Funny, thoughtful, and inspiring.
In this follow-up to 2022’s Tales of a Seventh-Grade Lizard Boy, Tommy and his friends plan the perfect summer, but it gets derailed when protests against aliens and the paranormal begin.
Lizard boy Tommy Tomkins and his family are finally adjusting to the human town of Eagle Valley after being displaced from Elberon, their home in the center of the Earth. Tommy has made some great human and nonhuman friends who understand him and how it feels to be different. With Dung Tran having to return to Vietnam soon, Tommy and his friends decide to create the “Most Perfect Summer Ever!!! Bucket List,” with activities including attending the county fair, watching baseball games, going hiking, and having an epic sleepover. The summer starts off well, but when Tommy’s lizard face appears in local resident Danny Cohen’s online video, he worries about his family’s secret being revealed. When his Sasquatch friend’s grandfather accidentally transforms in public, Cohen’s once-harmless videos incite protests against aliens and monsters. Facing widespread hate, Tommy and his friends try to find a way to support their families and the town’s other outsiders. This dynamically illustrated, full-color graphic novel explores friendship, intolerance, empowerment, and community through comedy and meaningful conversations. Many characters’ storylines present reflective insights into immigrant and refugee experiences, as well as their opinions on assimilation vs. keeping their home cultures alive. Tommy and his middle school friends’ enthusiasm, feelings, and ideas are relatable as they grapple with heavy social issues.
Funny, thoughtful, and inspiring. (Graphic science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781536216479
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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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