A fast read frothing over with sugary pep and cuteness
A preteen superfan must defend her favorite boy band when a new group tries to steal their spotlight.
In this second book in the VIP series, Mackenzie Lowell has officially been accepted into the inner circle of pop sensation Perfect Storm. Thanks to her tour-manager mother, the feisty 12-year-old tours with the band, spending her days on the road with the boys and her friend Jilly (whose father is their manager) and writing in her journal. A new band, with the suspiciously similar name Thunder and Lightning, has joined the tour and stolen the song that PS member Kyle had written for Mac. Then secrets from Mac's journal begin to show up on the vlog of a wannabe reporter (and Thunder and Lightning fan) named Bad Kitty. Mac and Jilly must unearth Bad Kitty's identity and stop her before it's too late. As a prank war escalates between the boy bands and Bad Kitty’s mean-spirited vlog gains followers, could PS' tour be—gasp—canceled? Though sufficiently suffused with the realistic energy of a preteen fan traveling with her favorite band, the mystery in this volume feels contrived; even the most novice detective would be able to guess Bad Kitty's identity long before any clues come to light. Despite the lack of depth, this offering’s high-energy, high-interest diary format interspersed with Mac’s comics keeps the pages turning. (With the exception of a character in the comic, the cast appears to be largely white.)
A fast read frothing over with sugary pep and cuteness . (Fiction. 7-12)Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-25977-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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
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