Sixth-grader Matthew is the class tease; and some of his "jokes," like putting gum in a girl's long hair, are more mean than funny. His most outspoken animosity is directed at his 13-year-old sister, Amanda, who reciprocates in kind: their incessant bickering is painfully true to life. Matthew has other troubles: he's one of the youngest and shortest in his class; Mom is a health-food nut who barely relents enough to allow Matthew a little junk food for the 11th birthday party that climaxes the story; he can't spell (though he's a computer whiz); and the girls in his class are finally so outraged by his tricks that they form a club to retaliate and picket his party. With the collaboration of his father (revealed to be an unreformed practical joker himself), Matthew manages to negotiate a treaty, and the girls are included in the festivities. Danziger's first book about a boy is for slightly younger readers than The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (1974), etc. Matthew is a believable enfant terrible whose glimmers of affection for Amanda hint that a mellower Matthew may eventually emerge. Readers of a similar age are sure to be amused by the authentic details of the pranks (including imitation dog do-do) and the satirical exaggeration (though adults may find the depiction of Mom over-harsh). A scene when Matthew and his parents engage in a water fight is truly comic. Not as deft, or as deep, as Byars, but sure to entertain.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1989
ISBN: 0698116879
Page Count: 130
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1989
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
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