Comfortingly familiar and as thirst-quenching as an icy-cold lemonade on a hot summer’s day.
A fantastical, friendship-centered romp that leans into all the good feels about summer sleep-away camp.
Witch-in-training Effie Huchbolt-Walloo’s third adventure takes her away from the city to the lush natural landscape of Camp Raccoon, a place for young witches to bond with nature. She’s supposed to go solo, but at the last minute she’s joined by Henry, Aunt Carlota’s nephew, who’s transformed into a panda. Effie’s initial reluctance quickly dissipates as she makes new friends and begins exploring her unusually strong connection to the natural world. Through it all, the lake and forbidden island at its center loom over Effie. Can her newfound powers save Camp Raccoon when a dare has unintended consequences? Equally enjoyable as a stand-alone read or for returning fans, this entry balances fun new characters with the comfort of time spent with reliable standbys. Filled with classic summer-camp fare—friends and bullies, friendly competition and campfire camaraderie—the campers’ magical abilities add to the quirky humor and worldbuilding. Readers may especially enjoy daydreaming about Checkers High, a magical game that combines checkers and parkour. As is true of the series as a whole, characters present with a diversity of skin tones, body types, and hair colors and textures, however specific cultural and racial identities remain unspecified; in Witches of Brooklyn (2020), Effie’s Asian and White heritage is hinted at.
Comfortingly familiar and as thirst-quenching as an icy-cold lemonade on a hot summer’s day. (drawing tutorial, additional scenes) (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-12552-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey.
Separated from his pack, Swift, a young wolf, embarks on a perilous search for a new home.
Swift’s mother impresses on him early that his “pack belongs to the mountains and the mountains belong to the pack.” His father teaches him to hunt elk, avoid skunks and porcupines, revere the life that gives them life, and “carry on” when their pack is devastated in an attack by enemy wolves. Alone and grieving, Swift reluctantly leaves his mountain home. Crossing into unfamiliar territory, he’s injured and nearly dies, but the need to run, hunt, and live drives him on. Following a routine of “walk-trot-eat-rest,” Swift traverses prairies, canyons, and deserts, encountering men with rifles, hunger, thirst, highways, wild horses, a cougar, and a forest fire. Never imagining the “world could be so big or that I could be so alone in it,” Swift renames himself Wander as he reaches new mountains and finds a new home. Rife with details of the myriad scents, sounds, tastes, touches, and sights in Swift/Wander’s primal existence, the immediacy of his intimate, first-person, present-tense narration proves deeply moving, especially his longing for companionship. Realistic black-and-white illustrations trace key events in this unique survival story, and extensive backmatter fills in further factual information about wolves and their habitat.
A sympathetic, compelling introduction to wolves from the perspective of one wolf and his memorable journey. (additional resources, map) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-289593-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
© 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.
