Adults will enjoy the witty non sequiturs, but the story, marred by conflicting themes, never quite coheres.
Sadie’s sad when her two best friends go on vacation without her until a witch moves into her backyard playhouse and shows Sadie a new way to see the world.
Investigating smoke rising from her playhouse, Sadie discovers Ms. M., a Sadie-size witch, inside stirring a cauldron. Though Ms. M. looks witchy—black, smock-style dress, pointy hat—the cauldron contains soup, and the finding spell she casts to locate her friend Ethel, now a yellow warbler, proves to be the hokey-pokey. When the spell fails, they head to the park to search for Ethel, an effort that involves close observation of avian park denizens like blue jays, orioles, song sparrows, and cardinals. Ms. M. introduces Sadie to “life lists” and other birding practices and shares entertaining tales of the witching life including bowling-league matches against the Mid-City Shamans and the praise she garnered in Omens & Augury class. (Ms. M. herself is a cipher: is she a witch or even real?) Charming illustrations slyly echo the humor. However, the adult-oriented satire, simultaneously lauding and ridiculing the green lifestyle (Mom interprets the whole world through yoga; Dad uses fruit smoothies as creative aids), may confuse young readers and undermine the reality-focused “notice the amazing natural world around you” environmental message.
Adults will enjoy the witty non sequiturs, but the story, marred by conflicting themes, never quite coheres. (birding tips, resources) (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: July 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-233838-9
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
During a school year in which a gifted teacher who emphasizes personal responsibility among his fifth graders ends up in a coma from a thrown snowball, his students come to terms with their own issues and learn to be forgiving. Told in short chapters organized month-by-month in the voices of seven students, often describing the same incident from different viewpoints, this weaves together a variety of not-uncommon classroom characters and situations: the new kid, the trickster, the social bully, the super-bright and the disaffected; family clashes, divorce and death; an unwed mother whose long-ago actions haven't been forgotten in the small-town setting; class and experiential differences. Mr. Terupt engineers regular visits to the school’s special-needs classroom, changing some lives on both sides. A "Dollar Word" activity so appeals to Luke that he sprinkles them throughout his narrative all year. Danielle includes her regular prayers, and Anna never stops her hopeful matchmaking. No one is perfect in this feel-good story, but everyone benefits, including sentimentally inclined readers. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-73882-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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