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THE BIG STING

A sweetly engaging novel exploring family relationships.

A story full of mystery, adventure, and personal challenges that will have readers buzzing.

Eleven-year-old Leo and his younger sister, Lizzie, are staying with their maternal grandfather on Heron Island, British Columbia, after the recent passing of their grandmother. Originally Leo’s parents were also staying there, but when a booking opens at an exclusive nearby spa, Leo’s city-loving father seizes the opportunity to go somewhere with reliable Wi-Fi under the pretense that the kids’ mom needs to unwind from her stressful job. Leo and Lizzie stay with their grandfather, a choice that ultimately proves to be vital when the farm’s 12 beehives are stolen. The hives originally belonged to Grandma, but after her death, Grandpa learned how to keep bees, and he is desperate to get them back. The trio embark on an adventure to discover the culprit, learning more about each other along the way. A subplot in which Leo is distressed about his results from an online personality test matching users with career paths that his father constantly talks about is nicely woven into the story, demonstrating how labels can limit people as well as define them. Readers who love adventure will enjoy the overall plot, but while the mystery is solved—and Delaney plays fair with the clues—the pacing will make it difficult for armchair sleuths to discover who stole the hives before the grand denouement. The overall story makes up for this minor shortcoming, however. Main characters read White.

A sweetly engaging novel exploring family relationships. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023

ISBN: 9780735269309

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Tundra Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022

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WRECKING BALL

From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 14

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

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THE ONE AND ONLY FAMILY

From the One and Only series , Vol. 4

Not the most satisfying wrap-up, but it’s always good to spend time in the world of this series.

Beloved gorilla Ivan becomes a father to rambunctious twins in this finale to a quartet that began with 2012’s Newbery Award–winning The One and Only Ivan.

Life hasn’t always been easy for silverback gorilla Ivan, who’s spent most of his life being mistreated in captivity. Now he’s living in a wildlife sanctuary, but he still gets to see his two best friends. Young elephant Ruby lives in the grassy habitat next door, and former stray dog Bob has a home with one of the zookeepers. All three were rescued from the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. Ivan’s expanded world includes fellow gorilla Kinyani—the two are about to become parents, and Ivan is revisiting the traumas of his past in light of what he wants the twins to know. When the subject inevitably comes up, Applegate’s trust and respect for readers is evident. She doesn’t shy away from hard truths as Ivan wrestles with the fact that poachers killed his family. Readers will need the context provided by knowledge of the earlier books to feel the full emotional impact of this story. The rushed ending unfortunately falls flat, detracting from the central message that a complex life can still contain hope. Final art not seen.

Not the most satisfying wrap-up, but it’s always good to spend time in the world of this series. (gorilla games, glossary, author’s note) (Verse fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: May 7, 2024

ISBN: 9780063221123

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024

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