Ten-year-old Emma travels up the Mississippi on the steamboat Sally May in 1852, defending her pony against ruffians, throwing improbable temper tantrums and learning about social injustice. The big river and the boat form an interesting background, but the story doesn’t hold water. Emma travels with her about-to-give-birth mother (who transfers from a posh private home to the boat within hours of delivery) and a doctor assigned to her care. They’re meeting Emma’s father, but why he doesn’t travel with them and why they are joining him at the end of Mama’s pregnancy is never explained. The doctor spends his time gambling in the men’s lounge, without, as he promised, tending to either Emma or her pony (supposedly no one but Emma cares if the animal is given food or water during the four-day trip). The pony becomes a plot device—an excuse for Emma to venture onto the forbidden deck—and a reason to put an attractive animal on the book cover. Worst of all, Emma comes across as inconsistent—one moment she’s holding her breath until she gets her way, the next she’s volunteering to help impoverished accident victims—and ultimately unlikable. Exclamation points abound! As she has shown in Shadow Horse (1999) and others, Hart can do better. (Historical fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-56145-524-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The author of Babe, the Gallant Pig (1985) offers another winner with this tale of a bright pig and her canny young keeper “training” a spoiled princess. When Princess Penelope demands a pig for her eighth birthday, her over-indulgent father requires every pig keeper in the country to assemble with a likely porcine candidate. The princess settles on Lollipop, who turns out to be the sole possession of penniless orphan Johnny Skinner. As only Johnny can get Lollipop to sit, roll over, or poop outdoors, soon lad and pig are comfortably ensconced together in a royal stall—at least until the pig can be persuaded to respond to the Princess’s commands. It’s only the beginning of a meteoric rise for Johnny, and for Lollipop too, as the two conspire to teach the princess civilized manners, and end up great favorites of the entire royal family. Barton (Rattletrap Car, p. 504, etc.) captures Penelope’s fuming, bratty character perfectly in a generous array of line drawings, and gives Lollipop an expression of affectionate amusement that will win over readers as effortlessly as it wins over the princess and her parents. Move over, Wilbur. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7636-1269-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2001
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