A reflective, well-paced follow-up.
Five Black tweens try to unravel a major mystery in this sequel to It’s the End of the World and I’m in My Bathing Suit (2022).
The book opens with Eddie Holloway reminding readers that in the previous adventure, none of the citizens of Carterville, Ohio, returned following the annual summer Beach Bash. Now, the little group of kids who were left behind are banding together, but when every attempt they make to get to the beach and search for answers is ruined, the story turns toward their individual efforts to cope with the catastrophe. Xavier is concerned that there are people in need of help, Sonia turns to stockpiling supplies in case another disaster strikes, Trey focuses on keeping his athletic regimen in place, and Sage plots ways to reach the beach. After they’re rattled by ghostly radio messages, the tone of the story turns more reflective. Readers hear more from the other characters via the Carterville Keep It Reels, short video confessionals from each kid. Although the mood is humorous and light throughout most of the book, uneasiness rises to the surface every time the kids stop and look around at the emptiness of their neighborhood or observe how unnaturally quiet everything is without other people. This element pulls in readers, who become invested in the characters’ well-being, hoping that with every page turned, they’ll be closer to solving the mystery and being OK.
A reflective, well-paced follow-up. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781338815160
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 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
SEEN & HEARD
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