Schroeder skillfully evokes the turbulence of pre-adolescence as she explores the delicate balance of being a true friend...
Twelve-year-old Sophie faces a difficult dilemma; deciding between loyalty to her best friend and seizing the opportunity of a life time.
An aspiring actress, Sophie’s upcoming audition for a commercial may be the big break she has been waiting for. When she discovers the commercial is for the rival of her best friend’s faltering family business, Sophie experiences a crisis of conscience. In this sequel to It’s Raining Cupcakes (2010), Schroeder delves into the complexity of middle-school friendships. Sophie struggles with a confusing kaleidoscope of feelings, including her jealousy over Isabel’s chance to compete in a bake-off and her elation/guilt over the audition. Sophie and Isabel’s friendship is jeopardized when Sophie’s impulsive decision to lie is revealed. With the help of her new friend Dennis, Sophie may be able to achieve her dreams and salvage her friendship with Isabel. While there are the many references to A Bridge to Terabithia in a potentially intriguing subplot, its story line is not fully developed, and the connection may be too ambiguous for readers unfamiliar with the classic tale.
Schroeder skillfully evokes the turbulence of pre-adolescence as she explores the delicate balance of being a true friend while remaining true to yourself. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2263-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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