JULY 2017 - AudioFile
In this delightful audiobook for middle-grade listeners, narrator Caitlin Kelly captures the essence of five homeless children (the two oldest are 11) who live on a tropical island in their car. She gives each child a distinct voice and personality, even baby Penny. Their quest is to find a real house that they can call their own. Along the way are some major obstacles: earthquakes, carnivorous plants, and a strange scientist whose dastardly scheme they foil. The exuberance that Kelly breathes into these characters makes for a fun story despite the numerous problems the children encounter. This will be a good listen for kids who love humor and adventure in their stories. E.E.S © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
"It's goofy, sweet, and buoyant with good will—Pippi Longstocking for our more hyperactive times."—Horn Book
"Spunk, spirit, and ingenuity only begin to describe these fascinating children."—School Library Journal
"With quick chapters, a compelling mystery, clever kid characters, and humorous antics galore, this lighthearted, cheer-worthy adventure should find an easy audience among middle-grade readers."—Booklist
School Library Journal
02/01/2017
Gr 4–6—In this sequel to Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts, Kim, Kimo, Pippa, Toby, and new baby sister Penny, along with their patient goldfish, are kicked out of the house when Kimo's wayward father, Johnny Trout, returns from years at sea and reclaims the home for himself and his unpleasant pet pig. Once again, "find a house" tops Kim's daily list. In the search for a home, the children gain, lose, and then regain a boat that Johnny and a mysterious friend are using for nefarious purposes. The siblings help their laundromat owner friend, Mr. Knuckles, find love, and they discover the reason their beloved island suffers from "knockabouts" (earthquakes). Much like the Boxcar Children or the Baudelaire orphans, the Fitzgerald-Trouts carry on, regardless of the horrible, indifferent, or horribly indifferent adults they encounter. Spunk, spirit, and ingenuity only begin to describe these fascinating children. Upper elementary and lower middle school readers will connect with determined Kim, strong Kimo, and stubborn Pippa. Toby has just started to come into his own, and who can resist sweet baby Penny? VERDICT Libraries that purchased the first in the series should add on to the collection, and those new to the series should catch on to these engaging youngsters and purchase both titles.—Sarah Knutson, American Canyon Middle School, CA
JULY 2017 - AudioFile
In this delightful audiobook for middle-grade listeners, narrator Caitlin Kelly captures the essence of five homeless children (the two oldest are 11) who live on a tropical island in their car. She gives each child a distinct voice and personality, even baby Penny. Their quest is to find a real house that they can call their own. Along the way are some major obstacles: earthquakes, carnivorous plants, and a strange scientist whose dastardly scheme they foil. The exuberance that Kelly breathes into these characters makes for a fun story despite the numerous problems the children encounter. This will be a good listen for kids who love humor and adventure in their stories. E.E.S © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2017-02-01
Natural disasters, aggressive wildlife, parental abandonment, responsibility for a baby, and looming poverty make life on a tropical island less enjoyable than one might imagine. The siblings met in Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts (2016) are back, and this time they're in search of a home, as they have outgrown the car they sleep in. Ranging in age from infant to 11, Penny, Toby, Pippa, Kimo, and Kim have "varying degrees of brown hair and brown skin" and are related via five different mothers and fathers, none of whom is reliable and all of whom have left the resourceful children soured on adults. An encounter with a mysterious stranger in a dark forest eventually leads to the discovery that one of the fathers is even more dastardly than they had realized, and it is up to the children to save the day—and their island home—from ecological destruction. The unnamed tropical island they inhabit seems modeled on Hawaii in its flora, geographical features, residents' fondness for ham, and local speech (a pseudo-pidgin described dismissively), but it is a bland and characterless rendition of the original. With the exception of Smith's delightful pen-and-ink illustrations, the book does not quite pull off its attempt at a wry and whimsical tone: the children's lives seem more like drudgery than adventure, their personalities are two-dimensional, and the world they live in is neither fantastical enough to inspire delightful escape nor realistic enough to evoke deep immersion in the story. A miss. (Fiction. 8-12)
