A quiet tale about finding your own voice.
A gifted wordsmith wonders if her opera-singer mom misses her career.
Fourth-grader Sylvie Bloom lives with her parents and younger brother on a Wyoming farm. Her mother was once an internationally renowned soprano but now sings only to cows, chickens, and sheep. This summer, talented Sylvie is assigned by her teacher to compose a daily column about local events for the town newspaper, employing any writing style she chooses. Through her warm, witty, and sharply observed comments and poetry, Sylvie affects neighbors’ lives and helps bring about important changes in her community. Meanwhile, an invitation for the whole family from a famous tenor, mom’s former duet partner, to his upcoming concert makes Sylvie worry that her mother unwillingly sacrificed her career for her kids and regrets abandoning her glamorous past. Hints from several friendly, wise adults that she already understands her mother’s motives but hasn’t yet acknowledged them to herself make Sylvie uneasy. This is a sweet, folksy, leisurely paced novel with gentle humor about family closeness and a young girl who discovers that practicing and sharing one’s talents is actually quite simple. Characters default to white. MacLachlan’s economic writing is sure and knowing, and her characters are likable and fully realized. Some readers may wonder, however, why it seemingly never before occurred to Sylvie just to ask her mother about her decision to forgo the stage.
A quiet tale about finding your own voice. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7252-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
A classic sibling rivalry tale that still satisfies to the last drop.
In this graphic novel adaptation of Davies’ 2007 book, hurt feelings propel an intense business battle.
Fourth grader Evan can’t stand the thought of his brainy younger sister, Jessie, skipping a grade and joining his class this fall. Intelligent but emotionally immature, Jessie sometimes misses social cues and wishes she could be more like the gregarious Evan. These insecurities set the stage for a contest to see who can raise the most money selling lemonade this summer. Will Jessie’s book smarts beat Evan’s people skills? The beauty of this story lies in how each sibling’s strengths rub off on the other: Evan brushes up on his math, while Jessie tentatively makes a new friend. De la Vega’s polished cartoon artwork creatively translates Davies’ metaphors to a visual medium. When the author compares the “mean words inside Evan…fighting to get out” to bats, illustrations depict the furry animals emerging from beneath his shirt; Jessie’s negative thoughts take the form of a tiny purple creature irritatingly tapping her shoulder. Tender scenes depict flashbacks of the siblings supporting each other through their parents’ divorce. The book has business savvy to match the emotional beats (each chapter opens with an entrepreneurial definition that relates to the plot), and several scenes feature math problems that readers can solve for themselves. Evan and Jessie appear white; both have friends of color.
A classic sibling rivalry tale that still satisfies to the last drop. (business tips) (Graphic fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9780063310407
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fine emotional stretch within reach of the intended audience.
When siblings Jessie and Evan (The Lemonade War, 2007, and The Lemonade Crime, 2011) accompany their mother on the time-honored midwinter holiday visit to their grandmother’s home in the mountains, the changes are alarming.
Fire damage to the house and Grandma’s inability to recognize Evan are as disquieting as the disappearance of the iron bell, hung long ago by their grandmother on Lowell Hill and traditionally rung at the New Year. Davies keeps a tight focus on the children: Points of view switch between Evan, with his empathetic and emotional approach to understanding his world, and Jessie, for whom routine is essential and change a puzzle to be worked out. When Grandma ventures out into the snow just before twilight, it is Evan who realizes the danger and manages to find a way to rescue her. Jessie, determined to solve the mystery of the missing bell, enlists the help of Grandma's young neighbor Maxwell, with his unusual habitual gestures and his surprising ability to solve jigsaw puzzles. She is unprepared, however, for the terror of seeing the neighbor boys preparing a mechanical torture device to tear a live frog to pieces. Each of the siblings brings a personal resilience and heroism to the resolution.
A fine emotional stretch within reach of the intended audience. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-56737-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
