A timely tale that successfully blends the challenges of urban communities with hope and optimism.
An African American tween and his friends rally support to keep budget cuts from ending their after-school activities.
Simon and his best friend, Maria Rivera, are outraged to discover many of their beloved activities are falling victim to Booker T. Washington Elementary School’s lack of funding. The students already cope with a lack of air conditioning, and they are aware of better conditions and equipment in schools in other neighborhoods. When Maria learns that her beloved debate team has been downgraded to a club, with no trips to competitions, she is determined to do something, and she enlists Simon and their friends to help. Simon is skeptical until conversations with his mother and teacher give him hope that a community petition could have an impact. The young people develop a strategy and set about getting signatures. As he becomes more involved in seeking justice, Simon’s raps take on a more activist slant. His brother Aaron considers the effort unlikely to succeed without an infusion of social media attention. When Simon tries to make up for a setback, it appears Aaron may be correct. Once again, readers encounter Simon’s infectious personality, lively raps, warm, loving family, and collection of loyal friends. The connection between the students’ petition and protests in the larger world is seamless and perfectly pitched for a middle-grade audience. Final art not seen.
A timely tale that successfully blends the challenges of urban communities with hope and optimism. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-53901-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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