Quest for the Unicorn Horn (The Extincts #1)

Magoon’s (Linus the Yellow Pencil) high-octane graphic novel debut kicks off a series starring four animal heroes who don’t realize that their respective species are extinct. A bird named Martie rejects the very notion: “Ha... oh no, no. I’m a passenger pigeon. We’re not extinct. We’re just rare.” Martie and her associates—a pun-slinging woolly mammoth named Lug, a Russian-born saber-toothed tiger named Scratch, and a Spanish-speaking Collins’s poison frog named Quito—embark on covert operations to retrieve megafauna artifacts. They navigate using an AI called Gaia, deter foes with nonlethal weapons such as paintball “squid ink pods,” and receive marching orders from the mysterious Dr. Z, who resembles a bearded polar explorer and appears via hologram. They’re tasked to retrieve a Siberian unicorn horn, rumored to have healing powers, from thawing permafrost in the Batagaika Pit, an real-life expanding crater in Siberia. Magoon crafts explosive panels in icy blue, radium green, and atomic pink as the Extincts wisecrack through close scrapes. Paleontology enthusiasts and environmentalists will be stoked for the sequel. Back matter includes megafauna facts, climate change info, and an Ice Age science trick. Ages 8–12. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary. (Mar.)