Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: David Horn

THE GREATEST MATCHMAKER In SPACE: Eudora Space Kid Book 4 by David Horn – Picture Books, Sci-fi, Children’s Adventure Books

David Horn’s Eudora Space Kid series continues with another fabulous middle-grade Sci-fi novel, The Greatest Matchmaker in Space.

Horn takes us back to the decks of the Athena, an AstroLiner and the flagship for the Astrofleet of the planetary Republic. The intrepid Eudora is ready to fly into another adventure, this time as a matchmaker for Captain Jax.

Eudora loves math and science, and even though she’s only in third grade, she dreams of becoming a chief engineer on an AstroLiner. But, she would settle for Captain if that’s what they offered her. When she visits Cafeteria 1 for dessert, she finds Captain Jax, who, per usual, yells, “Get off my bridge.” He’s used to kicking Eudora off the bridge while he’s working, but he must be deeply distracted to confuse it with the cafeteria.

She notices his sad eyes and dejected manner and asks what’s wrong. To her surprise, he invites her to sit with him, and she excitedly realizes the Captain of the Athena is going to confide in her.

He’s been thinking about Miss Allison, Eudora’s teacher. She’s shocked because she loves being in Miss Allison’s class. Does Captain Jax want to fire her?

In fact, he says that he’d like to go on a date with Miss Allison. In her relief, Eudora agrees to help, claiming romance as her specialty alongside engineering. Even though Eudora’s a math and science genius, she’s seen her mother reading all sorts of romance books, so she suggests a double date. Now all Eudora has to do is talk yet another person into going. Easy, right?

This book becomes laugh-out-loud funny as Eudora realizes she’s in over her head.

Can she get Miss Allison to agree? And what about her own date, Arnold? Captain Jax is counting on her, and she can’t let him down because he could help her get into the Astro University. But when she runs into a love triangle between Captain Jax, Miss Allison, and the MedBay officer, how will she untangle the mess?

Find out in David Horn’s latest installment aboard the Athena, The Greatest Matchmaker in Space. Readers will love Eudora’s antics as she marches boldly into the romance department on the AstroLiner. This book flies high with five stars.

June 1, 2023
EUDORA SPACE KID: Do the Robot! (Book 3) by David Horn – Science Fiction, Children’s Action & Adventure, Illustrated Books

In Eudora Space Kid: Do the Robot (Book 3), David Horn’s latest middle-grade sci-fi novel, Eudora Jenkins embarks on a rollicking, action-packed story that shows the reader just how much mischief one girl can get into out in deep space.

Eudora lives on the Planetary Republic’s flagship Astro liner Athena. A smart and sassy third-grader, Eudora can’t stop finding trouble on the ship’s journey to protect the Republic from aliens and perform science experiments and exploration in deep space.

The story begins with a school play, where Eudora plays a tree. How embarrassing. Her best friend, Arnold, joins her as a shrub. To make matters worse, Eudora’s eighth-grade sister, Molly, snatches Eudora’s role as the leading lady in Snow White. Molly eagerly anticipates a first kiss from her crush, Buck Fraser, playing the leading man.

Eudora plans a little payback for her sister stealing the lead role. She reprograms Walter, whom Eudora calls ‘lootenant,’ the only robot officer on the ship.

As everyone in the Planetary Republic knows, these robots are expensive. Walter is cast as “Grumpy the Dwarf,” and Eudora’s plot goes off perfectly. During the big scene, Walter pushes Buck aside and kisses Molly, to the delight of the audience. But after the performance, Walter breaks, and Eudora must think fast. She and her best friend work furiously to fix him, but soon the whole bridge realizes that something is wrong with him.

How can Eudora avoid destroying her shot of attending the Space Academy, and save her dream of becoming a Chief Engineer?

Horn’s masterful storytelling brings the sci-fi world of outer space alive, a realm filled with aliens both good and evil. Readers will Join Eudora in this romp through The Athena, as it struggles to operate without its robot extraordinaire.

Eudora is wonderfully imaginative, and she captures our sympathies. Readers will in love with her as she tries to solve the problem of reprogramming the complicated circuitry of a one-of-a-kind robot.

Each scene of Do the Robot! is filled with suspense, excitement, science, and space exploration. The surprising ending will satisfy readers young and old alike.

March 1, 2023
EUDORA SPACE KID: The Lobster Tale by David Horn – Children’s Humor Books, Children’s Action and Adventure Sci-Fi Chapter Books, Children’s Humorous Action Adventure Chapter Books

In Eudora Space Kid: The Lobster Tale, author David Horn continues the spell-binding adventures of a third-grade girl living on a massive spaceship in the year 4021. Eudora Jenkins enjoys using her very sharp mind to play tricks on the grown-ups – but her latest one may backfire and cause an interplanetary crisis.

As The Lobster Tale opens, Eudora, the narrator and mastermind of her sometimes disastrous but always hilarious gambits, is in a tunnel on the AstroLiner Athena. The plan? Just a few minor computer alterations. She is aided in this naughty but essentially harmless prank by her sometimes nervous buddy Arnold. Her changes will be revealed later when she and Arnold visit the ship’s bridge. Both are excited to watch the regularly scheduled battle training exercises they will view on the main computer.

Arnold’s stepdad is what Eudora calls a “Lootenant” (her spelling does not always keep up with her math and technical skills). He will allow them into Athena’s inner sanctum to watch war exercises staged to practice in case they are attacked by the galaxy’s worst enemies, the Qlaxons. Watching the practice is a rare treat and needs the approval of the ship’s captain, Captain Jax.

Of course, Captain Jax welcomes Arnold, but some of the staff are annoyed to find Eudora with him. You see, Eudora has a particular reputation for mischief, which is proven again when her minor computer tweaks cause the “red alert” signal to blare out as an ancient earth song, “Wiggle Your Booty.”

Eudora is sent to the “brig,” run by her mom. Her punishment? She is consigned to a holding cell to do her homework.

While there, she learns that Athena’s head chef wants to commandeer all the lobsters in the ship’s aquarium to prepare a great feast. Eudora’s stepdad oversees the aquarium and studies sea animals. He would never agree to have the lobsters boiled and eaten.

Eudora hatches a plot to save the lobsters. Arnold, his usual slightly reluctant self, agrees to help. Sneaking through the ship with two huge bags of lobsters, they are caught up in what appears to be a potential war with the Qlaxons. But things really heat up when a lobster from Eudora’s stash leaps out and attacks!

Horn’s creative skills are undeniably in sync with the younger readers (age 6 to 10). Children will be magnetized by the latest tale of Eudora’s shenanigans, supported perfectly by the energetic, illustrations by Deven Hoover.

Both author and artist have humorized their personal descriptions, transforming even those usually didactic segments into a fun read. Eudora is an exemplary narrator, referencing earlier actions she has taken (i.e. writing to the president of the galaxy “to get homework added to the list of enemies”) or simply skims over another adventure, saying, “I’ll tell you about that another time.”

This chatty, youth-centered storytelling brings out the hilarity and occasional genuine peril of Eudora’s antics far more powerfully than a third-person approach. This storytelling style serves to keep youngsters turning the pages. With a strong female protagonist accompanied by her more cautious and diplomatic companion, David Horn succeeds in fascinating all who read the book, whether the audience is young or a bit older. In short, Eudora Space Kid: The Lobster Tale is one Children’s chapter book we can highly recommend!

Read our review of the first book in the series, Eudora Space Kid: The Great Engine Room Takeover, here.

March 28, 2022
EUDORA SPACE KID: The Great Engine Room Takeover – Book 1 by David Horn – Science & Math Adventure Children’s Books, Action/Adventure Books, Sci-fi Series Children’s Books

Young readers with a penchant for math, science, and engineering are sure to fall in love with David Horn’s new Eudora Space Kid series. With the premiere story of The Great Engine Room Takeover, readers meet a precocious third-grader and her mad-cap adventures in outer space.

Eudora Jenkins lives aboard a multi-level Astroliner called the Athena and hopes to be its chief engineer someday. The Athena is the flagship of the Astrofleet, a science and defense force for the Planetary Republic, which comprises twenty planets working together to make the galaxy a better place for all living things. Early on, we learn that aliens adopted both Eudora and her older sister Molly. Their new Mom resembles a beautiful gray wolf from the dog-like species of the planet Pox, and their father, Max, looks like an octopus and hails from planet Pow.

Through an imaginative first-person narrative, this “most awesome girl” draws us into her space domain.

Looking for more than a typical childhood existence aboard this flying craft, Eudora’s latest desire is to figure out how to increase the speed of the Athena. After hacking into the spaceship’s PA system, Eudora’s enticing birthday party announcement works as a ploy to empty the engine room. Here she applies her formulas and makes adjustments at the computer terminal in an attempt to break the Astroliner’s speed record.

In Eudora’s funtastic, futuristic world, we meet all types of innovative technology and fabulous new friends.

For example, her pet drago named Bologna appears as a cross between a bunny and a dragon. Young readers will discover electropad devices that hold all the students’ books, notes, and work – and hear tales of exploding pumpkins that wreak havoc on a fuel storage chamber. Not only is this a book that fits in well with the STEM programs now in many educational curriculums, but the story quickly touches on an array of themes, from sibling rivalry and family variations to lessons about learning from our mistakes.

Laced with humor, Eudora comments to her audience, “And you thought your parents were weird!”

An opening illustration by Talitha Shipman sets the stage with a spaceship flying amidst a star-studded galaxy.

Readers will see lion and octopus-headed creatures and a being with Spock-like pointed ears. Details in the artwork throughout the book capture the extreme facial expressions of these spacecraft residents. Eudora’s gleeful look while destroying an asteroid at the push of a button changes to a disgruntled frown when the captain reprimands her. The final pages offer a creative word search puzzle, and the audience also learns that more cosmic adventures with Eudora are on the way.

Eudora Space Kid: The Great Engine Room Takeover will indeed win an audience among inquisitive, inventive-minded youngsters who like to push boundaries and reach for the stars.

July 29, 2021