Even the quietest readers will cheer.
While finding her own voice, a shy sixth grader speaks up for bullied students.
Grieving the death of her father, Lily must adjust from home-schooling to enrolling in a public elementary school as well. Instantly befriended by Hobart, a gregarious boy who interjects his love for the sport of curling whenever he can, Lily sees that he’s bullied by wealthy classmate Ryan, who also targets her. The quiet, observant tween also can’t help but notice that Skylar (a boy presumably living in poverty because he wears the same clothes and has little to eat at lunch) and Dunya (a refugee from Iraq) are more of Ryan’s victims. Erskine aptly conveys Lily’s inner struggle between her reserved demeanor and her desire to stand up to bullying. Motivating Lily is her deathbed promise to her father to find ways to speak up and make her voice heard. With increasing self-esteem, Lily, along with Hobart, Skylar, and Dunya, not only finds ways to address bullying, but to spark kindness and respect throughout their school. Although the effect can be heavy-handed, the metafiction appearance between chapters of “Libro,” the voice of the physical book, adds humor and draws attention to the literary craft. As Lily takes the biggest chance yet, an open ending lets readers envision her success. With the exception of Dunya, Lily and most of her peers present as White.
Even the quietest readers will cheer. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-305815-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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