Nothing turns out quite as planned in this warm and believable story of two classrooms, three sisters, and one new friendship. Amy and May, the troublesome twins from Big Trouble in Twinsville (not reviewed), are starting kindergarten. Eve, their older sister, is going to fourth grade and is hoping for some changes of her own. She is relieved that the fourth-grade classrooms will be far away from the twins and means to keep her life as separated from theirs as possible. She has big plans: she will not let people think she is a goody-goody; she will try to stop worrying so much; and she will make at least one “new, good friend.” Eve is unpleasantly surprised to discover that the long-time fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Leonard, is not in her classroom on the first day as she’d hoped. A new, young Miss Sherman is her teacher. Then she learns that the kindergarten teacher is also named Miss Sherman and she’s the twin sister of the fourth-grade Miss Sherman. The teaching sisters bring the two grades together to study the stars and signs of the zodiac and, as luck would have it, May and Eve are paired up to study Gemini, also twins. Eve does make a new friend, though he is hardly what she would have predicted on the first day. Adam (yes, that makes them Adam and Eve) is a new boy at the school and he’s everything Eve needs in a friend. Though they go through the expected rough spots all new friendships suffer, Adam and Eve become fast friends and a model of a boy-girl friendship, sadly lacking in fiction for this age group. Levy’s lively plot and winning characters are just right for each other. Match this with Johanna Hurwitz’s earlier Starting School for double the pleasure. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-028592-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
McDonald’s irrepressible third-grader (Judy Moody Gets Famous, 2001, etc.) takes a few false steps before hitting full stride. This time, not only has her genius little brother Stink submitted a competing entry in the Crazy Strips Band-Aid design contest, but in the wake of her science teacher’s heads-up about rainforest destruction and endangered animals, she sees every member of her family using rainforest products. It’s all more than enough to put her in a Mood, which gets her in trouble at home for letting Stink’s pet toad, Toady, go free, and at school for surreptitiously collecting all the pencils (made from rainforest cedar) in class. And to top it off, Stink’s Crazy Strips entry wins a prize, while she gets . . . a certificate. Chronicled amusingly in Reynolds’s frequent ink-and-tea drawings, Judy goes from pillar to post—but she justifies the pencil caper convincingly enough to spark a bottle drive that nets her and her classmates not only a hundred seedling trees for Costa Rica, but the coveted school Giraffe Award (given to those who stick their necks out), along with T-shirts and ice cream coupons. Judy’s growing corps of fans will crow “Rare!” right along with her. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1446-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
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