This first full-length narrative, a series opener, from board-book creator Patricelli (Hair, 2017, etc.) is a no-frills,...
Supershy fourth-grader Lily Lattuga (Italian for “lettuce”) just wants to blend in at her new school, but on the first day, she throws up on a popular girl’s shoes!
Then it gets worse: her new classmates start quacking at her after her repeated attempts to pronounce “Kwakiutl” in a list of Northwest Native American tribes—she never gets past the first syllable (an unfortunate joke)—and she gets on the wrong bus. Lucky for Lily, unselfconscious Darby Dorski extends the hand of friendship. The girls bond over their love of frogs, and the Rizzlerunk Club is born. The book’s title comes from the club’s pledge, which concludes “best buds, under frogs, with loyalty and honesty for all.” When Darby’s best friend, Jill, returns from London, loyalty and honesty are put to the test. Lily worries she’ll lose the only friend she has, and Jill is a lying troublemaker who gets Lily and Darby into one scrape after another, throwing the girls under the bus while weaseling her way out of punishment. Lily attempts to shave her unibrow after Jill makes fun of it, only to end up with a finger superglued to her forehead. Everyone appears to be white except for one classmate with a Spanish name. Lily loves to draw, and her first-person narration is livened up with her humorous line drawings reflecting her thoughts and feelings.
This first full-length narrative, a series opener, from board-book creator Patricelli (Hair, 2017, etc.) is a no-frills, funny story about friendship. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5104-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
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
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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