The protagonists in this English import by the author of The Lottie Project (1999)—and other books about funny, feisty girls—aren’t the bad girls of the title. That “honor” is reserved for three featured players who are among the rottenest female bullies readers will likely ever have come across in fact or fiction. The two heroines, however, are terrific—by turns funny, heart-warming, and fully deserving of readers’ compassion, for each suffers a lot in her own way. Ten-year-old Mandy White, bespectacled and small for her age, is picked on relentlessly and mercilessly by said trio of tormentors whom readers will want to slap silly. To make matters worse, Mandy’s adoring mother, a first-time parent in late middle age, babies her daughter almost beyond reason. Then into Mandy’s life comes bohemian new neighbor Tanya, an orange-spike-haired free spirit. Tanya is a foster child four years Mandy’s senior who dresses in sequined tops, short shorts, and high-heeled sandals. She also dabbles in occasional shoplifting. She accepts Mandy unconditionally and quickly, and the girls become best friends. While this may not be entirely believable, it’s made plain that Tanya gets along very well with younger children and apparently prefers their company. The novel also hints at very unhappy events in Tanya’s life that help to explain her desperate need for friendship, affection, and a real family life. Sadly, the girls are ultimately parted when Tanya is sent away after a particularly hairy shoplifting escapade. But by that time, the friendship has allowed Mandy to find the strength to learn how to assert herself with her mother, to finally stand up to the bullies, and to accept another true friend in a male classmate. Youngsters will have a jolly good time with these bad, no, great girls in a read that’s fun though sometimes implausible. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-72916-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
PLB 0-688-13166-2 King Midas And The Golden Touch ($16.00; PLB $15.63; Apr.; 32 pp.; 0-688-13165-4; PLB 0-688-13166-2): The familiar tale of King Midas gets the golden touch in the hands of Craft and Craft (Cupid and Psyche, 1996). The author takes her inspiration from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s retelling, capturing the essence of the tale with the use of pithy dialogue and colorful description. Enchanting in their own right, the illustrations summon the Middle Ages as a setting, and incorporate colors so lavish that when they are lost to the uniform gold spurred by King Midas’s touch, the point of the story is further burnished. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-13165-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Lunge-Larsen and Preus debut with this story of a flower that blooms for the first time to commemorate the uncommon courage of a girl who saves her people from illness. The girl, an Ojibwe of the northern woodlands, knows she must journey to the next village to get the healing herb, mash-ki- ki, for her people, who have all fallen ill. After lining her moccasins with rabbit fur, she braves a raging snowstorm and crosses a dark frozen lake to reach the village. Then, rather than wait for morning, she sets out for home while the villagers sleep. When she loses her moccasins in the deep snow, her bare feet are cut by icy shards, and bleed with every step until she reaches her home. The next spring beautiful lady slippers bloom from the place where her moccasins were lost, and from every spot her injured feet touched. Drawing on Ojibwe sources, the authors of this fluid retelling have peppered the tale with native words and have used traditional elements, e.g., giving voice to the forces of nature. The accompanying watercolors, with flowing lines, jewel tones, and decorative motifs, give stately credence to the story’s iconic aspects. (Picture book/folklore. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-90512-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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