School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Dave, 13, and a kleptomaniac gecko named Sticky team up to stop an evil treasure hunter, Damien Black. They visit his haunted mansion and battle mariachi bandits and Komodo dragons to retrieve ingots that give the wearer invisibility, flight, and wall-climbing abilities. Good prevails. Fans of Chet Gecko or Geronimo Stilton may like this series, but it could use some polish. The series title seems to refer twice to Sticky, which doesn't make sense, and it is unclear why he speaks Spanish. It is as though the Taco Bell and GEICO mascots merged. Besides characterization issues, the story has continuity problems. Readers are thrown into 100 pages of nonstop action, then have a strange pit stop for exposition, and finally speed up to a rooftop chase scene. Lastly, the style veers toward the campy. However, the repetitious humor is good for emerging chapter-book readers, and the dialogue is funny. Gilpin's drawings are a definite bonus.-Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Van Draanen (the Shredderman books) sets a madcap new series in motion, introducing 13-year-old Dave and Sticky, a talking gecko he rescues from the clutches of a neighbor's cat. The lizard drags the boy to the "maniacal mansion" of a "dastardly demented" scoundrel to retrieve ancient ingots which, when placed into slots on an Aztec wristband, give the wearer superhuman abilities. Though Dave is hoping to snatch coins that bestow invisibility or flying powers, he instead grabs an ingot that enables him to scale walls gecko-style (explaining the possibly confusing title of the series), best the villain and become a hero. Peppered with exaggerated alliteration and the excitable lizard's Spanish-tinged "Stickynese" ("Freaky frijoles!"; "Holy tacarole!"), the wisecracking narrative bounds from one slapstick scenario to another. Gilpen's halftone illustrations add to the good-natured inanity, and a glossary collects Sticky's vocabulary. Dave reappears-and, courtesy of another ingot, disappears-in The Gecko & Sticky: The Greatest Power, due in May. Ages 8-12. (Feb.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
