet consumption have become more relevant than the lives behind them.
"Beneath the entertaining wrapper of science fiction,
Missing Signal is a masterfully written work, both provocative and rewarding."
