Elvis Is Missing #1

September 1, 2024
When Elvis the dog chases a strange creature through the neighborhood, an ordinary evening with the babysitter turns extraterrestrial. Siblings Val and Mateo Garcia-Jackson, babysitter Jennica, and neighbor Booker know they'll be in deep trouble if they don't find Elvis before Mom and Dad get home. The only problem? Elvis has entered a portal to Boogbee City, located on Kroon, the "most awesome planet in Flooktar Nebula." The gang enlists two friendly alien teens named Clorox and Noway to help them in their quest to rescue the beloved pup. The two don't seem all that different from earthling adolescents, except for their pointy ears, their all-consuming obsession with pizza, and their tendency to butcher outdated Earth slang learned from old American media. The kids encounter a series of astronomical disasters along the way, from a hovercraft ride that ends in a collision with a band of broccoli smugglers to a trip inside the mouth of a giant monster that eats only once a year. Short, accessible chapters are peppered with angular, cartoonish, black-and-white illustrations, adding depth and humor to Hale's out-of-this-world text. Though this action-packed alien tale is light on character development, kids will surely gravitate toward it anyway. The Garcia-Jackson kids are cued Latine, while the alien teens are described as having medium brown skin. In the artwork, Booker presents Black, while Jennica appears brown-skinned. A rollicking intergalactic adventure bursting with laughs and alien antics.(Science fiction. 6-8)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2024
Grades 2-4 When, with various degrees of reluctance, sibs Mateo and Valentina and their babysitter, Jennica, chase escaped pooch Elvis through a mysterious glimmering portal in the woods, a madcap interstellar romp ensues. Being big fans of both pizza and classic Earth TV, the multispecies residents of Kroon, the "most awesome planet in Flooktar Nebula," welcome the new arrivals--well, mostly--as the Earthlings meet eager young tour guides Clorox and NoWay while gathering clues to the whereabouts of the elusive Elvis. With occasional pauses for pizza or local delicacies like kamazoo ("Condensed sweat of zoomanka, mixed with kamafleeg mucus. It's a rare treat."), the intrepid young visitors negotiate hazards ranging from a brutish gang of broccoli smugglers to a full out goo storm, not to mention being swallowed and then vomited out by a voracious "chooka-chooka-wee" monster, on the way to pulling off a dramatic rescue with a combination of savvy deduction and quick action. S�guin-Magee's grayscale scenes of pop-eyed young people and cartoonishly goofy alien wildlife add further comedic touches to this fetching series kickoff.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 22, 2024

Gr 1-3-Hale's newest offering is a loosely written romp in which a group of children and their baby sitter chase their dog, Elvis, through a space-time portal onto an alien planet, Kroon. Characteristic of this genre, our protagonists are assisted by guides, here in the form of humanoid aliens, who befriend the children and help them navigate Kroon's obstacles in their search for Elvis. The characters bounce (sometimes literally) from place to place, but there is little apparent structure to the meandering antics of various aliens and the constant activity of the humans. Two-thirds of the way through, the author circles back to the story's opening and draws a parallel to a mystery-themed TV show the kids had been watching when they began their adventure, and readers can finally play along. Hale's writing here has the voice of a particularly wacky dad's serial bedtime story. Not much seems to be well thought out, and many of the jokes are dated puns that the target audience will need help to decipher, despite the provided plot-device explanations. VERDICT As the first in a projected series, there is little here to invite reader investment in future installments. For large collections that circulate Hale's other works.-Lisa Lehmuller

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