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SCHOOL'S OUT

Name: SCHOOL'S OUT
Author: Johanna Hurwitz
ISBN: 0-688-09938-6

by Johanna Hurwitz & illustrated by Sheila Hamanaka ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 1991

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After three books recounting his checkered third-grade career, likable Lucas Cott has a busy summer. At first, he's not pleased to learn that a French ``oh pear'' will be coming to learn English and baby-sit, even though his parents assure him that Genevieve's chief responsibility will be watching his twin brothers, age two. Lucas soon proves that he, too, needs watching; among other pranks, he climbs a painter's ladder and learns how much easier it is to go up than down. More strictly supervised as a result, he wheedles Genevieve into buying extra sweets when they go shopping, but she's a smart, sensible sort who soon ``has his number.'' By summer's end they're good friends, while Lucas has resolved to set his brothers a good example instead of being part of the problem. Hurwitz's perceptive observation of commonplace incidents transforms them into entertaining, richly insightful vignettes. Lucas continues to be an engagingly realistic blend of mischief and good intentions; other characters, especially the resourceful, good-natured Genevieve, are also deftly drawn. Totally satisfying. (Fiction. 7-11)

Pub Date: April 24, 1991

ISBN: 0-688-09938-6

Page Count: 116

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1991

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
DOUBLE OR NOTHING WITH THE TWO AND ONLY KELLY TWINS
by Johanna Hurwitz ; illustrated by Tuesday Mourning

- BOOK REVIEW
THE TWO AND ONLY KELLY TWINS
by Johanna Hurwitz ; illustrated by Tuesday Mourning

- BOOK REVIEW
I FOOLED YOU
edited by Johanna Hurwitz

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

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At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.

Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the first week in August when this takes place to "the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning") help to justify the extravagant early assertion that had the secret about to be revealed been known at the time of the action, the very earth "would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin." (Fantasy. 9-11)