The educational possibilities will appeal to parents and teachers, and the hint of Greg Heffley will draw young readers in.
Vicente (The Case of the Three Kings/El caso de los Reyes Magos, 2016, etc.) invites readers to experience the daily life of an elementary school anti-bully vigilante in this quirky bilingual tale.
Puerto Rican fourth-grader Lance García is Mister Malo, mysterious recipient of “Malo Mail” and defender of the bullied who ask for his help. His current mission involves an innocent falsely accused of farting. Lance, who knows what it’s like to be bullied, must strategize the best course of action and in so doing learns a little something about how everyone has their own complex history and motivations. Lance is endearingly earnest, and Vicente does a great job of focusing on kid priorities, but the writing is clumsy, sentimental, and heavy-handed, containing more message than story and certainly not enough Mister Malo shenanigans. The book doesn’t deliver on the promise of its first chapter, meandering from scene to scene with little tension and uneven success. Still, the bilingual element is unusual and fills a gap. And while the book is only vaguely Puerto Rican in texture, that very lack of focus serves to present Latinx experience in a matter-of-fact and open way.
The educational possibilities will appeal to parents and teachers, and the hint of Greg Heffley will draw young readers in. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-55885-853-4
Page Count: 115
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2017
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways.
Devotion permeates this tale of a small dog who’s swept up in a peasants’ revolt against a greedy king.
Inflamed with righteousness in the wake of yet another tax hike, 12-year-old Tom has defied his parents to slip away and join the revolutionary Reds. Stoutly declaring that he’s a good dog, 5-year-old Rebel chases after him to bring his beloved boy back—and discovers a wide new world beyond the farm, fraught with dangers but also rich in animal friends offering help and advice. Just as beguiling as the furry narrator’s dog’s-eye view of events are his ongoing arguments with Jaxon, a gruff feral hound he meets along the way, who urges him to find his wild inner True Dog. Jaxon’s refusal to be bound by emotional attachments ultimately clashes with Rebel’s big, uncomplicated heart. Following a brush with death, Rebel encounters a mystical Companion, who offers him glimpses of dog heaven; when the climactic battle arrives, Rebel declares, “I get to decide what I do with my one and only life. And if I use it for anything, I’m going to use it for love.” The author brings the odyssey to a satisfactory conclusion with one last, pure affirmation of love. In this story set in an alternate Britain reminiscent of its 17th-century Civil War, Rebel distinguishes humans in the cast by their voices, smell, and dress.
Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781536246797
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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