Heartwarming.
Two siblings struggle to keep their ambitious schemes under wraps.
For 12-year-old Josie Sherman, volunteering at a veterinary clinic over the summer is critical for getting into a good vet school and would make up for her family’s no-pets policy. But first, a parent must sign the consent form. Unfortunately, it feels like all her parents’ attention is focused on their move from Boston to Silver Spring, Maryland, and her 15-year-old brother, Abe, whose Prader–Willi syndrome causes constant hunger and developmental delays. After Mom suffers a concussion in a car accident, the chances of getting Dad’s signature drop. When Josie finds a bearded dragon, she reasons that caring for Zuzu (named after Zulima Court, the street where she was lost) until she finds her owner will show Mom and Dad she’s serious about her future career. But hiding the reptile from her family is harder than Josie thought. Meanwhile, Abe has his own secret: He’s determined to catch a baseball for Mom at next Saturday’s Orioles game, even though Dad insists they need to wait until later in the season. Josie’s and Abe’s alternating perspectives realistically portray the nuances of sibling relationships and living with disability. Though Josie doesn’t sugarcoat how stressful and frustrating caring for Abe can sometimes be, the siblings’ love for one another shines through to the tidy but satisfying ending. In backmatter, Chernick includes information and resources on PWS—which her brother has—and explains the inspiration behind Zuzu. Most characters read white.
Heartwarming. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781623545734
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Charlesbridge Moves
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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
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