Sweet but superficial.
Some friendships are easy, and some are more complex.
Sixth graders Gabe and Oliver have been best friends since pre-K, when sporty Oliver inspired bookish Gabe to try the teeter-totter—and encouraged him to keep trying it until he got the hang of things. This became the basis of their philosophy of complementary friendship. It’s a solid relationship but one that Gabe sometimes worries about as their interests diverge. However, they’re still a natural choice to work together when their teacher gives the class a storytelling assignment that can take any format they wish. The duo embarks on creating a comic that chronicles the adventures of Gabiver, a fictional detective and crime fighter inspired by Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man who is a composite of the two boys. Their assignment—and their friendship—is changed with the addition of new student Reuben, a boy who doesn’t talk, and seventh grader Rae, a girl who refuses to atone to a teacher for voicing her opinion and must spend time with the younger class until she crafts an apology. The story does a lot of things well, including its subtle examination of masculinity and friendship, although it suffers slightly under some far-fetched plot points, excessively tidy resolutions, and easy summations of trauma. Readers looking for a breezy read will most likely be pleased, but those hoping to sink their teeth into something meatier may find it too saccharine. All main characters read White.
Sweet but superficial. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-320685-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
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
Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways.
Devotion permeates this tale of a small dog who’s swept up in a peasants’ revolt against a greedy king.
Inflamed with righteousness in the wake of yet another tax hike, 12-year-old Tom has defied his parents to slip away and join the revolutionary Reds. Stoutly declaring that he’s a good dog, 5-year-old Rebel chases after him to bring his beloved boy back—and discovers a wide new world beyond the farm, fraught with dangers but also rich in animal friends offering help and advice. Just as beguiling as the furry narrator’s dog’s-eye view of events are his ongoing arguments with Jaxon, a gruff feral hound he meets along the way, who urges him to find his wild inner True Dog. Jaxon’s refusal to be bound by emotional attachments ultimately clashes with Rebel’s big, uncomplicated heart. Following a brush with death, Rebel encounters a mystical Companion, who offers him glimpses of dog heaven; when the climactic battle arrives, Rebel declares, “I get to decide what I do with my one and only life. And if I use it for anything, I’m going to use it for love.” The author brings the odyssey to a satisfactory conclusion with one last, pure affirmation of love. In this story set in an alternate Britain reminiscent of its 17th-century Civil War, Rebel distinguishes humans in the cast by their voices, smell, and dress.
Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781536246797
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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