(2) 4-6 arrator Keegan thinks his family's recent move to a box-shaped house in Happy Town is just another in a string of relocations. Located in the Nevada desert, Happy Town is, according to Keegan, "the biggest online shop in the world." His new home just seems weird, with its driverless "conveyor" that carries kids to Happy Academy and its fleet of advertising blimps. But things turn dark very quickly. First he learns that Happy Town owns the rights to all his schoolwork; then he must take part in a Mandatory Saturday Work Opportunity (they don't call it detention); then he arrives home to find that his parents -- along with all the other adults -- have purchased marching-band instruments in response to an ad. Something's up with the implants all Happy Town adults have installed in their heads, Keegan and his friends reason, and it's up to the kids to save them all from becoming "band-instrument-hoarding...and-possibly-cannibalistic zombies." This is the broadest of satires, and van Eekhout leaves nothing up to chance in the delivery of his message: "If you can control what people want, you can control what they think [and] what they do." But if it's unsubtle, it's also funny, and readers will relish every outlandish detail as much as van Eekhout clearly does.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(3) 4-6 On spaceship Laika, four dogs with the mission of colonizing a distant planet awake to find their human companions gone and their ship irreparably damaged. In this poignant story, mutt Lopside and his fellow Barkonauts work together to continue their mission and search for survivors. Centered on future technology allowing humans and dogs deeper communication, the suspenseful plot feels surprisingly plausible.

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler

(2) 4-6 When Fisher looks out upon the world he has inherited, he sees ruins; his robot Click tells him, "Humans are no more." Fisher sets off in search of other people, heading across a landscape inhabited by piranha-crocs, giant prairie dogs, and carnivorous plants. His adventures, told in fast-paced prose and set in a boldly imagined future, will be exciting for young readers.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2011

(3) 4-6 Thatcher Hill is staying with his great-uncle--owner of Professor Griswald's Museum of the Strange and Curious and Gift Emporium--in a dumpy California beach town. Soon enough, Thatcher finds himself saving the town from a witch and her army of enchanted sea monsters. The fast-paced adventure is equal parts funny, gross, and far-fetched. Thatcher is the quintessential reluctant hero who rises to the occasion.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth