In the second book in this wry series, award-winning author Patrick Ness explores school anxiety and the highs and lows of friendship with sidesplitting honesty—and pits our heroes against a slippery new supervillain.
On what should be a normal school day at their normal school—recently rebuilt at great expense by the town's supervillain after her son destroyed it with a giant robot pelican suit—things begin to spin out of control for monitor lizards Zeke, Daniel, and Alicia and Meil the hawk the moment they board the school bus. For no good reason, Zeke is deeply unsettled by Daniel's new pink hat. The tower sprouting on the town's tallest hill surely contains a Death Ray of Death. And Meil's predator instincts have kicked in: what if he accidently eats his friends or their new classmate, Peggy the flounder, in her portable aquarium? At school, Zeke suspects the new guidance counselor—who hails from the same pelican crime family as their nemesis—of turning Daniel and Alicia against him. Or was it something Zeke said? With lively graphic illustrations, breakneck action, and a big heart, book two blends droll satire with belly laughs to prove that when life turns up the heat ray, you get to choose who to be. Even unlikely reptilian heroes need the courage to say they're sorry.
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
June 3, 2025 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781536244915
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781536244915
- File size: 35396 KB
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Accessibility
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Ways Of Reading
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Conformance
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Navigation
Table of contents to all chapters of the text via links.
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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April 15, 2025
Sometimes, even the calmest monitor lizards have their limits. Though Zeke, Daniel, and Alicia saved their school from their evil avian classmate Pelicarnassus inChronicles of a Lizard Nobody (2024), the reptilian trio still remain at the bottom of the popularity pecking order. Maybe that's why Zeke's so unnerved by Daniel's choice to wear a pink hat to school. Subsequently, his friends stop talking to him, he becomes convinced that the school's guidance counselor is trying to ruin his life, and someone begins using the local death ray to destroy his school bus and house. In the same vein as its predecessor, this tale keeps the clever quips and funny situations coming (as when Pelicarnassus can't keep from complimenting Daniel's hat), but this second book in the series leans further into Zeke's interior life, his frustrations, and some serious questions about how we can inadvertently hurt the people closest to us. Once more, Ness offers probing explorations of a prejudiced status quo: Zeke and the other lizards, who live in the poorest parts of town, are bused into school as part of a program designed to get different species to mix. The reveal of who has it in for Zeke is legitimately surprising, even if the villain's plan feels simplistic. Happily, Miller's art continues to give every scene a pitch-perfect feel, with illustrations that wring both understated hilarity and pathos from the pages. Should more chronicles ensue, let us hope they maintain this superior blend of humor and heart.(Fiction. 8-12)COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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June 1, 2025
Grades 3-5 Ness and Miller continue to explore the challenges of friendship and trust in this sequel to The Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody (2024). Monitor lizard Zeke is one of only three lizards at his recently integrated school, but neither being a hall monitor nor having recently defeated a supervillain is boosting his popularity. When his lizard friend Daniel shows up wearing a hat (a fashion normally reserved for the school's bird clique), Zeke gets nervous. How will the other students treat Daniel, Zeke, and their fellow lizard friend Alicia? What does the new exchange student, a fish named Peggy, think of Daniel's hat? Can the new guidance counselor be trusted? And who keeps firing a Death Ray of Death at Zeke's house? Miller's droll, expressive cartoons add to the wry atmosphere. Smart, funny, whimsical, and full of heart, this speaks directly to middle-grade readers' concerns about fitting in, keeping friendships, and navigating the world's unfairness despite well-meaning adults who haven't a clue.COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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