An uneven presentation of a worthwhile story.
A seventh grader with free-spirited parents can’t wait to find a real home and friends of her own.
It’s 1985, and Cayenne and her family have traded in their nomadic ways for a small Montana rental and the hope of more income. But money continues to be tight, her parents are fighting, and Cayenne can’t seem to get the right kind of attention from the popular girls at school. When the discovery of the Titanic wreckage leads to a school assignment on the ship’s passengers, Cayenne finds parallels between her life and the social stratification aboard the doomed vessel, which prompts her to consider what she thought she wanted and what she actually needs. This story centers the valuable perspective of a child growing up in a loving family with alternative norms, and it demonstrates respect for young readers with a bittersweet ending that feels authentic to the characters. While Cayenne comes through as flawed but sympathetic, many of the other cast members feel underdeveloped, and the verse format doesn’t allow for sufficient exploration of and connection among the story’s many emotional turns and themes. Vitalis thoughtfully and age-appropriately incorporates Cayenne’s father’s marijuana use, and she discusses the drug in relation to his PTSD in her author’s note. Aside from the repetitive yet ambiguous racial marking of one of Cayenne’s classmates, most characters are white.
An uneven presentation of a worthwhile story. (Verse historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9780063314450
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
A warm bundle of holiday cheer.
In a funny, feel-good tale, 12-year-old twins separated at birth meet by chance and try to pull off a family switch during the December holidays.
The girls, who are cued white, agree that it would be a delicious prank, but each has a personal motive, too: Aviva Davis, who was adopted by a culturally Jewish mom and a Black dad who was raised Christian, wonders what it’s like to celebrate Christmas. Budding author Holly Martin, who was adopted by a white-presenting single mom, sees a golden opportunity to gather experiences for a school writing assignment about facing her fears. In a plot as sweet as a Hanukkah jelly doughnut and twisty as a Christmas cinnamon roll, the pair just manages to bail one another out of a string of sticky situations—both hilarious and otherwise. They both learn something of the customs and meaning of the two holidays while working through tears and laughter—not to mention conflicts sparked by their very different personalities. Everything culminates in a holiday performance at a local senior center that will have readers rising up to cheer them on. Though their history remains tantalizingly mysterious, for the protagonists, who narrate alternating chapters, it’s mission accomplished and more: Aviva emerges feeling more secure in her Jewish identity, while anxious Holly discovers unexpected depths of courage.
A warm bundle of holiday cheer. (song lyrics) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250360670
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
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