Patrick Griffin's First Birthday on Ith

June 1, 2017
Patrick Griffin's second adventure seems to start over with every chapter. Almost every chapter features a different character or a different location. Often, the character is a jackalope or a griffin or a numbat, which is a type of marsupial that sometimes enjoys Twinkies. Once in a while, Rust throws in a musical number or a pointed speech about politics. After Patrick disappears mysteriously from their home, his sister transiently points out that "most of the kids who go permanently missing that we don't hear about aren't from Westchester....And probably aren't white." (Although the races of human characters are almost never mentioned in the text, Patrick is explicitly described as a "rich, white, suburban kid.") Every new chapter provides a clear introduction to the myriad characters, which may make the story a bit more accessible to people who haven't read the first book in the trilogy. They'll still be lost, though: the plot involves three parallel worlds, Earth, Ith, and Mindth (named after ears, eyes, and minds), and a cunning villain who's put them all in danger. Parker's precise, technical drawings of the various creatures help to clarify things, but only a little. The multiple plotlines keep the book unpredictable, but it also feels fragmented. The jokes, however, have improved since the first volume, and kids with a taste for weirdness will be eager to start again with Book 3. (Science fiction. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2017

Gr 5-7-This second installment in the series finds Patrick covertly traveling through Ith-one of the series's titular three worlds-on griffinback alongside potential romantic interest Oma. Back on Earth, the jackalope BunBun and nine hyperintelligent numbats have a goal that's similar to Patrick's: to broadcast details of Rex Abraham's plot to take over Earth using a perfect cocktail of dogmatism and sophisticated technological devices. The novel alternates among the first-person points of view of members of Patrick's family, the Griffins' curmudgeonly neighbor Mr. Coffin, supervillain Rex Abraham, and more. The switching perspectives further the plot but do little for character development and make the plot hard to follow at times. The story begins with little explanation of what has already happened, and it ends in a cliff-hanger; this is not a book that works as a stand-alone. That said, Rust succeeds in injecting comedy and whimsy into what would otherwise be a generic upper elementary dystopian. VERDICT Consider where the previous volume in the series is popular. Otherwise, an additional purchase; recommend to readers who thought A Wrinkle in Time could have been funnier.-Shira Pilarski, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Washington, DC

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.